Brooklyn Heights renters outraged over courtyard parking garage

The tenants of Riverside Apartments in Brooklyn Heights are fighting a 135-space garage planned for the historic building’s courtyard, which they claim is an attempt by their landlord to cash in on the neighborhood’s parking shortage. Landlord Joel Wiener’s Pinnacle Group says the tenants will get first dibs on the spots, but some fear that the garage will be used by visitors to Brooklyn Bridge Park. The garage was unanimously rejected by the local community board, and must now be approved by the Buildings Department and the Landmarks Commission. Almost a quarter of Brooklyn Heights’ parking spaces have been lost to the conversion of the Love Lane parking garage to condos. When built in 1890, the Riverside Apartments’ courtyard was lauded by the famed advocate Jacob Riis as a model for tenements.