As Brooklyn Towers Reach for the Sky, How Big Is Too Big?

As Brooklyn sprouts a towering skyline of its own, with a new project around every corner, the question keeps coming up: how big is too big? And the follow-up question is never far behind: can developers, community members and public officials reach a happy medium on that issue?

A new test case for both questions is at hand: 80 Flatbush, a two-tower, five-building project containing two schools, office space, and apartments priced at both market and affordable rates. The complex, with towers reaching 74 and 38 stories, is proposed for an irregular block not far from Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Atlantic Terminal Mall (and its transit hub below). 

State Senator Velmanette Montgomery and Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, in a joint letter, called the density “unprecedented” and protested that this was less a school project than a “mixed-use, commercial and residential development with a small element of educational space.” Community Board 2 Chairperson Shirley McRae also called it unprecedented because it would’t respect a buffer zone between Downtown and Boerum Hill in the way that the 2004 downtown rezoning did.

To read the full article, visit https://thebridgebk.com/brooklyn-towers-reach-sky-how-big-too-big/

To learn more about Senator Montgomery's work on 80 Flatbush Avenue, visit:

https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/articles/velmanette-montgomery/senator-montgomery-and-assemblywoman-simon-submit-joint

https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/articles/velmanette-montgomery/senator-montgomery-assembly-member-simon-and-council-member