Brooklyn Armory Project Will Move Forward Despite Opposition From Local Politicians

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — The city's controversial plan to turn a vacant Crown Heights armory into a rec center, office space and an apartment complex will move forward despite several local politicians coming out and saying they are against the project.

The New York City Planning Commission on Monday officially certified the plan for the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, a lengthy process that involves recommendations by the local community board and borough president's office along with a review by the planning commission, city council and mayor's office.

A group of demonstrators chanted and jeered at — and were eventually kicked out of — the planning commission hearing to certify the project:

On Thursday, City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams announced that they would not support the current plan for the city-owned armory, on Bedford Avenue between Union and President streets.

Cumbo — who faces two challengers from the left in an upcoming Democratic primary for her council seat — called the plan "gentrification at its worst" because it doesn't provide enough affordable and low-income housing. It was her strongest stance yet on a plan that some local activists have railed against for months.

"It is insulting for the City to move ahead with this process in the face of such vociferous local opposition," Esteban Giron, an organizer with the Crown Heights Tenants Union, told Patch in a statement. "The fact that the project is moving forward just a few days after Council Member Laurie Cumbo announced her opposition shows that her words are hollow, and that she values lining the pockets of developer BFC more than she values the needs of her own constituents. We will continue to oppose the privatization of OUR LAND until our fickle leaders relinquish control of the process and return it to the community where it belongs."

A spokesman for BFC Partners, the firm chosen to develop the site, declined to comment on Monday's certification when reached by Patch. Patch also left a message with Community Board 9, whose district includes the Armory, for more information about timing for its vote, and we'll update this story when we hear back.

"Now we’ll really have to get active with the community board and convince them not to send it to the borough president," said Vaughn Armor, a long-time Crown Heights resident and leader at the group New York Communities For Change. "Now we have to change the game and get at Community Board 9."

Supporters of the project say the recreation and educational complex planned for the property will be a boon for a community that has seen skating rinks, bowling alleys and movie theaters disappear.

District Leader Geoffrey Davis, who also heads an anti-gun violence organization, told Patch "there’s no place" for kids in the neighborhood to socialize anymore. "Idle hands are the devil's workshop. My goal and objective is to get a community center."

Davis and other pro-Armory community leaders organized a rally at the site on Sunday afternoon. But that turned into a shouting match once a group of protesters showed up, too.

Image via BFC Partners