Developer Of Rejected Plan For Towers Near BBG Sues City Planning

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — The developer behind two controversial apartment towers proposed for Franklin Avenue has sued the city over the Planning Commission's imminent rejection of the development, records show.

The lawsuit, first reported by Curbed, comes after Chair Marisa Lago said the commission would reject both the 34-story original proposal and a 17-story scaled-back version, which she told developers was not submitted with enough time to review.

The developers, Continuum, claim the alternate version — submitted to appease opponents who worry about the towers' shadow on the nearby Brooklyn Botanic Gardens — was submitted in line with the CPC's own deadlines, and should have been considered.

“They excluded our alternative scenario, which is arbitrary, capricious, and illegal,” Continuum CEO Ian Bruce Eichner told Curbed. “The goal is to have the court direct the City Planning Commission to take the hard look that’s required.”

The lawsuit, filed this week, is the latest in an ongoing back-and-forth surrounding the 960 Franklin Ave. development, which has been shot down by the local community board and the Brooklyn Borough President.

The developer have themselves faced two lawsuits surrounding the proposal given the harmful shadows the building would cast gardens and the level of affordability of its apartments.

Mayor Bill de Blasio also already came out against the rezoning.

Developers tout the nearly 800 apartments that would be designated as affordable in the tallest form of the towers, though neighbors have said the $39,800 to $95,520 required salary range would not help those most in need of affordable housing.

The 17-story alternative would include nearly 300 apartments designated as affordable with a $31,840 to $103,480 salary range, plans show.

City officials said Thursday that they stand behind the ongoing review of the project.

“The lawsuit is a baseless, last minute attempt by the developer to stop the vote on the [Uniform Land Use Review Procedure] application,” a lawyer for the Department of City Planning told Curbed.