The Albemarle-Kenmore Terrace Historic District was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on July 11, 1978. The designation was due to the work of the Albemarle-Kenmore Neighbors Association (AKNA). A brief history of this effort will be found (here).

If you have an interest in the preservation of the buildings that comprise this district please subscribe. If you are a participant in the ongoing debate on the role of the NYC Landmarks Commission as a conservation partner in the city’s land-use development you are welcome to subscribe. The members of the AKNA will consider participation in support of your interests.

Chapter 74 of the New York City Charter (here) empowers the eleven-member commission to designate a landmark, landmark site, interior landmark, scenic landmark, or historic district. The membership of such commission shall include at least three architects, one historian qualified in the field, one city planner or landscape architect, and one realtor. The membership shall include at least one resident of each of the five boroughs.

The Montagues & The Chobans

I was a director of a community service department at Pratt Institute when I first came to Albemarle Terrace in the early and late 1970s. My students and I were conducting land use and building condition surveys for the Flatbush Development Corporation. At that time, there wasn’t a block in Flatbush that did not carry the burden of a vacant or abandoned building. The survey helped to prioritize the energy of a community-based nonprofit development corporation in its preservation efforts.

I also knew the area in our work for Irving Choban to produce an architectural details record of Flatbush Town Hall (Synder). As a lawyer and historian, he was tenacious in saving this High Victorian structure (more here), getting it on the National Register to prevent demolition in the late 60s. It became New York City Landmark in 1966. He was a tenacious man. He lived on Kenmore Terrace. He is why we live in a historic district.

In 1998, I brought my wife to see Albemarle Terrace and meet with Richard and Dorothy Montague. They raised their two boys and decided to move to upstate New York and sell their home on Albemarle Terrace. I knew Richard as a writer for the New York Post. The day Rupert Murdoch took it over, he and Roberta Gratz, author of “The Living City,” left the Post to its dust and grime. Along with Roberta, Richard’s greatest joy in writing is to chronicle moments directly in front of all of us. He wrote the following article about our little part of New York as an editorial for Newsday. I hope you enjoy it, and it is a beautiful bit of writing.  It describes what it was like in 1978 when they learned they had succeeded in sustaining a part of Brooklyn’s history through its architecture. 

Two Short Blocks of a Great City’s Past

Richard Montague (1931-2018) Newsday Sunday, July 23, 1978

“Like any place else, New York’s essential characteristics are rooted in times past.”

Nathan Silver, Lost New York

A little after 8 o’clock on a recent Wednesday evening, a Brooklyn lawyer named Irving Choban and his wife, Rosalind, had an open house for their neighbors.

The house is an attractive two-story brick structure on a dead-end street in northern Flatbush.  It is older than either of the Chobans; it is 59.  Along with 30 other similar buildings close by, it has been designated the day before by New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission as a part of a new “Albemarle-Kenmore Terraces Historic District.”

So, for the next couple of hours, in the Chobans’ comfortable living room at 2118 Kenmore Terrace as full of cheerful people, all members of the terraces’ block association, celebrating their official recognition.

That was a landmark for everybody too.  Represented by Choban, who is the official historian of Flatbush, and Donna Sanft of Albemarle Terrace, the association began asking its first hopeful questions about how to go about obtaining “landmark status” five years ago this fall.

The new Albemarle-Kenmore historic district is one of the smallest in New York.  There were 31 others Brooklyn Heights, for instance), plus 526 individual landmarks, 13 interior landmarks, including Radio City Music Hall, and five scenic ones, of which Central Park is the best known.  The commission has sought out, examined, and designated them all in only 13 years.

Sometimes the choices are easy, undisputed, and without commercial implications.  Other times, as demonstrated by years of litigation in the Grand Central Terminal case just decided – in favor of preservation –by the U.S. Supreme court, there could be intense, expensive contention.  In either case, the values involved are always appreciably more than financial.

The new Brooklyn landmark is “historic” because, as a commission survey puts it, the terraces built between 1916 and 1920 are “part of the general history of Flatbush.” They exhibit well cared for examples of the “neo-Federal” style;  include designs that developed from the English Garden City movement (adapted to Forest Hills Gardens in Queens in 1903); and were among the earliest row houses to have garages, setting a style that is now standard in many parts of New York.

