Juvenile center’s development rights could yield housing

Unused 133,00 sf could be turned into 130 affordable apartments in Brownsville

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams

Unused Development Rights For A Juvenile Court facility in Brownsville may yield more than 100 units of affordable housing elsewhere in the neighborhood, should Borough President Eric Adams get his way.

The mayor’s Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator and the Department of Citywide Services approved an application to situate the Brownsville Community Justice Center in a city-operated building in April. But following the local community board approval in June, Adams noticed that 133,000 square feet of unused development rights were attached to the property — enough to build at least 130 affordable apartments.

“We can get really a double victory here by having the Community Justice Center and the potential for housing,” Adams told Crain’s.

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The three-story building on a 1.2-acre site at will host social services and activities for young men and women who have been arrested and are working through the justice system, according to the proposal. The address of the location in question was not immediately clear.

The mayor’s office expressed openness to the idea of constructing affordable housing with the extra development rights, according to a July 31 letter sent to Adams. But the letter noted that no such plans or funding are currently in the pipeline. But with land prices on the rise around the city, publicly owned pieces of land could prove crucial in helping Mayor Bill de Blasio realize his plan to create and preserve 200,000 affordable units over the coming decade, according to Crain’s. [Crain’s]Julie Strickland