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Rheingold developers accused of shortchanging community on affordable housing
Rabsky Group says it's only obliged to include 20% affordable housing at the site
Bushwick’s Rheingold Brewery development will feature 20 percent affordable housing, despite efforts from local politicians and community to pressure the developers to build more.
Simon Dushinsky and Isaac Rabinowitz’s Rabsky Group and Yoel Goldman’s All Year Management are building 1,411 new apartments at the site. The site’s previous owners, Read Property, made a non-binding agreement with the city to ensure that 24 percent of the apartments would be affordable.
But under the zoning resolution, All Year and Rabsky only have to make sure 20 percent of the apartments are affordable.
That works out to be 88 fewer apartments that was originally promised, according to DNAinfo.
“We had no legal right to require anything more than 20 percent affordable housing as stated by the zoning resolution,” Louise Carroll, the Associate Commissioner of Housing incentives at the Department of Housing and Preservation said at a recent meeting.
The developers dispute claims that they are skirting affordable housing obligations. “The notion that the developer reneged on its agreement is absolutely inaccurate,” Lisa Serbaniewicz, a spokeswoman for Rabsky, told the website. “At the Rheingold site, Rabsky made and is honoring the commitment of offering 20 percent of the units as affordable.”
Read Property spent several years assembling the Rheingold Site and in 2013 received approval for a rezoning paving the way for a 10-building, 977-unit residential complex.
Read then sold off several parcels to Rabsky and All Year Management, which are moving forward with the redevelopment plans designed by ODA New York. [DNAinfo] — Miriam Hall
(To view more Bushwick properties in development, click here)