'Middle finger' luxury tower plan tests Ridgewood residents and local councilmember
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Ridgewood Tenants Union organizer Ruth Gil educates a Ridgewood resident about a proposed 300-foot-tall luxury tower at the site of a Food Bazaar on Gates Avenue. Eagle photo by David Brand.
By David Brand
A proposal for a high-rise luxury apartment complex in Ridgewood has put longtime residents and the local councilmember in a bind, with the project’s developer suggesting it will build a 300-foot-tall tower without any affordable units unless the city consents to a rezoning.
Under the area’s current zoning, developer Avery Hall Investments could construct a 24-story, 200-apartment tower on the site of a Food Bazaar at 1590 Gates Ave. A contextual rezoning would enable Avery Hall to construct a shorter, but much bulkier complex that features 375 market-rate apartments and 150 affordable units, according to plans published by Avery Hall. That’s the plan the developer seems to favor.
“Some people might see it as a threat, but I don’t take it that way,” Councilmember Antonio Reynoso told the Eagle of Avery Hall’s two plans. “I want to believe people are innately good.”
Reynoso says there’s a third option for the development. He thinks the city can still entice Avery Hall to build a 100 percent affordable complex in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, where home and rental prices have surged in the past five years.
“Avery Hall is not objecting to 100 percent affordable housing if they felt the subsidies are there,” he said.
The developer has said it supports the rezoning plan, which would enable the company to build 175 additional units of market-rate housing. Avery Hall did not respond to requests for comment from the Eagle as of press time.
Under federal guidelines, units priced at 165 percent of Area Median Income — currently $96,100 for a family of three — would count as “affordable housing.”
Avery Hall Investments, the project developer, could build 200 market-rate apartments under existing zoning. A rezoning would enable the developer to build a larger building that includes affordable housing. Image via Avery Hall.
Reynoso said a 400-space parking requirement would make the site particularly pricey for Avery Hall without the rezoning. He also speculated that the “substantial subsidies” would enable the developer to earn more from the 100 percent affordable proposal than the project allowed under current zoning.
“We don’t want this building and we know you [the developer] don’t want this building,” Reynoso said. “Because there is horrible, outdated zoning, it has relegated us to negotiate with a developer [from that position].”
“You can do a project that works for the community, works for the city and works for the developer,” he added.
Ridgewood Tenants Union organizer Ruth Gil said a 100-percent affordable complex would work best for Reynoso — because it means longtime residents would remain in the neighborhood.
“If all of his supporters are displaced, who’s going to vote for him?” Gil said, as she handed out fliers about the proposal outside Food Bazaar on Saturday.
“We don’t have a big ‘middle finger’ building yet,” she added. “But if it’s 24 stories, that’s a building you see in Manhattan. That would be our middle finger building.”
The Food BazAar on gates avenue. Photo by david brand
Gil said that the rezoning plan is not much better for the neighborhood. She and RTU are advocating for the 100 percent affordable complex that Reynoso thinks is still a possibility.
Her sister Ana Gil, 21, said the organization is targeting residents who may be in denial about the scope of the project.
“They’re saying, ‘It’s not going to happen.’ But it’s been happening all over Ridgewood and Bushwick,” Ana Gil said.
It’s happening over many other parts of Queens, too.
A Target is set to replace a Key Food in Astoria and another in Elmhurst. A pricey housing boom in Flushing is raising rents for local businesses and forcing the closure of longtime shops and eateries.
The same could happen at 1590 Gates Ave., located a block from the Myrtle-Wyckoff subway station. There the M train meets the L, a train line that has become shorthand for gentrification.
“I’ve been living here my whole life and I’ve been going to Food Bazaar forever. I know people who work here,” Ana Gil said. “They’re benefiting the community … Where are we going to go to buy our groceries?”
