City Includes Option for Two Towers
Of Commercial, Housing for B’klyn Jail
By Sarah Ryley
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
BOERUM HILL — The proposed Brooklyn jail expansion keeps getting bigger, this time with the possibility of two additional residential or commercial towers that would fill its lot at Atlantic Avenue and Smith Street to the brim. That should sweeten the deal for developers, who could profit from the hot Boerum Hill and Downtown Brooklyn real estate market, if buyers don’t mind sharing a wall with the “big house.”
According to the Requests for Expressions of Interest released by the city this week, the developer would be required to build a 720-bed expansion to the existing 759-bed Brooklyn House of Detention; underground parking for city workers; and ground-floor shops fronting Atlantic Avenue, Boerum Place and Smith Street.
In that respect, the request closely mirrors what community groups had been asking for during the past year of negotiations with the city’s Department of Correction, to soften the blow of the jail’s reopening and expansion on the burgeoning Atlantic Avenue retail strip.
The design guidelines call for the re-faced façade of the existing jail, and the extension, to be “aesthetically pleasing and harmonious with the surrounding neighborhood,” with discreet security features and entryways, so the average passerby would be virtually oblivious to what’s inside. The buildings’ height could not exceed 210 feet.
“Inmates and city personnel should not be able to view into the new residential and/ or commercial developments,” according to the guidelines, “nor should the occupants of the development parcels be able to view into the jail.”
State Street would be transformed into an “urban public plaza” between the jail and the courtroom, and entrances to the detention center, as requested, would be moved from Atlantic Avenue to State Street.
The idea to include up to 238,500 square feet of residential or commercial space (out of 710,500 total square feet) to the request emerged, at least publicly, about a month ago, said Sue Wolfe, president of the Boerum Hill Association.
“That wasn’t something that community came up with at all. I believe that’s a part of what they were thinking would help defray the cost to the developer,” she said. “It would appear that there are all these developers out there that are crazed to get more development in the area. Well, there might be so much development one day that it will all fall flat.”
The city would pay the developer for the construction of the reconfigured jail and expansion, and keep ownership of that portion of the lot, according to the request. The developer would then own the retail, residential and commercial portion of the complex.
Borough President Marty Markowitz said the development parcels will help “knit together the surrounding neighborhoods” while still serving the needs of the Correction Department.
The reopening and expansion of borough jails, hailed by inmate advocates, is part of an overall effort by the department to shift inmates from the deteriorating and remote facilities on Rikers Island.
But a planned 2,000-bed jail in the Bronx is stalled, at least temporarily, apparently because the lot owner is tied up in bankruptcy court claiming that the city is not offering him enough money for the land.
The plan to add 720 beds, in six dormitories, to the Brooklyn jail could also be dampened. The figure is based on the only proposed amendment to minimum standards that had nearly unanimous opposition at the Board of Correction’s hearing last month.
The amendment would allow 60 inmates in each dormitory-style cell, or 120 inmates for combined dormitories. The current standard is 50 inmates to a dormitory, or 100 for combined dormitories, which would only allow 600 beds in the expansion.
Correction officers, inmate advocates and inmates all said packing more inmates in dormitories is a recipe for disaster. Commissioner Martin Horn said, in regard to the Brooklyn jail, that inmates wouldn’t mind the change if it meant they could transfer off Rikers to new, air-conditioned accommodations closer to home.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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