880+ affordable homes, new performing arts center and public space upgrades coming to Brownsville
A proposal to revitalize Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood was announced one year ago, with a plan to bring a seven-building housing development to the area unveiled last month. And on Thursday, city officials released more details about the massive project, with new renderings and updates on its progress. As part of the Brownsville Plan, the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development will bring a new arts center and school run by a group from the Brooklyn Music School and a media lab run by BRIC, new retail and commercial space, and a rooftop greenhouse with locally sourced produce. Plus, two proposals were selected as the NYCx Co-Lab Challenge winners, a competition that sought to find ways to enhance the area’s “nighttime experience.”
Rendering of the Brownsville Arts Center & Apartments courtesy of HPD
The Brownsville Arts Center and Apartments (BACA) will be located on Rockaway Avenue and Chester Street and will include about 230 affordable units, with some set aside for extremely-low income and formerly homeless households.
In addition to being home to a music school and media lab, the 24,000-square-foot arts center will have a collaborative black box theater for a variety of mediums. The theater will be open to the community for public events.
“For far too long Brownsville, home of some of Brooklyn’s most brilliant minds, has been left out of our city’s technological innovations,” Rep. Yvette Clarke said in a statement. “I am thrilled to hear that development has begun for our proposed Brownsville Cultural Arts Center and Apartments. The new cultural center will be Brownsville’s hub for tech and arts and will also serve as a collaborative space for local organizations to convene.”
Rendering of Glenmore Manor Apartments via HPD
About 230 affordable homes will be found at the Glenmore Apartments, a development at Christopher and Glenmore Avenues. The Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union, a sit-down restaurant and a locally-owned salon will be found here.
Multi-developments coming to Livonia Avenue; rendering via HPD
Along Livonia Avenue, there will be several sites, including 420 units of housing across four sites. The homes will be available to a mix of household incomes, like low-income seniors and formerly homeless households.
The largest site holds a supermarket, a cafe and the rooftop greenhouse. The greenhouse will offer fresh produce to building residents. The other sites will be home to community gardens, social service facilities, a senior center and a youth and family recreation site.
To activate the neighborhood’s public spaces at night, HPD selected two challenge winners. “Ville-luminate the Block” will install a 3D projection system with a sensor that would respond to pedestrian activity. The system, expected to debut August 25, will project a different brightness level, color or image.
The project “Anyways Here’s the Thing” will fasten programmable, decorative LED light strips on street lamps that react to movement from passing walkers. According to the city: “as pedestrians pass under the lamps the lights will shine brighter and trigger other nearby lights, creating wave-like effects.” This installation will open in October.
??? Big #affordablehousing news! Delivering on commitments of the community-driven Brownsville Plan, we’ve selected teams to:
✅ build 880+ units of 100% affordable housing across 3 City-owned sites
✅ create vital community & commercial spaces
✅ install streetscape upgrades pic.twitter.com/qoEDzVruWB— NYC HPD (@NYCHousing) July 26, 2018
As 6sqft learned last month, each individual building will take about 18 to 24 months to construct. Construction should wrap up in four years for all seven buildings. Developers anticipate them to be operational sometime in 2024.
Read the Brownsville Plan Progress Report here.
RELATED:
- Plan released for a seven-building, 800+ unit affordable development in Brownsville
- Robert A.M. Stern’s affordable housing development in Brownsville approved by City Planning
- Governor Cuomo’s $1.4B Central Brooklyn plan stokes gentrification debate
Images via HPD
