Landmarks Board OKs Controversial Hebron Project In Crown Heights

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A controversial apartment building on the Hebron School campus in Crown Heights has been approved by the city's landmarks board, despite ongoing opposition from the neighborhood.

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission — whose approval is needed given the landmarked designation of the Crown Heights site — unanimously agreed, with one recusal, to move the 959 Sterling Ave. project forward on Tuesday.

The vote followed a third presentation by architects to the board, who had asked for several design changes since the seven-story building first faced commissioners in November.

"It's come a long way," Commissioner Michael Goldblum said Tuesday of the final design. "It's hard for an architect to modify their scheme this much, this many times, but I think it's yielded a much more appropriate, successful result that integrates well with its context."

The project includes demolishing an addition to the Hebron Seventh Day Adventist School building to make room for an apartment complex on the open space in back of the campus. In exchange, Hebron will get $21.5 million to renovate its own building, which has been vacant since it was deemed structurally unsound five years ago.

The most recent design includes a 2,000-square-foot reduction to the building and slight changes to the ground floor. Architects previously shaved off 10,000 square feet from the building after concerns from commissioners that it appeared to be a "mega-block" that didn't fit with the historic district.

Neighbors and local officials, though, have contended throughout the changes that the building would be a "tragedy" for what they say is a the "Crown Jewel" of the neighborhood.

The commission said Tuesday they've received more than 300 letters in opposition to the project since March, including from Council Member Robert Cornegy Jr., Community Board 8 and the Crown Heights North Association, who have hosted a letter writing campaign.

After Tuesday's vote, the association started raising money to file a lawsuit against the plans.

"Community members have decried the plans as an attack on the neighborhood’s historic character, a dangerous accelerator of gentrification, and an attack on the neighborhood’s tiny amount of green space," they wrote. "Please help us protect the Crown Heights North community."

Find the full LPC discussion here: