Developers seek to convert warehouses zoned for commercial use to residential units.

Developers Wish They Could Build More in Crown Heights

Crown Heights is one of the fastest — if not the fastest — gentrifying neighborhoods in New York City, and the building of condos and rentals there can be a very profitable endeavor. However, due to various zoning ordinances that predate the surging demand for housing, developers are frustrated by empty warehouses in areas zoned for commercial use that cannot be converted to residential units, as well as many other building restrictions.

From Curbed:

Crown Heights is one of the fastest — if not the fastest — gentrifying neighborhoods in New York City, and the building of condos and rentals there can be a very profitable endeavor.

There are dozens of residential projects in the works, and even the Times has taken notice, dedicating an entire article to the up-and-coming Brooklyn neighborhood, sacrificing space that they could have used writing about people in Williamsburg who wear hats.

In short, Crown Heights is going to be very crowded, and very pricy, very soon, which explains why developers are now complaining that there are parts of the neighborhood they’re not allowed to residentially develop.

Click here to continue reading at Curbed

16 Comments

  • Too Bad

    Let the developers cry all they want. They don’t care about the neighborhood. They only care about money.

    • Milhouse

      So? What’s wrong with money? Why does anyone do anything, if not for money?

      ” It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens.”

  • Milhouse

    There is no justification for zoning laws. There never was any. Its only purpose is to generate bribes for those with the power to grant variances from those laws. How to use land should be entirely up to its owner. If the immediate neighbors want a piece of land not to be used for a purpose that would harm them, they can sign covenants or buy easements, and then the owner would need their permission to break them. But anyone who lives more than a block away has little or no valid interest in the matter, and should have no say. And those who do have a valid interest should not see their say swept away because some politicians decide it’s in the “public interest”.

    With covenants and easements, if you want to do something that you’ve promised not to, all you need to do is approach each of the people to whom you made that promise, and get their permission. The most obvious way to get it is to pay them. That’s not bribery, it’s entirely right and proper; it’s how things should be done. But with zoning, it’s a political process, and paying people for their vote becomes bribery and illegal, so you end up having to break the law and pay under the table, since without payment you will not get your variance. And the money, instead of going to the people who will be harmed, goes to the politicians.

    • pam

      if you move to a block with mized zoning uses you know what to expect: trucks coming going and idling, noise, the smell of processing materials, 24 work shifts, huge dumpsters emptied by carters at any hour, 24 hour powerful lighting, food trucks operating at all hours to feed shift workers, etc. Also, you might like the idea of more dense residential uses on a nearby avenue so that more retail moves into the neighborhood to serve the new population, but you may not want your low rise side street neighbors expanding their homes into their backyard if you bought the house to enjoy the sunny backyards. There are a lot of reasons for zoning

    • deed restrictions

      Here in Houston, most residential areas are covered by deed restrictions (akin to the covenants you mention). They are more difficult to enforce, but for the most part keep noxious businesses out of residential neighborhoods.

      What’s odd here, is that the opposition is to reclaiming commercial property so more people can live there.

  • Really now?

    Love the way u titled this one….. Like as if they wished tp build for the benefit of our community!!!!

  • DA

    So… Now it’s just pricey but soon it’ll be very pricey? Are they trying to drive us out with these crazy prices?!

    • Milhouse

      If these crazy zoning laws are not repealed, then yes, it will become even pricier. That’s what happens when the demand for something goes up, and supply can’t go up to meet it. That’s what should happen. Why would you expect it to be otherwise in this case? If you want prices to be lower than they would otherwise be, increase the supply.

  • residents

    of course we get no benefit, the yuppies and developers benefit and we end of suffering in cramped pricey conditions. We should all make our voices heard, dont allow rezoning. It only brings doom

    • Milhouse

      If you know nothing about economics, keep quiet. Increasing the supply of housing in the area must result in lower prices than would otherwise prevail. It’s impossible for it to do otherwise. Apartments are no different from hats; if hats come into fashion but no more hats are made than before, then the price has to go up. If, in response to the new demand, a new hat factory opens, the price has to go down.

    • pam

      just increase the supply?
      wrong
      manhattan and downtown brklyn have thousands more units than they did 20 years ago and the rent prices have gone way up

    • supply and lots of demand

      Most likely, demand will be high no matter how many housing units get built. In that case, housing prices will still increase, although not as fast as if we had high demand and the same supply. (Yes, like hats.)

      Usually, higher rents force out the (non-rent controlled) poor. Neighborhoods often get safer, but become harder for the blue collar working class to stay.

    • Milhouse

      Of course not. Kingston Ave is not zoned for warehouses. People are allowed to live there. This is from an area in the neighborhood where nobody is allowed to live, so the space has to be used for a suboptimal purpose, i.e. wasted. Instead of building apartments for people who want to live there, and will pay well for it, the landlord has to reserve the space for commercial tenants, who don’t pay as much. Everyone loses from this, except the commercial tenants, who get a bargain they don’t deserve. And the politicians, who expect to be bribed for a variance.

  • zoning

    zoning has to be regulated, there is no room for cars in CH.
    Of course, developers only want to make money
    Don’t you?

  • jewish dude

    We just need to go and live there if we as jews stick to getter and help each other buying homes for frumme yidden.