Crucial Votes On Crown Heights Armory Coming Tuesday

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — The New York City Council will hold crucial votes on Tuesday about the future of a controversial armory redevelopment plan in Crown Heights.

The city's Economic Development Corporation is negotiating with Laurie Cumbo, the city councilwoman who represents the neighborhood, over the housing plan at the Bedford-Union Armory. Tuesday's votes, at a subcommittee meeting and then before the full land-use committee, could advance the project to the full council or kill it for good.

Cumbo has voiced her opposition to the city's plan to redevelop the vacant armory and turn it into a rec center, affordable office space and a housing complex.

At a subcommittee hearing last week, she made it clear that she wouldn't vote for the project as it is currently drawn up, with more than 80 percent of the housing at the site affordable only for families making more than $95,000 a year.

BFC Partners, the city's chosen developer for the site, said it needs to sell market-rate condos and apartments to subsidize the rest of the project.

EDC President James Patchett left open the possibility of more subsidies at the site to make the housing more affordable. But time is running out for both sides to strike a deal on the plan.

"We continue to have productive conversations with the Council Member on ways to make this project even better," EDC spokesman Ryan Birchmeier told Patch in an email.

A spokeswoman for Cumbo had no updates to share on the negotiations. A spokesman for BFC Partners did not return a request for comment.

"Laurie Cumbo ran for reelection promising 100 percent affordability at the Bedford Armory," said Vaughn Armor, a long-time Crown Heights resident and member of New York Communities for Change, which opposes the plan. "If she votes yes on any deal with any amount of market-rate housing she will have failed her constituents and the neighborhood of Crown Heights."

The first vote on the plan, by the council's Subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions and Concessions, is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The council's Committee on Land Use will take up the issue at 11 a.m.

Image via BFC Partners.