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Crown Heights North Phase II Approved by Landmarks — Brooklynian

Crown Heights North Phase II Approved by Landmarks

capt. planet
capt. planet
edited November -1 in Crown Heights/Prospect Lefferts Gardens

Read all about it in, of all places, the Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303936704576398331208832442.html?mod=WSJ_NY_MIDDLELEADNewsCollection

With 472 buildings in Phase I and 610 in Phase II, and Phase II being calendared, the Crown Heights North historic district is larger than similar districts in Bed-Stuy, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and a certain other Brooklyn neighborhood that begins with the name "Park". Next time you hear somebody putting down Crown Heights, think about it.

Way to go, Crown Heights North Assoc.

Comments

  • capt. planet
    capt. planet

    Oops, that should have been "Phase III" being calendared.

  • eastbloc
    eastbloc

    While I'm a big fan of CHNA, I really hope the proposed 'Crow Hill' district continues to not make the cut. The fact that Sterling between Classon and Franklin is in scope reflects the reality that there isn't enough historic housing stock in the so-called Crow Hill area to warrant landmark status.

    Take a walk down this block -- it's nice enough, and perhaps one of the nicer blocks off Franklin, but it's a hodge-podge of apartment buildings, brick townhomes, new construction, and empty lots. The historic value is dubious at best, while we still have plenty of properties which are under-utilized and under-maintained if not downright dilapidated.

    LPC status would only make it more prohibitive for landlords and investors to renovate the area's housing stock while providing no benefit I can discern.

  • chca
    chca

    Congratulations to CHNA for all their hard work and great success.

    @eastbloc: As far as the Crow Hill District is concerned, the map in the article was one that was proposed by an outside consultant to the community at large.. CHCA is proposing a smaller section that is basically within the boundaries that our organization serves: Eastern Parkway to Atlantic on Franklin and Eastern Parkway to St. Marks on Bedford and the blocks in between. We will post the boundaries when we make our formal presentation to Landmarks, the block you refer to is not within our current plans.

    With respect to your concern about investors renovating the housing stock, one of the main reasons CHCA is pursuing landmarking is to protect the existing structures in our community which consists largely of row houses. The last the thin we want to see is groups of these buildings demolished so that large scale residential development can occur. We feel that scenario would do more towards changing the character of Crow Hill than landmarking will.

  • whynot_31
    whynot_31

    Have we had any instances of row houses being demolished to build large projects?

    It seems to me as if most of the new construction that has taken place around Franklin Ave since 2000 has been on vacant sites, or on sites where under used warehouses and industrial buildings get taken down.

    ....there are still a lot of vacant lots and warehouses in the neighborhood that could be developed. These sites will probably need to be developed before a group of row house owners can (or can not) cash in.

    I'd look at buying those bus depots and car places at approx Dean Street and Classon.

  • chca
    chca

    We do know that there are efforts being made on the part of developers to purchase row houses and we doubt it is simply to rehab a 3 or 4 storey building. You don't need 2 or 3 buildings to turn a 3 storey home into a 6 storey condo. Crow Hill is fortunate in that we don't have a lot of vacant lots and the original character of the neighborhood is intact, we would like it to remain that way, other areas of Brooklyn that already have blocks with 2 or 3 empty lots on them will never regain the historic beauty we have here.

  • whynot_31
    whynot_31

    If the vacant lots and warehouses ever get fully condo'd, the creaky tenement buildings will be next.

    As crime continues to fall, there will be lots of legal money to be made around Franklin.

    I'm glad the CH North Assn district got its landmark application though. The properties that have now been landmarked are really nice, and the area isn't already broken up like Crow Hill (aka Pro-Cro, FauxPro, Western Crown Heights).

  • chca
    chca

    ouch

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