DailyHeights

From the “Affordable Housing for The People” dept.:
That Grand Army Plaza condo development tentatively known as 1 Prospect Park: exactly how massive will it be? Nearly double the size we thought? Assiduous reader Quig writes in: “From today’s NYT. I almost spit coffee on my laptop.”

Today’s NYT: “Mr. Meier has taken a similar hands-on approach to a residential building he is designing in Brooklyn on Grand Army Plaza overlooking Prospect Park. The 30-story condominium includes 120 units, most of which have balconies with park views.”

Huh. There was some “discussion” of this at a community meeting about a year ago, and a few people were fuming about the long shadow this would cast–not to mention the problems a ginormous condo complex could inflict on St. John’s Place (i.e. sanitation issues and traffic from an underground garage).

The funny thing is, until today, we were under the impression that the condo would be only 16-18 stories in height. From The Real Deal, just a few months ago(Sept.-Oct. 2004): Architect Richard Meier, who designed the celebrity magnet towers at 173-176 Perry Street, is working on a new project in Prospect Heights. The building, on Eastern Parkway, is for developer Mario Procida of Seventeen Development LLC and should be ready in two years. It will be 16 to 18 stories tall, and feature one-, two- and three-bedroom units, but will “not be luxury,” Meier told New York magazine.

By the way, “Not Luxury” will be defined as affordable to the top 1% of Brooklyn families, as opposed to the usual cut-off of 0.5%. It’s a development for The People! (CAUTION: This is humor.)

According to Property Shark, the lot is still owned by the Union Temple; the lot is currently being used for parking. We are in touch with sources close to Union Temple, so stay tuned for updates.

Links:
For Act II, Architect Gets More Hands-On [New York Times]
Ownership of 17 Eastern Parkway [PropertyShark]
New Residential Developments [The Real Deal]