But there are other features to be appraised; the languorous sway of the tree branches in the vagrant winds of idle summer afternoons; the cascades of red and yellow leaves and bouncing acorns from the oaks under the blazing blue sky of fall; the door wreaths, lights and family carolers at Christmastime, and the small back yards in spring, with their moist flowerbeds, budding shrubs and secret corners hiding moss and violets.

In his book of photographs and thoughts on “Lost New York,” the vanished buildings were torn down over the years, architect Nathan Silver quotes Lewis Mumford: “in the city time becomes visible.”  Silver thinks, “Architecture provides the only measurable way to discover the past in the urban environment.”

Discovering the past doesn’t interest everybody. Landmark designation is not automatic preservation of either monuments or neighborhoods. Some have subsided into decay.  Others have been daubed with graffiti, chipped, and hacked at, even hauled to scrap metal dealers.  Those that have escaped that kind of abuse are not always decently cared for.  There has not been a surplus of money for maintenance in recent years.

Nevertheless, the landmarks everywhere in the city serve honorable, dignified, and particularly today, invaluable purposes.  They are as different as possible from the fast-food architectural style common in much of New York construction.  They were created and built with care, imagination, and civilized intelligence.  They are sentinels of a kind, guarding tasteful traditions that are sometimes neglected as the landmarks themselves.  They have the artistic durability to reward admiration and care, no matter how long it has been deferred. 

Consequently, they are essential to New York’s recovery and restoration as belated fiscal reforms, a revival of industry, accessible jobs, and schools worth of the name.  It is inevitable that other monuments and buildings will join “Lost New York.”  The vitality of the living city depends a great deal on how many more are found, appreciated, and saved.

If you would like to participate in the ongoing preservation efforts please subscribe (here).

Introduction

Everyone’s neighborhood is the representation of national issues. The issues reported here describe how it affects me personally, my family, and my neighbors. Those issues can be explored and arranged in the carousels below. The benefits of content management systems used by websites and weblogs such as this one are “tags and categories,” In this case, the content is organized under the parent heading “My Neighborhood.” Sub-categories can then be assigned, such as Internet, politics and plans, and several others that examine issues that reflect my experience, that of my family, friends, and neighbors.

I live in a tiny place on a closed street with just twenty-two, three-story, brick buildings completed before 1920. The New York City Landmarks Commission accepted the residents’ application for designation as a historic district in 1978 (more here).

All of the following are arguments, so before exploring “the neighborhood” The Report recommends reading the basics first (here)

RLC

Local to Global Politics

The political structure of dense urban areas reveals the sense of position. It is similar to what a person knows as proprioception. Similar to a person, a political body can be professedly unknowing and still have the capacity to produce decisions and consensus. In effect, accepting faithful democratic leadership allows large populations to take steps up a metaphorical ladder without examining each rung.

Democratic leadership can call people to heroic efforts built on little more than intuitive knowingness of a good purpose. Don’t get this wrong, it can also lead people to bitterness and cynicism. Today, the problems of urban life require a deeper understanding of the ways political science links to the environmental sciences involved in running a city and making its neighborhoods capable of enduring and defeating stress.

The evidence that human beings can change their physiology by thought and intention is growing (here). Moreover, the way we care for ourselves is similar to the practice of managing and building cities. Medical research calls it an interoceptive focus. Urban anthropology calls it Anthropocene. These terms help encourage greater environmental intent in deciding how and where humans re-build the earth from the material of its crust and the goodwill that is natural to our souls.

The “activism” link below will take you to a page (image left) and an opportunity to conduct research and report on issues of importance to you, your community, and our common future in this unique part of the world.

Below, you will find descriptions of our political body as geographically associated with districts of representation. Following that a set of post/article carousels that sketch out ideas that interact with law, politics, and science from the “neighborhood up.” Please participate and enjoy.

Activism

My Neighborhoods (new to old and old to new)

Urban Politics (new to old and old to new)

Getting Internet (new to old and old to new)

The first issue was recognizing that getting access to high-speed internet was going to be difficult. But, it was vital for my kid and essential for me to work that became extremely important in 2020.

