Boerum Hill Neighbors Sue City Over Flatbush Avenue High-Rises

BOERUM HILL, BROOKLYN — A group of neighbors have sued the city over two giant high-rises planned for 80 Flatbush Ave., claiming the 78- and 54-story buildings violate zoning laws meant to protect their quiet brownstone community.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by attorney Jack Lester on behalf of five neighbors and their block association, argues specifically against the city's decision to rezone the area to make way for the 1.1 million-square-foot development. The zoning upgrade allows for the height and density of two towers included in the five-building project.

The lawsuit claims rezoning one block arbitrarily chips away at what is known as the Special Downtown Brooklyn Zoning District (SDBD), which was set up in 2004 to protect its residential surroundings.

"This carve out, rendered the legislative purpose of SBDB to serve as a transitional location between Boerum Hill and Downtown Brooklyn useless and ineffectual," the petition states. "It undermined, impeded and thwarted the legislative purpose of the SBDB."

The controversial project — approved by the City Council in September — includes plans by Alloy Development to construct three new buildings and renovate two existing buildings on the triangular Flatbush Avenue site. It will include room for two schools, retail and office space and 900 apartments, 200 of which would be affordable units.

When it was approved, city council members pointed to the community benefits of the project and the flexibility of the developers, who agreed to slightly reduce the density and height of the towers, according to Curbed. The floor area ratio was brought down from 18 to 15.75 and the height was reduced from 986 to 840 feet on one building and from 560 to 510 feet on the other.

But, the lawsuit contends that these reductions didn't go far enough. Without the rezoning, the floor-to-area ratio allowed in the SDBD would be only 6.5.

The petition also argues that the city did not consider other viable means of bringing affordable housing and schools into the neighborhood within the current zoning rules.

"This upzoning, despite a nod to public benefits, was undertaken for the financial benefit of Alloy Developers and to the stark detriment of the residential community of Boerum Hill," the petition states.

Neighbors, the lawsuit states, will be "plagued by almost a decade" of construction, noise, toxic dust, traffic, congestion and potentially structurally damaging vibrations. The project is expected to be completed in 2025, but might take longer, the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit isn't the first time the neighbors or elected officials have brought up these concerns.

The project has been controversial since it was first proposed in 2017. Community Board 2 members voted against it, as did Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who said it would need to be downsized before he gave it his approval.

Supporters, though, have said the new apartments will help with the city's housing crisis and that the development will give a much-needed new home for the city's first Arabic-language public high school. Khalil Gibran International Academy is slated to take over one of the school spots.

Alloy Development declined to offer a comment for the story.

Photo from GoogleMaps of the current 80 Flatbush building.