No Land Grab

"They say it's going to happen, but that's about it. We want to know when."

In a wheelchair and recovering from a stroke, Harmon is one of at least 25 residents in two buildings on Pacific St. bracing themselves for a move when construction begins on the proposed project.

The 22-acre, $3.5 billion plan calls for 9 million square feet of office and residential space in a building to rise as high as 620 feet.

Harmon and other tenants received letters this summer from Forest City Ratner promising new digs at prices similar to what they're currently paying.

Harmon, who draws Social Security checks, pays $180 for her rent-controlled apartment.

"Nobody wants to go, but you gotta go - you have to," said Harmon. "But what do you want me to do? Fight it? They say it will be good for the neighborhood."

Forest City Ratner spokeswoman Lupe Todd said Harmon has not responded to the letter, but that the company would answer any of her questions.

"Our goal is to make the move as comfortable as possible for her once it takes place," Todd said.

If all goes as planned, it will be Harmon's first move since 1942, the year neighbors on her block began displaying stars on their windows to honor sons and daughters fighting in World War II.

It also was the year she and hundreds of other Brooklynites lost their jobs at the nearby Julius Kayser lace factory, which closed shop following union strikes, only to reopen in Pennsylvania.

Decades later, her son Ed would sneak chocolate from the Chunky candy factory that sat behind their apartment on Dean St.

"My mother expected to die there - it's as simple as that," said Ed Harmon, 49, who still lives in the neighborhood.

"The nice thing is her friends take care of her. That's what's going to be missed - not the shell of the buildings; that's neither here nor there - but the community."