In Cobble Hill, No News on LICH Site May Be Good News

Pictured: A rendering of one possible LICH site re-development. Image courtesy of Fortis Property Group

COBBLE HILL, BROOKLYN — At a well-attended meeting of the Cobble Hill Association on Wednesday night, inaction was a cause for celebration.

Fortis Property Group, which purchased the neighborhood's former Long Island College Hospital (LICH) site last September for $240 million, has yet to move forward with an attempt to change the property’s zoning, Association officials said — a necessary step if the developer hopes to construct a massive, mixed-use complex on the site.

Councilman Brad Lander, whose district includes Cobble Hill, told the crowd that the company’s “monstrous” proposal has been delayed due to community opposition.

Lander said he and his constituents were looking for a plan that is “significantly” less dense with “real urban design that [makes] it work for the neighborhood.”

A spokesman for the company did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.

Last October, Fortis went public with two plans for the LICH property.

The first plan, called the "as of right" plan (pictured below), would not require zoning changes and would include several new residential buildings — one would be 35 stories tall — totaling nearly 529,000 square feet of market-rate residential space.

In addition, under this first plan, about 263,000 square feet of commercial space would be built, as well as a new medical facility for the NYU Langone Medical Center.

Rendering courtesy of Fortis Development Group

The second plan, pictured below — which would require a zoning change via the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP — includes a 37-story residential tower, 900,000 square feet of market-rate residential space, 225,000 square feet of affordable housing, the medical facility and a new public school.

Rendering courtesy of Fortis Development Group

Both proposals were met with strong community opposition last year, as residents of the historic area said the plans would significantly change the nature of the neighborhood. (As Curbed New York reported, however, Fortis claimed these opponents didn't speak for everyone.)

In December, Mayor Bill de Blasio, who represented Cobble Hill during his time on the City Council, hosted a meeting in an attempt to find a new development plan that would satisfy all parties.

Since then, no new designs have been presented to the public, and Fortis has yet to initiate the ULURP process, leading Lander to conclude on Wednesday: “We don’t entirely know what’s going on.”