80 Flatbush Developers Swap Office Space For More Housing: Report

BROOKLYN, NY — A massive development project in Boerum Hill will include nearly 200 more apartments than originally planned in its first phase of construction, including 45 more affordable units, according to BKLYNER.

Alloy Development — the group behind two towers at the 80 Flatbush Ave. lot — were spurred by the pandemic to swap 100,000 square feet of what would have been office space for the extra housing in its first round of construction, set to finish in 2024, the outlet reports.

The change means some of the project's affordable housing will be completed sooner than originally planned, though the overall breakdown of housing and office space will remain the same once all phases of construction are completed, according to Alloy.

In other words, the first of the two towers built on the property will now have 441 instead of 257 apartments. About 10 percent, or 45 of the units, will be set aside as affordable, developers said.

“The financing market for speculative commercial office space has been very challenging,” Alloy spokesman James Yolles told Bklyner. “Given this context, we decided to rebalance the program between the phases.”

The pandemic also brought changes to the development's timeline.

The first phase, originally set to be finished in 2022, will now be completed in the first half of 2024, developers said. The second phase, which does not yet have a start-date, will take another three years.

The start of construction on the 80 Flatbush project comes nearly two years after developers reached a settlement with neighbors about the development. The project was first approved by City Council in September 2018.

The project will construct three new buildings — including the 840 and 510 foot towers — and renovate two existing buildings on the triangular Flatbush Avenue site. It will include room for two schools, retail, office space and the apartments.

Read the full story from BKLYNER here.