District Mapping (new to old and old to new)

222 East 21^st Street or 571 Ocean Avenue: In a brief look at the past work of this developer and architect, there are concerns regarding the use of materials and the lack of detailing, and the possibility that a brick façade and other contextual elements will be poorly done. If you are interested in doing some homework representing AKNA, use the Contact link.

Two reasons for compiling the following information for review so far:

1. Do whatever AKNA can do to assure the developer and architect will produce a development that meets or exceeds Quality Housing Standards. (see below)
2. Establish a relationship with city agencies (HPD, DoB, EPA), local organizations (FDC, CD14, CAMBA), and the City Council to encourage this result.  Why? The quality of the 21st facade is important.

Questions that need answers:

1. Who at HPD, DoB, will be conducting reviews and inspections?
2. Will it be 80/20 Inclusionary Housing?  The plan is for 115 Units.
3. What is the history and reputation of the Developer and the Architect?

More detail is available below. Articles on the project  “The Real Deal”

The New Apartment Building

The reported nine-story, 115-unit mixed-use building image is misleading. Nevertheless, new housing construction will begin soon on East 21st Street through-lot between Church Avenue and Albemarle Road. Search YIMBY news for the story (here).

The project could encompass 102,800 square feet and rise 80 feet in height. The proposed community facility space provides a floor area bonus, and its 58-car parking garage meets the 50% minimum. According to filed permits (building information system), The Real Deal notes that the project’s average apartment size of 712 square feet is indicative of rentals. The reported project height of nine stores exceeds limits defined by the R7A and may be presented this way to produce the appearance of a give back to community objections. (See R7A description below)

Nevertheless, the project could add about 300 new neighbors to the area and add density. The density issue triggers the attention of watchdog allies from the Flatbush Tenant Coalition, CAMBA, and other housing advocates regarding the enforcement of housing quality standards and rental housing affordability. Worthy of digging into the final deal sometime in early 2022 after the building tops off.

According to property records, the developer Bentley Zhao bought the property (through an LLC) in March for $11.5 million. The same developer also filed plans for a nine-story condominium building in Sheepshead Bay earlier this year.

The site (picture above) is cited as a safety hazard. It contains the skeleton of an abandoned construction project. Complaints and violations date ten years and include rusted and leaning steel beams and structurally unsound fencing. According to Property Shark, active violations include working without permits and other construction violations. The site is also described as a hazardous waste generator or transporter with a site address of 571 Ocean Avenue, which would be the address and suggests the hazardous materials issue is not resolved.  Contact Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting.  A particular concern would be asbestos made airborne in site preparation.

Established in 1987, the Quality Housing Program intends to maintain the architectural character of New York City neighborhoods. The program rules concern height, bulk, lot coverage, street line, and more. Quality Housing is mandatory in contextual R6-R10 districts but only optional in non-contextual R6-R10 districts.

The city is constantly upgrading its “zoning manual” but the facts are the same in the table above. The contextual Quality Housing regulations are mandatory in this R7A district. Typically, they produce high lot coverage, seven- and eight-story apartment building, and a blending in with existing buildings in established neighborhoods. R7A districts are mapped along Prospect Park South and Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, Jackson Heights in Queens, Harlem, and the avenues in the East Village in Manhattan. (The Richard Mier building at Prospect Park?) The floor area ratio (FAR) in R7A districts is 4.0. Above a base height of 40 to 65 feet, the building must set back to a depth of 10 feet on a wide street and 15 feet on a narrow street before rising to a maximum height of 80 feet. To preserve the traditional streetscape, the street wall of a new building can be no closer to the street line than any building within 150 feet on the same block but need not be farther than 15 feet. Buildings must have interior amenities for the residents under the Quality Housing Program. Off-street parking is not allowed in front of a building. Parking is required for 50% of all dwelling units.

Corridor Floor Area Deduction

Quality Housing grants two corridor deductions from the total floor area. Section 28-14 allows a 50% deduction of corridor floor area if there is a 20 square foot window in the corridor. Section 28-31 allows a 50% deduction if the dwelling units served by the corridor are less than the allowance in the section’s table. For instance, 50% of the corridor’s floor area is deductible if a corridor serves ten units or less, offering some design flexibility trade-offs.

