The Real Estate Board of New York to The Department of City Planning on The Atlantic Avenue Mixed Use Plan

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The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) is the City’s leading real estate trade association representing commercial, residential, and institutional property owners, builders, managers, investors, brokers, salespeople, and other organizations and individuals active in New York City real estate. REBNY appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Atlantic Avenue Mixed Use Plan, CEQR No. 24DCP019K.

REBNY supports the Atlantic Avenue Mixed Use Plan (AAMUP), which seeks to rezone 21 blocks in Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant to facilitate 4,599 housing units and vital commercial, office, retail, community facility, local service, and industrial space over the next decade. The plan includes the Special Atlantic Avenue Mixed Use District, allowing light industrial and residential uses to coexist while ensuring active streetscapes, aligning with City of Yes for Economic Opportunity. These changes are crucial for boosting housing development in a prime Brooklyn area and advancing the City’s efforts to address the housing crisis, following the recent passage of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity (ZHO).

Future rezonings, such as the AAMUP, are necessary to the success of ZHO. The proposed actions complement the changes created through ZHO such as the ability to utilize Universal Affordability Preference, eliminate or reduce parking minimums, and include new typologies of small and shared housing. Importantly, the mapping of residential districts within the project area will trigger Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and facilitate the development of affordable housing in these community districts.

REBNY applauds the Department of City Planning and Councilmember Crystal Hudson’s work to establish the AAMUP rezoning. New York City needs to add 500,000 new units over the next ten years to meet the city’s ever-growing population needs. The proposed actions including a zoning map and text change, disposition of City-owned property, Urban Development Action Area designation, and Urban Development Action Area Project approval will facilitate both housing and job growth, responding to a need for housing for new and existing residents.

Thank you for your consideration of these points.