This unprecedented megadevelopment just wants to blend in!
Luxury builder Alloy Development unveiled a new look for its massive 80 Flatbush project on the edge of Boerum Hill this week, changing the facade of the shorter of its two planned high-rises to more closely resemble that of its landmarked neighbor, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower.
Honchos originally proposed an all-glass exterior for the 38-story building on the lot bounded by Flatbush and Third avenues, and State and Schermerhorn streets, but cut some reflective panels in favor of bricks that mimic the look of the Hanson Place structure erected in the late ’20s after receiving months’ worth of community input, according to the company’s chief executive.
“We’ve refined our plans based on productive feedback received through more than 100 meetings with local stakeholders,” said Jared Della Valle. “We think the project’s better for it, and appreciate the engagement.”
The street-level exterior of the smaller tower will feature the brick facade, which will also keep the building’s appearance more in line with those of the townhouses that comprise the historically low-rise nabe, according to Alloy.
But plans for the controversial project’s taller, 74-story high-rise, which is expected to be among the borough’s tallest, remain unchanged in the new renderings, which also show that honchos nixed a State Street loading dock, one of two planned for the project.
The towers — which will contain a total of 900 units, 200 of which will be so-called affordable housing — are two of five buildings that comprise the megadevelopment.
A third new structure proposed for the lot will house a 350-seat elementary school as well as a future home for the on-site Khalil Gibran International Academy high school, which currently occupies a crumbling 19th-century former Civil War infirmary that the builder plans to keep and refashion into a cultural space. And the developer will rehabilitate another Schermerhorn Street structure already on the triangular plot, where office and retail space will fill the parts of the buildings not devoted to residences or classrooms.
A rep for Alloy said it expects to finish the 38-story tower and welcome students to the schools in 2022, before wrapping construction on the super-tall tower in 2025.
Before the builder can break ground, however, the city must approve the project through its Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. But the City Planning Commission has yet to kick-off the lengthy process, and it’s anyone’s guess when it will start, according to the chairwoman of Community Board 2, which will hold a meeting on the development once the land-use-review process begins.
“Right now we don’t know when it’s going to be certified, so we haven’t even identified a place to hold a public hearing,” Shirley McRae said at a Wednesday board meeting.
