The Bedford Union Armory Sold for $1!
After two years of meetings the truth has finally come out!
At the public hearing of the ULURP process at Community Board 9, June 19, 2017, BFC (the developers) finally spoke the truth about 1/3 of an entire city block being sold to BFC for $1 to create 56 multi-million dollar condos.
Removal of Condos Require New ULURP Process
Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo has stated NO to the development of the Condos, and if that is removed from the deal, it would require a whole new ULURP process!
However, BFC is not going to forgo, getting almost 1/3 of a City Block for a $1, and thus Laurie’s position on saying No to this deal is just smoke and mirrors. Because a true No would be shutting this entire process down and forcing the developers to do a completely new ULURP process.
NO Financial Records Disclosed!
BFC stated they are not allowed to disclose the financial records of this project, despite this being a non-profit organization buying public land and 2/3’s of the money to build this project is coming from public monies!
Second Deal of $1!
This is the second parcel of land under Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo domain, that has a $1 price tag, the other is 15 Lafayette that was sold in 2015.
“No with Conditions” is a cover for Laurie to say Yes!
According to BFC, this deal will be changing as it goes through the ULURP process. Thus they are seeking a “No with Conditions” from Community Board 9 under the pretense that further negotiations are going to happen. However, this type of vote, is really a ploy that will allow Laurie Cumbo to turn her decisions from a NO to a Yes. She will say, BFC changed the conditions and thus did what the community wanted and now I’m saying yes.
However these changes will not be the elimination of the sale, because that would trigger a completely new ULURP process. It would be some minor concessions like instead of 18 truly affordable units in those two luxury buildings there will be 25!
Impossible for any major changes to be done.
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brunner and Mr. Greenfield, land use chairman for the NYC council have stated the impossibility of any major changes to an application once it is in the ULULP process.
Community Benefits
A group of non-profits, and District Leader Davis have been promised $6 a square foot within this development and in return they are pushing for this deal.
The use of the facilities by the community will be at a discounted rate, to be determined later.
However the most outrageous deal to date is the 500,000 a year, that the former Assemblyman Clarence Norman’s, (a convicted felon, who was involved in thievery, corruption, stealing of funds etc, and who lost his license to practice law), church will be getting.
It has been noted that it isn’t the two luxury towers that will be pure profit for the developers but the buying of city own land for $1 that will enable the recreational facilities and the above community benefits to be done.
Enforcement of Community Benefits.
If BFC doesn’t adhere to the community benefits the City will enforced it it by the removal of the "Certificate Of Occupancy". This certificate allows a building to be utilized and without it all of those 335 families will be removed.
Now what is the likely hood that NYC will push out 335 luxury apartment dwellers out of their apartments, because BFC hasn’t given the community the benefits that they agreed to! You guessed it! NONE!
Not only will they not enforce this provision, but they never have!!! Thus BFC is going right into this deal, knowing full well that they don’t and won’t be doing any community benefits.
Without Community Benefits.
Because the land by this time will not belong to the people, without those community benefits, anyone wanting space in the facility will be paying market rate and of course all those discounted rates for the kids and adults to be apart of the recreational faculty will now cost.
The facility will be private, to be used primarily for the new residents who have either brought or rented the luxury apartments.
Changing from Residential to Commercial.
The other major change is moving from a residential zone to a mixed zone, with commercial on the bottom. Despite the developers promise not to have commercial (so why put the commercial zone there) the developers will be able to put all kinds of commercial spaces in the Armory, (movie theaters, shows, hotels, restaurants, bars, boutiques etc..)
Can you see the vision now! A whole city block devoted to the rich! With its own private pool, tennis court, movie theatre, restaurants, bars etc… Right in the heart of Brooklyn, just minutes away from the Brooklyn Museum, Prospect Park, Brooklyn Public Library etc…
This Project is a play land for the rich.
What Can You Do?
We are meeting every week during the Summer of 2017 to stratergize about what we can do. We intend to file a lawsuit to let a judge review this situation and make a decision if this project is just simply a public giveaway that amounts to mis-appropriation of funds/assets.
What we must remember is that City own land does not belong to our elected officials it belongs to the people. The politicians are simply the guardians of the land, they can not do what ever they want with it, as if it is their own personal property and thus we will challenge this project.
We are very much aware that this blatant giveaway of huge public assets probably comes with a lot of donations to Laurie Cumbo and Mayor de Blasio that will eventually come out in the wash, however in the meantime, we can't let this deal go through!
Crown Heights where the Bedford Union Armory resides, has the largest amount of displaced people in all of NYC! We are over saturated with homeless shelters and no permanent true affordable housing. There are over 70,000 people who are homeless in NYC, but instead of addressing this crisis by creating true affordable housing Laurie Cumbo is selling off the land for $1! That is outrageous!
Get Involved!
If you want to get involved then please contact us at the below number and find out when we will be meeting and if you want to support by giving money to our legal funds then just clink on this link to make a donation!
Thanks!