City Planners Approve Fourth Avenue Apartment Tower In BK

BROOKLYN, NY — A rezoning to make way for an apartment tower on Fourth Avenue that sparked heated debate about affordable housing in Sunset Park has gotten the OK from the City Planning Commission.

City planners voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve the 737 Fourth Ave. application, which proposes changing the zoning at a Dunkin Donuts to build a 14-story complex with more than 100 new apartments.

The vote will send the proposal to the last stage of the land use review process with City Council.

It follows two fraught approvals from Community Board 7 and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who supported the project with a number of conditions after heated debate about whether it would help or harm the neighborhood's housing crisis.

Opponents have contended that the 34 or so affordable units offered by the building are not enough to warrant its 100 market-rate spots. Many have stood firm that only 100-percent affordable developments should be supported in the neighborhood.

But developers have said they cannot offer more than 25 percent of the building's 135 units as affordable given the high land costs and lack of a subsidy from the city.

Both community board leaders and the borough president resolved that the addition to the neighborhood, though not a solution to the housing crisis, is a step in the right direction.

"Borough President Adams acknowledges community concern that developments without 100 percent affordable housing for low-income residents can result in secondary displacement. While he agrees that 100 percent affordable housing development is much needed, it is not realistic to expect such outcomes on private land," Adams wrote in his decision, released just before the New Year.

The 34 affordable units will be a 30 percent increase in the number of affordable apartments in Community Board 7 in the last six years, according to the Fifth Avenue Committee, who support the project.

The Fourth Avenue building, which falls on the South Slope-Greenwood Heights border, proposes changing the property's zoning so developers can build almost 100,000 square feet of new residential space and a 8,600-square-foot "commercial overlay."

The complex would replace a Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins hybrid store that sits on the lot, along with a small parking lot. It also includes an "easement" for the MTA, or an agreement that would allow the transit agency to build an elevator at the nearby 25th Street station.

Read More:

• Brooklyn Board OKs Fourth Ave Tower Amid Debate On Housing Crisis
• Controversial Fourth Ave Apartment Tower Wins Committee Approval
• 'Who Is This For?': BK Neighbors Rally Against Fourth Ave Tower
• Developers Plan 14-Story Affordable Housing Complex On Fourth Ave