Brooklyn's Progress
June/July 2009

BY JILL D’AMICO

One can’t make mention of Brooklyn’s substantial growth and renaissance without giving credit to the real estate boom that descended upon the borough in recent years. That boom’s bust has been the cause of economic woes, but makes no mistake, Brooklyn is still building.

Thanks to ambitious rezonings, valuable incentives and neighborhood efforts, the borough has been able to stay hospitable to the people and businesses that continue to do business here each month. Cranes dot the skyline from Greenpoint to Gravesend, and many properties planned in flush times are coming onto the market today.

Taking a look at how the Brooklyn landscape has changed in the last few years, 

Mapping Growth
The Bloomberg administration has made rezoning a priority. Since 2002, 94 rezonings, covering over 7,300 blocks, have been adopted by the city, with more in the pipeline. Following a general guideline of hi-rise corridors along main streets and low-rise residential areas, the rezonings have at times been the focus of protracted battles between neighborhood advocates.

Sunset Park is going through a rezoning now, the result of two years of work on the part of the community and Department of City Planning.

The rezoning is good news for the community, according to Randy Peers, chairman of Community Board 7, which covers Sunset Park. It will allow for sustained growth along 7th Avenue while retaining the character of the inner blocks, as well as the views of New York Harbor that can be seen from much of the neighborhood.

“I’m excited and relived all in one breath,” said Mr. Peers. “I think it’s helpful for the businesses that have naturally taken to that area, many that directly serve the growing Chinese community.”

The guidelines also legitimize some businesses that have set up shop along 5th Avenue in second floor, by allowing for greater density along the avenue.

“It doesn’t negatively impact businesses anywhere,” said Mr. Peers. The zoning, which is now on its way to Borough President Marty Markowitz’s office, aimed to achieve four things:

We sought to provide some contextual zoning protections, it preserves the view corridor from Sunset Park to the harbor, it allows for the preservation and incentivizes some creation of affordable housing, which is a desperate need, and it allows for some growth where the infrastructure can sustain it – in particular on 7th Avenue,” he said.

By allowing for higher density around commercial strips, businesses can grow and thrive along them, bringing local shopping opportunities to residents and visitors alike.

Other notable rezonings have included Bedford-Stuyvesant, which was performed at the request of Community Board 3, and covered a 206-block area in the southern half of the neighborhood and “aims to preserve neighborhood scale and character, maintain opportunities for mid-rise apartment building construction along appropriate corridors, and allow for residential growth with incentives for affordable housing along the Fulton Street transit and retail corridor,” according to the city. Also recently rezoned was Flatbush, in an approximately 180-block area to preserve neighborhood character and scale and to create opportunities and incentives for affordable housing. Both of these projects aimed to preserve the low-density of the residential areas while allowing for larger growth on retail corridors.

A controversial rezoning that is still undergoing revisions was the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning, which involved allowing for more height along the waterfront areas, and allowed for incentives for affordable housing.  Critics charge that the acres of parkland and green space the neighborhood was promised along with the rezoning have yet to materialize.

Incentives for Growth
Those incentives, be it for affordable housing to manufacturing businesses, have made their mark on the borough’s landscape as well.

One of the most well-known examples has been Downtown Brooklyn, the third-largest commercial district in the city. After a comprehensive rezoning in 2001 and the creation of a development plan that would prime the area to become a major commercial and office hub, the city created a suite of incentives and benefits to lure businesses over the bridge to Brooklyn.

The marketing campaign is in full swing – a recently launched Web site – http://www.itsthemoment.com/ – touts Downtown Brooklyn as a business, cultural, educational and residential destination.

Hosting institutes of higher education, restaurants and with ample hotel rooms coming on the market in the near future, advocates want Downtown Brooklyn to draw the city’s best and brightest.

Tax benefits include Relocation and Employment Assistance Program (REAP), a 12-year tax credit against New York City business taxes for businesses that relocate from Manhattan, Commercial Real Estate Tax (CRT) Abatement, and numerous property improvement, energy and expansion abatements. 

