FORT GREENE — With recent reports of Forest City Ratner backing out of some mixed-use residential projects, it appears the firm is moving forward with one at 80 DeKalb Ave., however.

A public hearing will be held in Manhattan Tuesday, April 15, by the New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA) on the proposed issuance of tax-exempt and/or taxable multifamily housing revenue bonds for the new construction.

As reported by Dennis Holt in a Brooklyn Eagle article on Oct. 1, the development will consist of a 34-story, 370,000-square-foot tower with 365 rental apartments situated between Rockwell Place and Hudson Avenue.

According to materials from the HFA, the estimated cost of the project is $207.4 million and “at least 20 percent of the units are expected to be available to families earning no more than 50 percent of the New York City Median Income, adjusted for family size (AMI), and 15 percent of those units are expected to be reserved for families earning no more than 40 percent of AMI.�

The agency expects to issue bonds “not to exceed $109,500,000� to finance a portion of the construction.

As Holt reported, a low-rise building known as 10 MetroTech — although not technically part of the MetroTech Center complex — stood on the site.

“Longtime observers in Downtown Brooklyn may also remember it as the site of the Barton Candy factory, facing DeKalb Avenue,� Holt wrote.

He also wrote, “Although the site is not technically within the BAM Cultural District, it joins the 28-story Forte residential building in the next block on Fulton Street. Both will be influenced by, or have influence on the nearby new district where several projects are in the design phase.�

The architect for 80 DeKalb, which could turn out to be the first residential-only project from Forest City in Brooklyn, is Costas Kondylis & Partners, a Manhattan-based firm with a long record of designing residential buildings. The architects say construction will begin this year.

It appears that no major variances are needed for the project. At approximately 400 feet, the new building conforms to the height guidelines of 415 feet set by the 2004 rezoning of Downtown Brooklyn. A check of Department of Buildings records reveals that application were approved in early 2007.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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