New apartment building coming on Bergen

apollonia666

Coming home from work tonight I discovered that there's a big new construction fence and scaffolding on Bergen between Classon and Grand -- it stretches all the way down from the industrial buildings right next to the new apartments at the corner of Classon and Bergen to (and including) that ugly vacant lot in the middle of the block.

I did some poking around on PropertyShark.com and it appears to all be owned by Downtown Developers LLC, so then I did some poking around on the Department of Buildings site and discovered it's going to be a new five-story apartment building designed by Kutnicki Bernstein Architects (they don't have anything about it up on their website, though). Looks like they'll be tearing down those warehouses soon.

If anyone knows anything more, let us know...

capt. planet

Subject: Re: New apartment building coming on Bergen

apollonia666 wrote: Coming home from work tonight I discovered that there's a big new construction fence and scaffolding on Bergen between Classon and Grand -- it stretches all the way down from the industrial buildings right next to the new apartments at the corner of Classon and Bergen to (and including) that ugly vacant lot in the middle of the block.

I did some poking around on PropertyShark.com and it appears to all be owned by Downtown Developers LLC, so then I did some poking around on the Department of Buildings site and discovered it's going to be a new five-story apartment building designed by Kutnicki Bernstein Architects (they don't have anything about it up on their website, though). Looks like they'll be tearing down those warehouses soon.

If anyone knows anything more, let us know...

Just saw on the "Castle Report", published by the local Massey Knakal broker Chadwick Castle that 799-805 Bergen St. is being sold for devlopment. These appear to be vacant lots on the same block.

What is the address in Propshark that you looked up?

apollonia666

You know, I should have made it clear that the whole stretch doesn't look like it's all going to be one building. I wasn't sure about the address, so I looked up my own address and then started looking at other ones down the block. The one with the permits was 840 Bergen, but it looks like all those lots have been sold to developers.

capt. planet

apollonia666 wrote: You know, I should have made it clear that the whole stretch doesn't look like it's all going to be one building. I wasn't sure about the address, so I looked up my own address and then started looking at other ones down the block. The one with the permits was 840 Bergen, but it looks like all those lots have been sold to developers.

I was just informed by Doris Alexander, District Manager for CB 8, that the Community Board supported a variance for 799-805 Bergen in January.

apollonia666

greg wrote: [quote=apollonia666]You know, I should have made it clear that the whole stretch doesn't look like it's all going to be one building. I wasn't sure about the address, so I looked up my own address and then started looking at other ones down the block. The one with the permits was 840 Bergen, but it looks like all those lots have been sold to developers.

I was just informed by Doris Alexander, District Manager for CB 8, that the Community Board supported a variance for 799-805 Bergen in January.

I hate to be so clueless, but in this context, what does "variance" mean? I don't understand what this means for the block. Is that whole new construction area going to be one building?

ben

I believe the variance is needed because those lots are zoned for manufacturing, not residential. However, a zoning variance can be granted to allow for residential use.

capt. planet

Ben wrote: I believe the variance is needed because those lots are zoned for manufacturing, not residential. However, a zoning variance can be granted to allow for residential use.

Correct. Any request for a variance however must be presented first to the local community board, in this case, board 8. The board can either support the request, or not support the request. The final decision is made by the Board of Standards and Appeals. To get a variance, the owner must demonstrate a "hardship", that is, he/she will suffer some difficulty unless the variance is granted. To get approval, the owner must pass a so-called "five fold test". These tests are succinctly:

1. Physical hardship: space too small without variance
2. Financial hardship: we'll lose money without variance
3. Compatible use: the use is compatible with the n'hood
4. Not a "self-created" hardship: we didn't create the hardship, ie deliberately build something that now requires a variance
5. Request is for minimum variance necessary: we couldn't get by with a smaller variance.

Hope that helps. If you want more info, the CB 8 Housing Committee meets the 1st Thursday 6:30 PM at the Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on Classon bet. Park Place and Prospect Place.