Crown Heights Armory Developer Partners With Local Nonprofit To Do Community Outreach

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — The company behind the development of the Bedford-Union Armory has joined forces with a local nonprofit, a move seen as an effort to ease community concerns over the project.

BFC Partners is the lead developer on the controversial project, which would turn the former National Guard armory in Crown Heights into a sports facility topped by a mix of affordable and market-rate apartments. They were chosen by the city's Economic Development Corporation to renovate the city-owned building.

The developer announced on Wednesday that it is partnering with the Local Development Corp. of Crown Heights to do more outreach in the community, identify minority- and women-owned contractors for the project and oversee a trust fund to create more affordable housing in the area.

The new partnership, though, is unlikely to assuage intense opposition in the community, which thinks the project is only going to speed up rapid gentrification in Crown Heights.

“We are thrilled to bring on LDCCH as a community-based development partner because of its outstanding record of supporting Crown Heights residents and the local economy,” Don Capoccia, principal of BFC Partners, said in an announcement about the partnership. “LDCCH will play a key role in ensuring that the new Armory is a win for all Crown Heights families and that a local organization is helping lead the way in providing more affordable housing for the community.”

The developer's proposal for the project calls for 330 apartments, of which 164 would be market-rate and 166 would be affordable.

Protesters want to see the market-rate apartments replaced with affordable units to slow gentrification in the neighborhood. And city and state officials want to see more about the financials behind the project.

Protesters held a rally Saturday outside the armory protesting its development.

"Crown Heights, in this section, is a densely populated neighborhood, largely comprised of apartment buildings, some coops, but we have a high component to our residents here," one protester told New York 1. "This will only drive further the unaffordability and embolden property owners to do displacements and force people out."

A public hearing on the project is scheduled for March 7. The development needs to go through the city's land-use process, which includes community board approval and a city council vote, before it can go forward.

Image via BFC Partners