City Council approves Rheingold Brewery rezoning

Rendering of the Rheingold Brewery conversion site
Rendering of the Rheingold Brewery conversion site

A plan to rezone the area around the former Rheingold Brewery in Bushwick, Brooklyn, got the go ahead from the City Council Tuesday, paving the way for conversion of the industrial property to residential rentals.

The zoning change will allow for developer Read Property’s controversial plan to construct 70- and 80-foot towers with 977 apartments on the 6.4-acre site, along with retail and several blocks of public space.

The developer agreed to provide more affordable housing, lifting the number of reduced-rate units to 30 percent of the total from the previously proposed 20 percent. The pledge is non-binding, but advocates told DNAinfo they are confident Read will deliver on the promise.

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“The terms and negotiations we articulated were a basis with negotiations with Read,” Brigette Blood, spokesperson for neighborhood coalition the Northwest Bushwick Community Group, told DNAinfo. “While not all [our] terms were met, we are happy for many of the mitigations Read has committed to as their massive residential development impacts our community.”

Previously, neighborhood groups and local Community Board 4 had pushed for permanently affordable housing units at the new property, as well as a green roof and LEED certification. [DNAinfo]Julie Strickland