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TWO TREES’ PLAN FOR GIGANTIC TOWERS IN W’BURG BEGINS REZONING PROCESS

The city officially allowed a massive development on the Williamsburg Waterfront to begin the long journey through the arduous rezoning process — potentially altering Brooklyn’s skyline with two enormous towers, a new park, and public beaches.

If the plan gets final approval, Brooklyn-based developers Two Trees Management would erect a 64-story tower and a 49-story tower that would house a combined 1,050 apartments, with 263 units earmarked as “affordable” under the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Program.

Most of the affordable housing units would be slated for residents making 60 percent of the area’s median income — with rents hovering around $1,427 for a one bedroom, and $1,963 for a three bedroom.

The proposal — designed by famed architect Bjarke Ingels — now enters the seven-month Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), during which Community Board 1 and the borough president will provide advisory recommendations, before binding votes by the mayor, the City Planning Commission, and the City Council.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Two Trees was forced to delay their ULURP application, which they’d hoped to complete before the end of 2021. Now, the company will need approval from the next mayor and the future City Council, all of whom will take office in January of 2022.

First, though, Community Board 1 will host a meeting of their Land Use committee on Sept. 1, and a full board meeting on Sept. 14.

Though it will be the beginning of ULURP for the project, it’s not the first time Two Trees has gone before the civic panel — two meetings in early 2020 brought packed houses and mixed reviews from attendees.

“The community board vote is obviously advisory, but it means a lot to us,” said Dave Lombino, a Two Trees spokesman.

Lombino pointed to the company’s past redevelopment of the narby Domino Sugar Plant as evidence of their commitment to the local community.

“We won approval from the community board for Domino in 2013, and I think we have met and exceeded expectations on that project from a community perspective,” he said.

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https://www.brooklynpaper.com/two-tr...burg-rezoning/