Recreational Floor Area Deduction

Quality Housing mandates the inclusion of recreational space as a percentage of residential floor area. For instance, R6 and R7 districts must include 3.3% of the residential floor area as a recreational area. Section 28-21 states that no more than the required amount of recreational space in the table shall be excluded from the floor area definition. Recreational areas can include space like gymnasiums, a popular building asset exempt from the floor area.

For more, see Decoder Story (here)

Other Sources (some may have been moved into digital dust ):(

http://bklyner.com/nine-story-apartment-tower-rise-flatbush-stalled-construction-site/ http://www.decodernyc.com/why-opt-in-to-quality-housing/
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/zoning/districts-tools/r7.page

The architect’s website shows some of the projects first hand and the GC that worked the buildings

SHIMING TAM
S M TAM ARCHITECT, PLLC
5816 FORT HAMILTON PARKWAY M1
BROOKLYN NY 11219 S M TAM ARCHITECT, PLLC
SH**********@AO*.COM
Business Phone: 718-765-1122Business Fax:     718-765-0813

Bentley Zhao developed building

Zhao’s New Empire Real Estate Development also operates an EB-5 regional center.  
By Will Parker | March 30, 2017, 8:30 AM
Bentley Zhao and rendering for 2128 Ocean Avenue

Zhao filed an offering plan for a 56-unit condominium at 2128 Ocean Avenue in Sheepshead Bay, an application with the New York State Attorney General’s office shows. Zhao is shooting for a $43 million sellout of the 73,000 square-foot effort after buying the lot from Yu Xi-Liu last June for $3.9 million. The previous owners demolished a one-story garage at the site, but Zhao is yet to file new building permits.

New Empire is based in Sunset Park, where Zhao also operates the New Empire EB-5 Regional Center from the company’s 3rd Avenue headquarters. The investment center’s website shows that the EB-5 portion of 2128 Ocean Avenue’s capital stack is fully funded. Details on the website reveal that unit sizes at the project will average 890 square feet and range from studios to three bedrooms. In addition to EB-5 money, New Empire obtained an $18.5 million loan from Banco Popular North America in September.

Zhao’s ambitions and current portfolio go beyond South Brooklyn, however. New Empire plans a 49-story condo tower at 131 East 47th Street in Manhattan, a 122-unit project. Demolition of 19th-century rowhouses at the site commenced last spring. SLCE Architects is designing the new building, at least partly funded with EB-5. Gary Barnett’s Extell Development sold the site to Zhao for $81 million in 2015.

New Empire is also raising EB-5 funds for a 105-unit condo in Prospect Park South, dubbed “Ocean Tower,” for a condo at 269 4th Avenue in Park Slope and a boutique, seven-unit build at 409 West 45th Street in Hell’s Kitchen.

If you have any questions, please review these Frequently Asked Questions, the Glossary, or call the 311 Citizen Service Center by dialing 311 or (212) NEW YORK outside of New York City.

Letters to Verizon and our political representatives were mailed 7.17.2015

The image above represents our first set of formal letters to Verizon officials and AKNA political representatives. We shall see if a response occurs and report them in future “my neighborhood” posts.

If nothing else, this website will be a record of our experience as a small historic district in Brooklyn attempting to join the 21st century.

The correspondence went to Verizon’s engineering staff, the heads of franchise operations at the DoITT and Verizon’s Franchise Director.   The letters expressed our interest in the development of a relationship that would lead to affordable high-speed internet services over existing copper lines or fiber.

We requested a follow-up from their offices regarding the engineers survey of the Terraces  June 24, 2015 to accomplish

1. reliable, non-crackling and buzzing voice lines, and second,
2. data lines that would not repeatedly fail or throttle down to one or two megabits per second.

Not too much to ask really.

On the South side of the Terraces we agreed to three methods for review and final selection (signature page above).  These were

1. along our common roof line in conduit suitable for copper and fiber
2. along our community owned easement suitable for copper and fiber or
3. along a fully refurbished line that is currently in use (but failing) through our cellars that is suitable for copper and fiber

We requested personal advocacy regarding the ‘ lack of service” from our political representatives Congresswoman Clark and Councilmember (permanent incumbent) Eugene Mathews (termed out 2021). In addition, we helped in getting an appropriate response for service from Verizon (or Cablevision).  We also asked for the participation of the technology officer in their respective offices by monitoring our progress as of July 2015. They did nothing.