Pfizer Site Developers Stymied By Activists At Rezoning Hearing: Reports

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — Developers pushing to rezone a plot of land at at the nexus of Bushwick, Bed-Stuy and Williamsburg faced strong resistance from anti-gentrification advocates during a rezoning hearing Monday night, according to organizers and reports.

The Rabsky Group — co-owners of the Rheingold Brewery site who recently reneged on an affordable housing deal with the city — are asking a plot of land two blocks away from the Broadway Triangle be rezoned so that they can build seven new buildings in the area, Bushwick Daily reported.

The developers propose to build 1,147 units on the Pfizer Site, a rhomboidal plot of land which lies south of Walton Street, east of Union Avenue, north of Gerry Street and west of Harrison Avenue, according to Curbed NY.

But Rabsky Group representatives, who hoped to present this plans at a public hearing at Borough Hall Monday night, were foiled by a hundreds of protesters who organized a massive walkout during the 6 p.m. meeting, organizers said.

“On behalf of hundreds of people that came out today to this gathering, we firmly object to this hearing even taking place,” said Broadway Triangle Community Coalition representative Juan Ramos, before he and the protesters left the hearing, according to a DNAinfo New York report.

Deputy Borough President Diana Reyna responded by cancelling the hearing and promising that Borough President Eric Adams — who is slated to vote for or against the development during the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure process later this month — would review testimony from any Brooklyn resident who chose to email him through Borough Hall comments, according to DNAinfo.

In a statement obtain by DNAinfo, Rabsky Group spokesman Tom Corsillo defended the project by noting it would add 287 affordable apartments to the area and create “well paying” jobs.

Photos courtesy of the Broadway Triangle Community Coalition and GoogleMaps