Business Districts
With commercial corridors carefully built into neighborhoods, it makes sense that the number of Business Improvement Districts has increased as well. The Bloomberg administration has been a staunch advocate of these public-private partnerships – the number of Brooklyn BIDs more than doubled since 2001. Over 60 BIDs have been created since the program’s New York City inception more than 20 years ago.

The city boasts that over $80 million worth of services has been brought to more than 70,000 businesses in neighborhoods across the five boroughs thanks to its network of BIDs.

Usually started by a civic improvement association, BIDs usually work by collecting fees from commercial tenants along a commercial corridor, which goes to maintaining and improving the streetscape, storefronts, capital improvements and neighborhood.

There are 21 BIDs in Brooklyn, including Bay Ridge 5th Avenue, Church Avenue, Myrtle Avenue and the most recent – the Bed-Stuy Gateway BID.

Organizers say the BID is a vital part of keeping Bedford Stuyvesant businesses competetive.

"I applaud Councilmember Al Vann, his colleagues at City Council and Mayor Bloomberg for partnering with the business and property owners of Bedford-Stuyvesant and allowing us to take some control over the safety, cleanliness and direction of the district that is our livelihood," remarked Edmon Braithwaite, co-chairman of the Bed-Stuy Gateway BID Steering Committee and owner of numerous businesses in the area, in a press release. "Bedford-Stuyvesant business owners cannot afford to sit idly by as our potential customers are scared off by streets that are dirtier, less attractive and less safe than our competing areas. In these trying economic times, we need every competitive advantage we can get. The BID will allow us to control the experience our customers will have when they walk down our streets to visit to our stores."

"The formation of the Bed-Stuy Gateway BID is truly a result of grass-roots leadership wanting to effect positive change in their community," said Colvin Grannum, President/CEO of Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, a co-sponsor of the BID initiative, in the same press release. "Restoration is proud to have provided the technical assistance and support that was necessary to empower local leadership to push for the formation of the BID."

"This new Business Improvement District – located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of north-central Brooklyn – is one of the busiest hubs of commercial activity in the borough. It includes a diverse mix of about 307 regional and national chain stores along with independently owned businesses,” Mayor Bloomberg said at the bill signing back in March. “The services provided to the community are essential to ensuring that small businesses, and the neighborhoods in which they operate, are given every opportunity to succeed.”

Brooklyn's Booming!

Spurred by recent trend items in the media citing the reduction in Manhattan rents portends a mass exodus outward, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce offers up these ideas to help you remember why you’re here in the first place.

• Follow Brooklyn’s development through its architecture from the brownstone belt, to the stately Victorians of Flatbush and the elegant apartment buildings of Ocean Parkway, there is somewhere to live that fits every lifestyle.
• The overall decrease in housing prices, combined with the $8,000 federal stimulus tax credit, makes this the best opportunity for first-time Brooklyn home buyers in years.
• Need a new apartment? Your landlord just might offer to cover the broker’s fee or throw in a month’s free rent to close the deal.
• The burgeoning development of shared work spaces is allowing creative entrepreneurs and freelancers to thrive in office environments - without the associated costs.
• Brooklyn, a borough of neighborhoods, offers the most and best food options of any American city: try pizza in Bensonhurst, falafel in Midwood, Pakistani cuisine along Coney Island Avenue, Chinese food in Sunset Park and West Indian specialties throughout East Flatbush.
• New restaurant permits are up 25% in the first three months of this year, showing increased consumer confidence and a growing number of food options to look forward to. 
• The addition of four new business improvement districts in the last year increases the cleanliness, safety and shopping experiences in our commercial corridors.
• New performing arts venues are continuously opening, some in areas that have been underserved by the arts. Check out Chamber Member Bell House, in Gowanus on Seventh Street.
• The city continues to improve infrastructure throughout the borough.  Look for on-going projects such as a new park and street improvements on Fulton Mall, roadwork throughout the borough and reconstruction of the Coney Island Boardwalk, just to name a few funded projects. The newly completed Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian improvements, including a artistic light installation, is worth going out of your way for.
• Don’t forget Brooklyn’s world class cultural destinations: The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Prospect Park, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, NY Aquarium and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

- Compiled by Lori Raphael, Director, Real Estate & Development, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce