After delaying its vote last month, the Brooklyn Borough Board gave the go-ahead Tuesday for the $52 million sale of the Brooklyn Heights library to the Hudson Cos.
The City Council approved the library proposal in December, but Hudson’s plan for a 36-story condominium tower component of the project also needed the board’s approval.
Borough President Eric Adams said the board postponed the vote in order to review the plan more thoroughly, DNAinfo reported.
David Kramer’s Hudson plans a 409-foot-tall building at 280 Cadman Plaza West, now known as 1 Clinton Street. The building is slated to hold 134 condos, which will range from one- to four-bedrooms.
There will be 268,000 square feet of residential space, nearly 1,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, and a new library spanning roughly 27,000 square feet on the first floor and in the cellar, according to the building plans. At two nearby sites, 114 affordable housing units will be built.
The sale has raised the ire of some residents and a group called Love Brooklyn Libraries, which filed a complaint with the attorney general and city Law Department last month. The complaint alleges the sale is unnecessary and the Brooklyn Public Library has about $100 million in unspent funds, the New York Post reported.
Library executives disputed this, saying the city funds it can tap are already allocated for upcoming construction projects.
The de Blasio administration was recently accused in a New York Post story of granting Hudson a sweetheart deal to develop the land. City Hall and the Brooklyn Public Library defended the bidding process, saying there was no preferential treatment. [DNAinfo] — Dusica Sue Malesevic