Homeowners in the Gowanus end of Park Slope are decrying new plans that
will allow the borough’s first Holiday Inn hotel to rise on Union
Street without issuing a single public notice.
At issue is the building’s size, which at eight stories is at least
three to four stories taller than most of the surrounding residential
and commercial buildings.
Planned two years ago as a pair of identical five-story hotel buildings,
the project was consolidated last month into one eight-story structure
between Third and Fourth avenues, both to allow for additional parking
and to conform with design plans preferred by the InterContinental Hotels
Group, which manages the chain and other hotel franchises.
But while the original project had never been welcomed with open arms,
the new plan, say some residents, is even worse, thanks to the likelihood
that the hotel will cast a shadow over the industrial-residential neighborhood.
“Everything’s like a Trojan horse these days,” griped Linda
Mariano, who has lived on President Street near Hoyt Street since 1974.
“You get so you’re afraid to go to sleep because you might wake
up to who knows what.”
Mariano and others say they learned of the revised plans only after word
had spread that construction was continuing past what was believed to
be the hotel’s fifth-story plateau. As of press time, the building
at 625 Union St. had escalated to seven stories despite an old permit
on view at the site authorizing only five stories.
“People move to [the area] for a reason,” said Jay Tran, a musician
who has lived in Gowanus for 20 years. “The whole look and the feel
and being able to look up into the sky without seeing skyscrapers.
“But then people are given a chance to add to this aesthetic and
sometimes they take advantage.”
Jennifer Givner, a spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings, said that
the eight-story development is as of right under area zoning regulations
and that neither the Queens-based hotel developer, Sam Chang, nor Holiday
Inn were required to notify their new neighbors of their plans. Had a
variance been required, the story might have been different, she said.
A Post Approval Amendment was successfully filed with the Buildings Department
on Feb. 17, allowing Chang to revise his plans for the hotel, which he
expects will welcome travelers as early as December.
A spokeswoman for Holiday Inn, however, put the date sometime in late
2006.
Craig Hammerman, district manager of Community Board 6, said that his
office had received several inquiries about the project, but determined
after an investigation that the board would not be involved because the
plans did not require its approval. Nonetheless, said Hammerman, the issue
reflects a problem affecting all of Brooklyn.
“What this underscores is the fact that projects like this can happen
without any kind of public review or chance for the public to react,”
he said. “The question, really, is whether laws need to be changed
as far as what the community board [is responsible for].”
Chang, who owns three hotels near Kennedy Airport and several others in
Manhattan, contends that the new design actually reduces the size of the
hotel by 19,000 square feet. While the original plan had called for 125
rooms in two five-story buildings — at 628 Sackett St. and 625 Union
St. — the new plan only calls for 110 rooms.
Mike Lee, the general contractor for the project, said that the plans
were altered to conform to the typical Holiday Inn Express, which, unlike
Holiday Inn, is not a full-service hotel. Initially, he said, building
plans were drawn up with the intention of attracting a Comfort Inn hotel
to the neighborhood.
Chang added that he would include residents in future developments or
changes, as he said he routinely has done while building hotels in Times
Square and TriBeCa, which he said he recently completed.
“There’s no hotel between Downtown Brooklyn and Bay Ridge,”
said Chang, principal owner of McSam Hospitality LLC. “So, yes, we’re
betting that this will be successful. But we also want to be good neighbors.”
