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February 23, 2008
Downturn! Big D’Town project hits the brakes
The Brooklyn Paper
Dana Rubinstein
Last month’s abrupt shutdown of a major development project near Metrotech is a setback for planners’ lofty vision of a new, 24-7 business and residential mini-city in Downtown Brooklyn, said experts this week.John Catsimatidis, the owner of the Gristedes supermarket chain, who tore down a Laundromat, pharmacy and grocery store along two Myrtle Avenue blocks in preparation for a 660-unit, mixed-income residential development, has halted the project — temporarily, he says — blaming both the credit crisis and the lack of affordable housing bonds.
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On the one hand, Catsimatidis could abandon the project’s 215-unit affordable housing component altogether and just build market-rate units, but then he’d also be passing up some tax incentives.
So is taking away a neighborhood's amenities and leaving a giant blighted hole keeping him up at night?
“We’re being a little extra cautious,” he said. “You wouldn’t want to jump in a swimming pool unless there’s water in there.”
Too bad neighborhood residents didn't have a chance to not jump in the waterless pool...
Posted by amy at February 23, 2008 11:22 AM