City Moves Ahead With Affordable Housing Plan At BK School Site

BROOKLYN, NY — The city is moving ahead with its plan to turn a long-vacant school site on Church Avenue into a new affordable housing complex.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development sent out what is known as a "Request for Qualifications" this week to start its search for development teams to transform the Flatbush property into more than 100 affordable homes.

The request comes nearly three months after officials first announced their plans for the 2286 Church Ave. property, which has been vacant since a school building once at the site was demolished in 2015.

The new complex will include a community development space dedicated to educational and vocational training programs for young Brooklynites.

“The transformation of this city-owned vacant site into an affordable housing and youth training and education center is an important investment in the community that I have spent many years advocating for," Council Member Mathieu Eugene, who spear-headed the plans, said in a release about the RFQ. "...It is my firm belief that by working together we will continue to strengthen the future of our great city, and this project is an essential part of that process.”

The 29,000-square-foot site has been empty since a 19th-century school building holding P.S. 90 was demolished in 2015 due to hazardous structural conditions.

The property also might have connections to a historical burial ground for people of African ancestry, officials said. An archaeological excavation uncovered a small number of fragments of human remains at the site, which have since been transferred to the minister of the Reformed Dutch Church of Flatbush for reinterment in their consecrated cemetery.

A task force set up by the Landmarks Preservation Commission and Economic Development Corporation for identifying descendants and handling any additional remains will help the city in its search for a developer for the new complex.

Developers will have until March 5 to submit their proposals for the RFQ. More about it can be found on HPD’s website.