Coming on Dean Street next to playground, Park Edge: low-cost housing for 80-100 seniors. Specifics, timing yet unclear. Strained reference to Atlantic Ave. plan.

HPD Selects M/WBE-Led Development Team to Convert Parking Lot into Housing for Low-Income, Homeless Seniors in Central Brooklyn, city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) announced 8/8/23. 

The 17,145 square-foot lot, at 542 Dean Street between Sixth and Carlton Avenues, and adjacent to the Dean Playground, is currently used for city vehicles.

"The winning plan, Park Edge, gets its name from the site’s proximity to the highly active playground, basketball court, and ball field next door," the press release states. "As part of the design plans, Park Edge will create a new entrance to the park along with public seating and planted areas."

The press release is silent on the project's timing, the expected number of units, and the building's scale, but according to previous documents, the city had "committed to develop 80-100 senior units" (at 85-95 feet), thanks to an upzoning. Current zoning would allow 58 units at 55 feet. 

Any precedent?

From a previous overview:

This zoning bonus will allow for more homes to be built on each site which was a need expressed by elected officials, the Community Board and several community-based organizations who have conducted extensive outreach in the community.

That's undeniable--espeically since Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park hasn't delivered on the once-promised 225 senior apartments.

What's unclear, however, is whether the upzoning of this parcel (Site B, below), as well as another city-owned parcel (Site A) at 516 Bergen Street--specifics yet unrevealed, but it also will be low-income housing--will trigger the upzoning of nearby sites along Flatbush Avenue and other Prospect Heights streets, as some neighbors worried. 

See this October 2020 post for some discussion of context indicated in the annotated image below.

Here's coverage from News12.  Here's coverage from the Brooklyn Paper, which wrongly states, relying on some misleading text in that HPD press release, "The redevelopment is part of the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan," or AAMUP.

After all, the senior housing plan launched well before the AAMUP was conceived, and is well outside the primary study area boundaries.

What it might look like

The only image officially provided is the one above right, which cuts off the building at four stories, but a broader array are available from the Instagram of nArchitects, below.

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A post shared by nARCHITECTS (@narchitects_pllc)

The press release states:

The development team worked with nArchitects to design the building. Inspired by Brooklyn’s surrounding rowhouses and brownstones, particularly their traditional bay windows, Park Edge provides a pair of windows per unit to give the interior rooms a spacious feel and connect the building’s exterior into the neighborhood fabric. But Park Edge’s most defining feature is an exaggerated ground floor setback that widens an active sidewalk, allows the continuation of neighborhood gathering, and creates a new entrance and visibility to the neighboring Dean Playground.

The main firms involved are Jobe Development, Corp. (JDC), Mega Group Development (MGD), and the Institute for Community Living (ICL):

The team selected for the Dean Street site includes a reputable minority-owned affordable housing developer in JDC, a community-based nonprofit service provider in ICL, and an experienced development, general contracting, and construction management firm in MGD.

Some curious AAMUP references

Though planning for these projects started under Council Member Laurie Cumbo, the press release has several references to the Department of City Planning's pending Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan (AAMUP), which was requested by Cumbo's successor, Crystal Hudson.

This is well beyond the AAMUP primary study area, but is within the half-mile buffer--the outer oval below--"to identify other neighborhood plan opportunities, especially for public realm and capital investments." Again, this opportunity was identified well before the study began.

The press release states:

As part of the AAMUP context area, HPD’s selection reflects an early action towards meeting the community’s desire for affordable housing on city-owned lots, especially for low-income older adults.

That sounds like a response to the AAMUP discussions, rather than a predecessor. An alternative framing: the city can deliver results soon, as opposed to the likely outcome of the AAMUP plan, in which new housing would take several more years.

The press release also states:

“The selection of JDC, MGD, and ICL to transform this site into much-needed affordable housing is an important step towards meeting local and citywide housing goals, while advancing the priorities of the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan,” said Department of City Planning Director Dan Garodnick. “By prioritizing minority- and women-owned businesses, affordable housing, open space, and more, we’re delivering the results that Brooklynites have asked for through the AAMUP engagement process.”

Again, the results were in process well before Garodnick took office. The press release also states:

“Today’s announcement is a tangible and important step that brings our community one step closer to realizing an important goal for our city,” said Council Member Crystal Hudson. “Slated to serve as permanent housing for low-income and unhoused older adults, the project at 542 Dean Street has been integral to the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan (AAMUP), wherein our neighbors made it abundantly clear that deeply affordable permanent housing is a necessity to guarantee our community’s long-term vitality and wellbeing. I am excited to see this development move forward and proud that our efforts to make sure AAMUP was truly responsive to community needs helped move this project forward.”

It's hard to say 542 Dean would be "integral" to the AAMUP. Rather, its goals are in harmony with the plan, during which neighbors "highlighted the importance of maximizing 100% affordable housing on public sites."

AAMUP update coming

What's next? From the press release:

The AAMUP process will continue later this summer with the release of the Engagement Report from Council Member Crystal Hudson, DCP, and WXY Studio, which will summarize feedback from the community and distill recommendations from the public thus far.