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June 16, 2006
ROOM$ WITH A VIEW
$3M in old bank building
Brooklyn Papers
By Dana Rubinstein
On the Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower rebranded as One Hanson Place by a Magic Johnson's development group:
Johnson says he’ll move into one of the 189 luxury units in the building, a short walk from Bruce Ratner’s proposed arena for the Brooklyn-bound New Jersey Nets.
“I’ll be able to walk to a Nets game,” said the former Los Angeles Lakers star, whose Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds spent an undisclosed amount to renovate the $70-million building.
While the well-heeled VIPs sipped martinis, a dozen members of ACORN, an affordable housing advocacy group, picketed outside to protest the absence of low-cost units.
But Johnson defended the project.
“It would be unfair to say we haven’t tried our hardest,” said Johnson. “But if the numbers don’t work, they don’t work … We have to answer to [our] investors.”
Buyers of luxury apartments in the building will benefit from the city’s 421-a tax-abatement program.
Posted by lumi at June 16, 2006 4:18 PM