A City Council measure approved this week to protect a neighborhood of
low-rise homes in Sunset Park set out a mad scramble by a developer to
get a controversial building underway before new height limits went into
effect on Wednesday.
Neighbors told The Brooklyn Papers that contractors were scrambling in
the rain and working by streetlight at 614 Seventh Ave. in an effort to
complete the foundation of a five-story condominium before the three-
to four-story limits kicked in at 2:40 pm.
Department of Building inspectors were on hand all day Wednesday.
“We performed 78 site inspections,” said DOB spokeswoman Jennifer
Givner. “Whenever downzoning is about to take affect we do that.
We take pictures, see how the foundation is being done, ask for blueprints
and renderings.”
Developers must have “substantially completed their foundations,”
and be fully permitted for the remainder of the building, before construction
can continue under the previous zoning code, said a spokesman for City
Council.
Givner said the DOB will determine over the next few days whether the
foundation was indeed completed in time.
The project, being built by Scarano and Associates, became infamous after
residents learned that its 68-foot height would prevent a historical icon
— a statue of Minerva in Green-Wood Cemetary — from gazing at
the Statue of Liberty, a symbolic view corridor that was designed intentionally.
The unanimous Council approval of the downzoning promises height limitations
in the area bounded by 15th and 24th streets and Fifth Avenue and Prospect
Park West — an area that’s hot with real-estate brokers, who
have dubbed it “South Slope” or “Green-Wood Heights.”
Buildings in the rezoned area — which currently features a mix of
one-, two- and three-story wood-frame houses, plus some small commercial
buildings — will be limited to heights of 33, 40, and 50 feet.
The old zoning allowed buildings up to 110 feet tall.
The controversy over 614 Seventh Avenue put the downzoning on a fast-track
once residents learned that the structure would block Minerva’s ability
to gaze out at the Statue of Liberty, its hulking soul sister in the harbor.
“I’m told this was the quickest rezoning effort in the city,”
said Community Board 7 District Manager Jeremy Laufer.
The downzoning of “Green-Wood Heights” was balanced by a change
in the zoning along busy Fourth Avenue, where developers will now be able
to build up to 120 feet.
Councilmember Sara Gonzalez (D-Sunset Park) praised the upzoning because
it offers affordable housing incentives to developers.
