Plan to build huge 72-story tower at 395 Flatbush Avenue enters public review
All renderings courtesy of Binyan Studio and TenBerke Architects
The proposal to turn an outdated Downtown Brooklyn office building into a 72-story tower with over 1,000 apartments officially entered public review this week. Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday announced that 395 Flatbush Avenue Extension has begun the seven-month uniform land-use review procedure (ULURP). The tower would be the second-tallest in the borough after the Brooklyn Tower, and feature roughly 1,200 mixed-income residences, with at least 25 percent set aside as permanently affordable for households earning 60 percent of the area median income.
“395 Flatbush is the latest example how an underutilized commercial building can be reborn into something the City needs—vibrant, multi-functional space that delivers on the kind of planning this moment in time requires,” Ahmed Tigani, acting commissioner at the city’s Housing Preservation and Development, said.
“This is one of the most ambitious public-private housing investments this neighborhood has seen in years—over 1,200 new homes, with an impactful number of permanently affordable apartments and wisely situated next to subways, buses, and jobs.”
Developed by Rabina and Park Tower Group and designed by TenBerke Architects, the project will replace the existing 1970s commercial building with an 840-foot-tall tower containing about 1.23 million square feet of residential space and 210,000 square feet of office, retail, and community facilities.
On the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street, the building was called “one of the biggest eyesores in Downtown Brooklyn” by Brownstoner for its homely architecture.
The project adds 10,000 square feet of streetscape upgrades, reconfiguring one of the neighborhood’s busiest intersections and complementing the recently redesigned Fulton Mall.
The plan features a 4,750-square-foot, privately maintained, landscaped public plaza with plantings and seating, providing much-needed open space for the area. The project would also widen sidewalks along key corridors and improve access to the heavily trafficked DeKalb Avenue subway station.
Additionally, the project would add 66,000 square feet of retail space and roughly 75,000 square feet of commercial office or community facility space, suitable for use by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene as offices, clinics, and community facilities.
Owned by the city, the land is subject to a ground lease with Rabina and Park Tower Group through February 2072. Together, they are seeking to modify a ground lease and upzone the site through ULURP to unlock additional housing, including affordable units. In May, the city’s Department of Housing announced plans to pursue a rezoning of the site.
The project also includes substantial labor, community, and sustainability commitments, such as using 485x Zone B construction, a 25 percent Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) commitment, meeting the city’s HireNYC labor standards for building operations, and incorporating an all-electric design.
It would also be one of the first projects to take advantage of the recently lifted cap on residential density. Until last year, city zoning rules restricted residential buildings to a floor area ratio (FAR) of 12. Under Mayor Eric Adams’ “City of Yes” plan, new district designations now allow rezonings with higher FARs. The proposed tower would have a FAR of 21.8.
“We are proud to lead the most pro-housing administration in New York City’s history, and transformational projects like 395 Flatbush are a powerful testament to that commitment,” Mayor Eric Adams said.
“This development shows what’s possible when we put our bold vision into action by leveraging city-owned land, utilizing the game-changing tools secured through our historic housing deal in Albany, and advancing our ambitious ‘City of Yes’ plan. 395 Flatbush is a symbol of progress and a clear signal that our housing agenda is working.”
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once again a a big project in a neighborhood with great amenities downtown Brooklyn, we are in a housing crisis a good majority of those units need to start from 30,40,60 AMI and then some upper high units, by the time this development is finished the rents in the AMI will be much higher, the city of yes for higher up incomes, affordable housing in great neighborhoods needs to be for all incomes
These “affordable housing” scams are a disgrace. Every residential housing project in NYC is unaffordable to the people who most need housing. These are high income units getting massive public subsidies and tax breaks under the guise of helping to solve the housing issue. Stop using our tax money to provide housing for the wealthy. New Yorkers are being pushed out of a city that no.longer accommodates working or middle class families. The City of Yes is a disasterous piece of legislation that designates over priced shanty town garden shed and sub standard basement dwellings housing as up to code for low income folk while continuing to greenlight projects like this Flatbush and Fulton monstrosity which will not provide housing to those who need it the most. Mayor Adams’ housing legislation encourages Victorian era ghetto housing for the poor and luxury for the well heeled.
If they’d stop building all these high risers they would have plenty of green space. Every parking lot and vacant lot or space has been changed into luxury apartments. Where’s all the green space they talking about? Downtown Brooklyn now looks like midtown!
So as long as were removing an eyesore let’s talk about the runner up to ugliness the CON ED building looks like something out of the 60’s just a few hundred yards up the street. One would think this public utility would finally get its act together do something positive for once instead of making HUGH profits off its customers. SHAME ON THEM.
Moving in the opposite direction on Flatbush Ave Ext. we have the entrance to LIU which looks like something you experience during a nightmare. We’ve lived here for 20 years, and the campus has not changed one bit in all that time except get more unpleasant to look at by the year. No wonder why they don’t light it up at night. This place is an embarrassment to the community.
Lastly, we have University Place Park in front of LIU which the Parks & Recreation Dept. refuses to maintain with its uncut grass, weeds everywhere, litter all over, rats running around all over at night, and dead tree limbs and branches in this sub divided piece of property. The city really needs to focus more on the people who call this place HOME!! instead of the buildings department lining its pockets with all these permits they hand out and disproportionate real estate taxes on people who actually own their home either in a co-op or condominium and aren’t renting from another high-rise building being built everywhere you look.
Reuse of part of the existing podium, transformed into a base with retail on the first two floors, offices on the next two, and a landscaped amenity deck above.워크틱솔루션
build homes for for people to buy, we had enough of luxury high rise building thats taking away the sunshine. These developments are not affordable for people making 15-25 an hour