The Showdown is over. Competing views over the future of this wonderful, innovative and creative Brooklyn, NY Sunset Park, Industry City area were just too divisive for it to work.
Sunset Park community activists, residents and advocacy groups expressed that the rezoning would accelerate more gentrification and displacement in the area. On the other side of this issue, the rezoning would have been helpful to the city and be a continuation of the wonderful progress already made in the area. Andrew Kimball, chief executive of Industry City says “ if a project like this can't suceed, it concerns me very much about the future of New York City”.
Since 2013 Industry City has grown to become a wonderful tapestry of 500+ small businesses and artisans. The project developer Jamestown wanted to build on this success and momentum and add more retail, businesses and academic facilities.
The bottom line for this project proposal being scrapped was that there was too much opposition for the developers of Industry City.
Carlos Menacha who represents Sunset Park on the City Council who opposed the rezoning says “ the proposal's defeat was a win for Sunset Park and our work continues as a community voice that drives the growth and future of our neighborhood”.
According to Eric Ulrich, a council member from Queens “ we are sending such a terrible message to the rest of the country that we're not open for business and we're not open to economic development and new jobs”.
Unfortunately, the decision to withdraw their zoning application makes clear that this is a new low point for the New York Real Estate Industry and that Amazon's abandonment of a Long Island City Headquarters was not an outlier.
The City Planning Commission did approve the rezoning proposal but only 3 City Council Members out of 26 votes needed to pass came out in favor of it.
For now, that's the end of that.
If you are interested in selling your property or you know someone who is planning to sell their Brooklyn or New York property, whether a single family residential property, an apartment building, a commercial property, mixed use, multi family, coop or condo, vacant land or a development opportunity, call us. You will be very happy that you did.
We always bring our clients the top market price for their property and provide exceptional personalized service from initial consultation to closing.
Thank you,
Accord Real Estate Group
Your Brooklyn Realtors
