It took only 35 years, but the last project in a Fort Greene urban renewal
zone is finally moving forward.
Last week, Community Board 2 approved a proposal by the Fifth Avenue Committee,
a non-profit developer, to build 80 condos on Atlantic Avenue between
South Portland and South Oxford streets.
“The last hole of the Atlantic Terminal Renewal Area has been filled,”
said Community Board 2 district manager Rob Parris, following the thumbs-up
vote last Wednesday.
The plan calls for a nine-story brick-and-limestone building that will
feature green technology. Half of the condos will be reserved for buyers
who earn up to 80 percent of the city’s median income – $62,400
for a family of four. Twenty of the remaining condos will sell at market
rate, while another 20 will be reserved for local buyers who earn just
over the city’s median income.
Over the past three decades of urban renewal, 1,540 units of mixed-income
housing have been built in the zone. Forest City Ratner is also building
1.9 million square feet of residential and commercial space nearby, thanks
to a deal signed this summer with the state.
The city gained control of the blocks included in the Atlantic Terminal
Renewal Area in the 1960s and 1970s, following the decline of the Fort
Greene meat market. Over the years, the former butchers’ district
has watched many proposals come and go, including the never-realized domed
Dodgers stadium and a campus for Baruch College.
