Historic Brooklyn Tree To Be Cut Down By Developers: Activists

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A historic willow tree in one of the nation's first free black settlements could be cut down this week by developers, according to activists working to save the tree from destruction.

The tree, located in the Weeksville section of Brooklyn, has been under threat since 2015, when developers bought the plot of land where the tree is rooted and announced plans for a new four-story residential building on the lot. Activists with the community garden where the tree grows are desperately trying last-ditch attempts to save the willow tree before it is felled by developers, said Greg Todd, one of the neighborhood residents leading the effort. Todd said that the land owners informed their group that the tree could be cut down as early as Wednesday.

"I've talked to people with grandmothers who remember this tree," Todd said. "It has a lot of history in the community and is just an icon for that neighborhood so it'd just be a huge lost for the community [if it was cut down."

The willow tree stands in the middle of the Imani Community Garden, a stretch of land that's been tended by the community for 50 years on Schenectady Avenue between Pacific and Dean street. The block is composed of three lots of land, two of which are owned by the New York Restoration Project. Starting in 1999, the Restoration Project bought 52 parcels of land that were at risk of being sold to developers and preserved them as public gardens. The nonprofit, which is supported by the singer and actor Bette Midler, mistakenly believed it owned the entire garden, and not just two lots on either side of the tree, the group told Patch last year.

In 2015, developers bought the middle plot, where the willow tree is rooted, for $500,000 throwing the tree's future into jeopardy, according to city property records.

The Imani Community Garden is now desperately trying to save the tree, which is estimated to be at least 70 years old, Todd said. Although the massive willow was likely not planted until the 20th century, it stands at the nexus of the Weeksville neighborhood, one of the nation's first communities for free black men and women. The neighborhood was named for James Weeks, a black man who bought land in Brooklyn in 1838. His home become the center of a prosperous community for black Americans, with its own schools, churches and community organizations, according to the Weeksville Heritage Center. The tree stands near the intersection of Schenectady Avenue and Pacific Street, the intersection where historians believed Weeks built his house. Nearby, at Schenectady Avenue and Dean Street, is the building that housed Brooklyn's first integrated school, according to the heritage center.

"The key to saving this history is to save that tree and keep the block around it preserved," Todd said.

The Imani Community Garden has been working for two years to convince the land's owners to save the tree as a testament to the neighborhood's history. Todd said his group is desperately trying to get Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams involved in the tree's fate before it's too late. Todd said their hope is that Adams can intervene to halt any construction until the Landmarks Preservation Commission can consider the willow for landmark status.

Patch was not immediately able to contact the lot's owners for details about their construction plans and timeline. Property documents show that the land is owned by a limited liability company called "89 Schenectady Ave LLC." The developer Mendy Deutsch signed the property deed for the land.

Plans filed with the city's Department of Buildings in 2015, and approved in March, show that the developers are looking to construct a new four-story building with seven apartments.

Image credit: Ciara McCarthy / Patch