Admiral's Row Update

Admiral's Row House in August 2005

Admiral's Row - which had its first Consulting Party Meeting last Tuesday (April 15th) is featured in the Lens column of the New York Times: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/geometries-admirals-row/

And remember, check the official Admiral's Row website for materials:
http://www.nan.usace.army.mil/business/buslinks/admiral/index.htm#public


as well as Brooklyn's Other Museum of Brooklyn: http://www.brooklynsothermuseumofbrooklyn.com/

Feds Mandate Environmental Review of Admiral's Row

Navy Yard supermarket on hold as feds consider ‘Row’
By Dana Rubinstein
The Brooklyn Paper

A plan to tear down 10 historic houses at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and replace them with a supermarket has been delayed indefinitely thanks to a decision by federal officials to review whether the dilapidated 150-year-old mansions can be saved.

“There is absolutely no way we can give any sort of end date at all … there is no mandated time limit,” said Kristin Leahy, the manager of the National Guard Bureau Cultural Resources Program, which is investigating the mansions’ historical integrity — to the frustration of those eager to see the run-down buildings torn down.

Leahy said the earliest that she could hold a meeting with the city, area residents and preservationists is March. And that meeting would be just the first of a series.

Admirals Row, which overlooks Flushing Avenue near Navy Street, sits on six acres of federally owned land in the otherwise city-controlled Navy Yard.

The National Guard wants to sell the land, and according to local law, must give the city first dibs. But because of the houses’ historic significance, the Guard must also go through an arduous public comment and historic review process.

Brownstoner Puts Together the Pieces

From Brownstoner: http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/09/fort_greene_cli.php

A mash-up of the Fort Greene & Clinton Hill District Expansion proposals. Include the Wallabout proposal (http://www.myrtleavenue.org/WallaboutCulturalResourceSurvey.pdf) and you've got a lot of this section of northern Brooklyn which is surveyed but still unprotected.

The three proposals have a lot in common - in a good way.

All three of these surveys were written by architectural historian Prof. Andrew S. Dolkart of Columbia University and were funded by Preserve New York, a grant program of the Preservation League of New York State and the New York Statew Council on the Arts. All three also have wide-spread community support and the support of local Council member Letitia James.

Now, the ball is LPC's court....

For more background, see http://www.hdc.org/boundariesfg.htm and http://www.hdc.org/neighborhoodatriskwallabout.htm

Wallabout Rezoning Stymies Tower Development

Wallabout is high over low-rise rezone victory
BY RACHEL MONAHAN
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Friday, July 27th 2007, 4:00 AM

The City Council has dealt a blow to high-rise towers threatening brownstone blocks in north Brooklyn.

Wallabout residents, in particular, were jubilant that the Council approved new zoning that will preserve low-rise blocks there and in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill as well.

"We had a big celebration," said Wallabout resident Jane Zusi, 44, who had fought a high-rise planned for 163 Washington Ave. "We drank a lot in my backyard and ate Junior's cheesecake."

The speed with which the city acted may have ended plans for the 16-story building there.

The Buildings Department halted work on the Washington Ave. property Wednesday, the same day the rezoning was approved.

"I wanted to save the architectural gems and exquisite properties in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill," said Councilwoman Letitia James (WFP-Fort Green), credited with making sure the normal seven-month city review process was condensed to just longer than three months.

The 99-block rezoning allows for high-rise development along the area's commercial strips, and offers incentives to developers who include affordable housing.

The fate of other planned towers remained in doubt.

Buildings had yet to rule yesterday on whether projects at 99 Grand Ave. and 120Adelphi St. would be grandfathered in under the old zoning and allowed to rise to 11 stories.

Neighbors were less certain about their victory over these buildings, but said they were looking for ways to fight, nonetheless.

"These people should not be building under the old zoning. They should be forced to comply with the new zoning," said Enid Braun, 57.

But Antonio Calvo, owner of 120 Adelphi St., said he thought the rezoning should have allowed for more development in Wallabout between Myrtle and Park Aves.

"I have been a responsible developer - always respecting the architectural aspects of the community," he said, promising to build something unlike Fort Greene's sleek Greene House condo building that kick-started the community efforts to rezone.

In particular, there will be no glass and aluminum, he said, adding that he plans to move into a duplex in the building if it's approved.

Admiral's Row - one more time

A local preservationist is lobbying to give a full pardon for the Admirals’ Row site.

But local officials continue to say that the 10 mansions along Flushing Avenue built between 1858 and 1901, which once housed naval officers and their families, needs to be razed for a supermarket.

Scott Witter, curator of Brooklyn’s Other Museum of Brooklyn, wrote Governor Eliot Spitzer recently asking for the mansions’ reprieve from the wrecking ball.

“I am but one American, yet Admiral’s Row is mine and belongs to every citizen of the United States of America,” wrote Witter.

U.S. naval history versus fresh produce - Many support new supermarket as wrecking ball looms for Admiral’s Row
By Stephen Witt from the Fort Greene Courier

For more information (and more accurate information), see http://www.hdc.org/e-bulletin03_11.htm

Lessons from Myrtle Avenue: What Not to Do

Check out this interesting posting (and illustrative image) in Myrtle Minutes (the blog of the MARP; the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project)

http://www.myrtleavenue.org/blog/index.cfm/2007/2/5/What-NOT-To-DO-Remove-Historic-Detail