City landmarks officials finally signed off on a plan to build a four-story condo in the garden of the vacant Peaks Mason Mints factory in Brooklyn Heights.
The Candy Factory — as the 20 Henry St. building is known — has been vacant for more than a year following a tumultuous legal battle between its developer and 42 rent-stabilized tenants he evicted after opting out of the Mitchell-Lama housing subsidy program.
“It’s an ironic circle, said Anita Karl, who lived in the building for 28 years before losing her rent-stabilized lease and moving to Crown Heights.
“We were thrown out so [the developer] could renovate for richer people and now they are taking those people’s backyards to make more condos.”
The Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected seven plans — including some which called for a much larger structure— for the addition to the 19th-century Candy Factory before giving the green light last week.
Landmarks approval was needed because the building and its annex sit within the Brooklyn Heights Historic District.