Under current land use rules, Levitan could only add an extra floor to the two-story buildings currently on each lot. That proposed project would feature 2,195 apartments, including 1,636 without price limits and 559 reserved for low- and middle-income renters under the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. Six years later, a representative for the property owners presented the new plan for two high-rise buildings with a majority of units to be rented at market-rate, the kind of development residents had fought to keep out. Subsequently, the new ownership group renovated and repainted one of the Arlington Village sections - while leaving roughly 100 hollowed-out apartments on Reyes’ side to sit vacant and boarded up. But after rallies and negotiations with local elected officials, the city agreed to carve Arlington Village out of the 190-block upzoning plan for East New York.
In 2015, a group of investors purchased Arlington Village ahead of a controversial neighborhood-level rezoning pursued by Mayor Bill de Blasio that aimed to spur more development in the low-rise area. This isn’t the first time Arlington Village residents have feared losing their homes. “Are they going to do the same thing to everyone else that they’re doing here?” Fears of Displacement “That’s news to me that they’re going to do it in 10 years,” Reyes said. Tenants in rent-stabilized apartments are entitled to a lease renewal, but the owner could opt to keep their units vacant if they choose to leave. That goal, tenants assert, could incentivize the owners to cut off services and ignore repairs, just like they have in the brown brick building Reyes and his family have seen fall apart under past landlords over the past three decades. “We are excited to work with the tenants and the community to get this project moving so that we can build something that helps tackle the housing shortage and gives the community the amenities that they want and deserve,” said spokesperson Rich Bamberger.īut existing tenants and local housing advocates told City Limits and THE CITY that they had never been informed of this apparent about-face.Īnd while the investors say they are holding off demolition for one of the existing buildings, they concede that they would like to replace the other - currently occupied by dozens of rent-stabilized tenants - with a new tower about 10 years down the road. They’ve offered existing residents apartments in the remaining, recently refurbished section of the complex, with the same rents. Levitan and his investor group still want to file a rezoning proposal that would enable them to build two massive complexes in the future, he said, but in the near term, they only plan to demolish one of the two sections in the complex and build a single tower in its place. In response to questions from City Limits and THE CITY, a spokesperson for David Levitan, the principal developer behind the project, said the plans have changed since that community board presentation. “You’ve got so many people looking for homes and they have so much rental space, but instead of working with people it’s all about money.” “We’re frustrated because they’ve got us living like this and all he’s trying to do is to get us out of the apartment,” Reyes said. The property owner promised to bring hundreds of additional “affordable” units to the site but made only vague promises about its “hope to keep” longtime residents in the community - fueling fears of displacement. Last fall, the Arlington Village owners presented a plan to Brooklyn’s Community Board 5 that envisioned replacing the two-story brick buildings containing 210 units with two modern, glass high-rises reaching as high as 14 floors. Members and sponsors make THE CITY possible.
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