Revealed: New Design Plans For Massive Sunset Park Development
Design changes have been announced for a massive development project on the boundary of Sunset Park and Dyker Heights, YIMBY reports. The plan was first unveiled in 2014 and three years later the project has yet to break ground, as developers are still awaiting a special permit from City Planning.
The design for the mixed-use development at 6208 8th Avenue near 62nd Street is undergoing “extreme revisions” according to YIMBY.
The original version featured a 167,000 square foot retail podium, with four towers perched on top with 150 hotel rooms, 350 apartments, and 17 floors for offices. The towers would have been double the size of the tallest building in Sunset Park’s residential and industrial district, reported the NY Daily News.
In 2014, Community Board 10 voted against the renewal of a special permit allowing the development to move forward, though their role was only advisory. The chair of the board’s land use committee at the time expressed concern that the approval would pave the way for developers to build even higher projects in the future, the Brooklyn Paper reported.
According to Raymond Chan from Raymond Chan Architects, a new design was created to address CB10’s concerns. The building height was reduced in order to comply with the concern and developers were offered an extension on the special permit application.
“We changed the design because we don’t think a big box like Home Depot will fit into the neighborhood,” developers told BKLYNER. “We want to have mom and pop store.”
The new design will include two buildings, instead of the original plan for four, with the tallest rising to 13 floors, but there aren’t yet updates on the dimensions.
The new site will be multifunctional, offering jobs to people in the neighborhood, along with pre-k and a variety of after schools.
“Parents, especially single parents, who may work or own small businesses, can send their kids to the above classes from work without leaving the building,” developers said.
According to Chan, the development company also plans on following Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams’ suggestion to provide “a pioneering bookless library to allow kids to use the internet for research purposes.”
“We can turn [the library] into more bonding time to have children teach their immigrant parents, who may not be able to afford monthly internet, how to surf the web,” Chan said.
With developers still awaiting their special permit, no date and timeline has been confirmed. We will update accordingly.