Brooklyn's Progress
August/September 2007

BY JILL SHEEHY
 
Plans for a proposed rezoning of the southern end of Bedford-Stuyvesant are zooming along, having been granted the blessings of Community Board 3 and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. The plan now awaits its fate, with a Department of City Planning hearing scheduled for Aug. 8 and only needs the blessing of the City Council to proceed.

The plans affect a 206-block area, and aim to preserve the neighborhood’s scale and character, according to reports. Local streets will be downzoned to keep the low-rise character, while commercial corridors, most notably Fulton Street, will be upzoned, allowing for mid-rise construction with incentives for affordable housing.

A predominantly low-rise residential neighborhood, Bedford-Stuyvesant is well-known for its historic brownstones with small front yards and stately stoops, as well as bustling commercial strips. The area to be rezoned forms a rectangular shape along the south side of the neighborhood, bordered by Lafayette Avenue and Quincy Street to the north, Classon Avenue to the west, Saratoga Avenue and Broadway to the east, and Atlantic Avenue to the south.

And while preservationists cheer the downzoning of the residential areas, local businesses are concerned about change along their retail strips.

Ironically, the Fulton-Nostrand United Merchants Association is in the process of forming a business improvement district, which Joyce Turner, who is president of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Real Estate Board and on the board of the Fulton-Nostrand United Merchants Association (FNUMA), now expects will help arm the local businesses for the changes. Ms. Turner is on that BID’s steering committee.

“There’s good parts [to the proposed zoning],” said Ms. Turner. “We want the neighborhood to have the quality it did in the past, and there are a lot of properties being built now that do not.”

Peter Schubert, senior director at Massey Knakal and another proponent of the BID, said the zoning serves two benefits, in keeping the context of the brownstone residential neighborhood, while also driving growth on commercial strips – not only on Fulton Street, but Malcom X Boulevard and Tompkins, and Franklin Avenues.

“It improves the density where people recognize as needed areas for retail,” he said. “It will encourage some redevelopment, but you want retail not just concentrated on one avenue, but others to make it successful. It just makes sense.”

“Fulton Street is not a destination – it happens to be there ‘and I’m walking by so I pick something up,’” said Mr. Schubert, pointing out that many Bedford-Stuyvesant residents travel to shop in nearby Fort Greene or at Atlantic Terminal. “This hopefully will make it more attractive for retailers and business owners as well as residents.”

Retail Concerns
Ms. Turner agreed that the zoning will make Bedford-Stuyvesant more attractive for retailers, but some smaller business owners are worried over maintaining their presence in the area as bigger retailers are lured in.

“In a way it will improve the present values of the owners,” she said. “But we’re going to be listening to them. Some moms and pops – when something like this happens – fear they are going to be pushed out. That’s going to be a concern.”

“Absolutely, the overall consensus is positive,” said Mr. Schubert. “There’s a lot of fear that these kinds of things are targeted to help get them out, but that’s not the case at all,” he added, saying that recent neighborhood meetings have drawn concerned businesspeople. 

He conceded that while there is always some uncertainly, the upzoning is going to create more density and develop underutilized properties along Fulton Street and other corridors, and incentives for building to include affordable housing will win out.

Mr. Schubert also said that the proposed BID will help retailers to get the services they need, such as security, maintaining cleanliness, snow removal, holiday lighting, planters, “all the kinds of things that make an area attractive."