By Linda Collins
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — The first phase of the proposed City Point/Albee Square development in Downtown Brooklyn goes to the city’s Public Design Commission next week, according to a report made to Community Board 2 (CB 2) by the NYC Economic Development Corp. (EDC) last week. That phase, Phase 1A, covers the retail part of the development, according to Janel Patterson, an EDC spokesperson.

“We met with CB 2 to briefly update them on the City Point project,� she said. “The project will be presented to the Public Design Commission next week.�

CB2 board members were also told that in Phase 1A there will be a mix of national and local retail. Additionally, the developer has agreed to offer former Albee Square tenants space before broadly marketing the space, according to Patterson.

“The goal of the CityPoint project is to build on and enhance the vibrancy of the already successful Fulton Street corridor, not to make dramatic changes to the character and makeup of the neighborhood,� she added.

Construction on Phase 1A is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2010.

This was confirmed by Tom Montvel-Cohen, a consultant and spokesperson for developer Albee Development LLC, who was present at the CB2 meeting.

Albee Development is an umbrella organization for several developers involved in aspects of the project, including Acadia Realty Trust, P/A Associates and MacFarlane Partners.

“It’s in the Public Design Commission stage,� Montvel-Cohen told the Eagle, adding, “We cannot release a rendering before it goes to the Design Commission.

As reported in August, City Point — then identified as “a stalled construction site� — was selected by the EDC to receive $20 million in “triple-tax exempt bonds� from the federal stimulus program. The EDC said at the time the program was designed by Congress and the Obama administration specifically to restart construction projects that were stalled.

Also in August, Montvel-Cohen described the first phase as a tower with between three and four floors of retail, and between 12 and 13 stories of residential above them.

The approximately 240 residential units will be a 50-30-20 split between market rate, middle-income and low-income housing, with the breakdown at 120, 72 and 48 units, respectively. Additionally, of the 48 reserved for low-income tenants, 20 percent will be reserved for the very low income.

“We made the decision to put all of the affordable units in the first phase,� he said. “So this is actually an acceleration of the affordable housing element.�

Montvel-Cohen continued, “We’ve been working very hard to move this project forward and we’re pleased that we can begin it soon and we’re very pleased that we can deliver the affordable element in the first phase.�

Originally planned to be a major 65-story tower, the City Point project appears to be scaled down quite a bit, if this 16- or 17-story first phase is any indication.

He confirmed that the project can move forward once the design — by the architectural firms Greenberg Farrow and Cook + Fox — is approved by the city’s Design Commission, which must review all permanent works of architecture (as well as landscape architecture and art) proposed for city-owned property.

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