Crown Heights Community Opposes Multi-Tower Rezoning Plan

CROWN HEIGHTS – As another old industrial space undergoes redevelopment, another community stands opposed to the planned changes, this time in Crown Heights.

As developer Continuum attempts to rezone the site of the old spice factory at 960 Franklin Street, the residents of Community Board 9 are unanimous in their disapproval, Brownstoner reports.

The proposed development would bring 1,500 new apartment units to Crown Heights, spread among six new towers on the site. The buildings would range from 15 to 37 stories tall.

Reportedly, half of the newly constructed units would be listed as affordable housing, with 300 of those units priced at 50% of the area median income.

The site stands between Jackie Robinson Playground and the Steinhart Conservatory, at the west edge of Prospect Park. It’s catty-corner to Medgar Evers College, across from the towering Ebbets Field apartments.

Continuum is looking to rezone of the site under the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Program in order to proceed with development, but the community is united in their desire to downzone the neighborhood, reported Brownstoner.

The developers intend to produce a new plan in the near future, but change may be hard to come by. “I doubt that the new plan calls for reducing the size of these buildings,” the chair of CB9’s ULURP committee said. “I expressed that this community is looking to downzone, so 37 stories is a nonstarter.”

It remains to be seen how the development will proceed, but for once, it looks like the historically contentious CB9 is in agreement on something.