State bails out Fort Greene residential project

A state-funded bail-out of a long-delayed Brooklyn residential project late last month, days before a Dec. 31 tax exemption deadline, will allow developers to begin building a 347-unit tower at 29 Flatbush Avenue, a previously empty lot at Rockwell Place and Fulton Street in Fort Greene, the Brooklyn Paper reported. The project, a 42-story tower developed by the Dermot Company and being designed by Ismael Leyva Arhcitects, was in danger of collapsing during the financial crisis in 2008, until developers made a last-minute deal with the state — called a 421-a subsidy — to set aside 65 units at below-market rents in exchange for $90 million in subsidies. That deal would have been void if developers didn’t produce some affordable units by Dec. 31. “The financial crisis left us hanging there… but the rental market moved forward and we decided to move forward, too,” said Drew Spitler, director of development for the Dermot Company. “Everything came together at the last minute.” When it’s built out within about two years, the building will be in the BAM Cultural District, which Spitler says is a strong rental market. “People want to live here,” he said. “There continues to be a demand for new product on the market.” [Brooklyn Paper]