A developer who scaled back his three-site project on public and private land in the Columbia Street Waterfront District won overwhelming support from Community Board 6’s land-use committee last Thursday.
In October, L&M Equity was throttled at a CB6 meeting for its plan for 172 housing units, most of them contained in an eight-story building on Hicks Street between Congress and Warren streets.
But the committee was warmer last Thursday, when architect David Gross unveiled the new designs in a presentation he titled, “We Tried to Listen,”
L&M pared the Hicks Street building to six stories, installed a retro brick façade and eliminated about 50 units overall, but retained all 41 below-market rentals to get city subsidies.
The land-use committee saluted the revisions, but was concerned about zoning changes beyond the developer’s property.
L&M owns two sites between Columbia, Congress, Hicks and Warren streets that need to be rezoned to residential, but the city is proposing to rezone the entire block.
The land-use committee wants to control future development in the mixed manufacturing and residential area, so it voted to only upzone L&M’s lots.
The next step is a vote by the full CB6 board on Dec. 12.
CB6 full board meeting, Dec. 12 at 6:30 pm in Borough Hall (209 Joralemon St., between Court and Adams streets). For information, call (718) 643-3027.
