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Politics
New York

Atlantic Avenue rezoning to add 4,000 homes, mayor says

Adams administration plan focuses on 13-block area

Eric Adams Unveils Atlantic Avenue Rezoning Plan
Former City Council member Dan Garodnick, Mayor Eric Adams; map of Atlantic Avenue rezoning plan (Getty, NYC.gov Planning)

The city said Thursday its plan to rezone a 13-block stretch of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn would spur the construction of 4,000 apartments — up to 38 percent of them affordable.

The Adams administration laid out a framework to change the area’s light manufacturing zoning to allow for higher density residential and commercial use. The rezoning is expected to create between 1,150 and 1,500 below market–rate apartments, depending on the options developers select under the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law.

The proposal follows years’ of debate over the major corridor, which separates Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, and builds on the long-stalled M-Crown plan, a community-led effort launched in 2013 to change the area’s outdated zoning.

During that time, a handful of site rezonings have been completed in the area — a politically fraught and expensive process for developers that adds only scores of apartments at a time.

The neighborhood-based rezoning, one of the few being pursued by the Adams administration, would instead allow real estate firms to build multifamily or mixed-use developments without running the city’s political gauntlet known as Ulurp. But the projects would have to deliver affordable units and other benefits required by the new zoning.

Other sweeping rezonings in the works include a 46-block area near Metro-North stations in the Bronx, expected to net 6,000 apartments, and a 42-block area in Midtown, to allow for more housing and office-to-residential conversions.

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The Atlantic Avenue framework includes incentives for including commercial use on midblock sites and mandates commercial ground-floor use for projects seeking the maximum residential density. The approach is intended to activate the streetscape.

The plan also identifies two city-owned sites — 516 Bergen Street and 542 Dean Street — where the administration will consider building 100 percent “deeply affordable housing.” The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development is working with the Acacia Network to build 110 to 125 housing units at 1134-1142 Pacific Street.

The rezoning could also explore future uses for the landmarked Bedford Atlantic Armory, including housing.

The proposal is expected to begin the city’s land use review process next year, and will likely be approved because the local Council member, Crystal Hudson, has worked with City Planning on advancing a mixed-use plan along Atlantic Avenue.

Hudson, however, was not quoted in the mayor’s press release or identified as an architect of the framework. The release only credited her with helping to conduct eight months of public engagement on the plan. That suggests she could negotiate for changes during the public review, which takes about seven months.

A small section of the area to be rezoned is in Council member Chi Ossé’s district. The full Council nearly always follows the lead of the local members on land-use votes.

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Affordable HousingBreakingEric AdamsRezoningUlurp