A Brooklyn community board rejected a proposed new building on Atlantic Avenue, even after the developers gave the project a haircut.
CB 8’s land use committee said no on Tuesday to the proposal from Vanderbilt Atlantic Holding, which would bring a residential development to 840 Atlantic Avenue, Bklyner reported. The board is advisory but its opinion matters here because the local City Council member, Laurie Cumbo, said she will respect its wishes on the project.
The site, across Vanderbilt Avenue from the Pacific Park megaproject, has long been home to a McDonald’s. The developer had proposed an 18-story, 316-unit building that requires a rezoning, as only low-rise manufacturing buildings are currently allowed.
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After pushback, the developer offered to reduce the project’s bulk by about 7 percent. But the committee balked, saying it would not approve the project unless it conforms to the community board’s M-CROWN zoning proposal, according to the publication.
M-CROWN — which has not been approved by the city — would modestly upzone a chunk of Crown Heights and Prospect Heights but limit building heights to 14 feet and floor-area ratio to 7. The FAR for 840 Atlantic Avenue, under the developers’ revised proposal, would be 8.2.
Vanderbilt Atlantic Holding has argued that the project is shorter than other developments in the area. But a lawyer for the project, Benjamin Stark, said the firm will map part of the site to conform to the 145-foot building heights in the M-CROWN proposal.
The full community board will vote this week. As part of the city’s land use review process, the project will then move to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams for another advisory opinion. Ultimately the full City Council will vote in line with Cumbo, whose spokesperson told the Brooklyn Paper that she would support a proposal that hews closely to M-CROWN.
[Bklyner, Brooklyn Paper] — Sasha Jones