Cory Kantin says she’s lived in Williamsburg for more than a decade and that rental prices for apartments have doubled. Kantin thinks new construction may be to blame.

“The community has development fatigue and also a really hard time with affordable housing,” said Cory Kantin.

Kantin is worried about a developer’s plan to build two apartment towers — one of them about 700 feet tall by the same company that recently developed the Domino Sugar Factory residential and commercial buildings next door. 

“There’s been a lil of a shift, change in terms of the community,” said Kantin. “The current proposal really doesn't provide enough to offset the market rate units so it’s a deep discussion for a neighborhood that really, really needs some affordability.”

David Lombino, the managing director of Two Trees Management, says roughly a third of the 1,000 apartment units would be affordable. They’re also proposing a sandy beach along the East River, part of a new six-acre public park, half on land and half on water. Lombino says they hear the community’s concerns loud and clear.   

“What we heard was we want to see this project, but we want to see changes, we want to see additional affordability,” said Lombino. “The rezoning process takes several months and it goes through several phases and we expect there will be changes based on what we heard at the community board level,” Lombino added.  

“We would like to see it,“ said Rosangel Perez, co-owner of Botanikal Metaphysical Boutique. Perez says this development is needed. She’s part owner of a boutique one block away from the site.

“I would have to say, as a small business owner, small businesses back bone of the country. We’ve been hit hard. We started seeing more traffic when Domino Park opened, so that’s a positive.”

“We need to fight and say no and get a higher level of affordability,” said Kantin.  

Kantin says she’s worried about how the plan would impact the neighborhood and she’s not alone. An online petition has more than eight thousand opposition signatures. 

For her it’s mainly about affordability.

"Otherwise who’s really going to be able to live in Williamsburg,” said Kantin.