IMC Architecture completes rezoning process for Bawabeh Realty Holdings’ 1720 Atlantic Ave. site

Brooklyn, NY IMC Architecture has completed a complex rezoning process for a 48,300 s/f development site at 1720 Atlantic Ave., for owner Bawabeh Realty Holdings. 

“The 1720 Atlantic Ave. site, which we originally acquired more than 25 years ago, is located at the cross section of popular and rapidly developing Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights neighborhoods. The former zoning didn’t allow us to achieve the property’s full potential, severely limiting the allowed building size to the current one-story retail strip mall,” said Bawabeh Realty Holdings partner Soly Bawabeh. “The existing structure will be replaced with a 360,000 s/f mixed-use multifamily rental/retail building, designed by IMC Architecture. The retail tenants will potentially include a supermarket that would serve the local community.”

According to IMC Architecture principal Jonathan Imani, AIA, “The five-year rezoning application utilized New York City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure – or ULURP – a mandatory, multi-step process for approving changes to land use, involving reviews and approvals by a local community board, borough president, the City Planning Commission and the city council. We have successfully changed the zoning classification from M1-1, which allowed for FAR (floor area ratio, which defines a maximum allowed building size) of only 1, to a mixed zoning of C4-4D and R7A, with a partial C2-4 overlay, allowing for FAR of between 5.01 to 7.2.”

The former M1-1 zoning category allowed for light industrial, low-density use throughout the entire lot. The previous FAR of 1 permitted the maximum size of a building on the site to reach only the size of the site, in practical terms limiting it to a one-story structure, which currently occupies the property. 

The project team also included government affairs consultant Brian Cook from Brown & Weinraub and attorney Jay Goldstein, Esq. of The Law Office of Jay Goldstein. 

The revised zoning varies throughout the site. The new C4-4D zoning category of mixed-use, including residential, high-density use offers FAR of 7.2 on the 27,000 s/f northern section of the site, delineated by 270 ft. fronting Atlantic Ave. and 100 ft. of frontage on Schenectady Ave. The R7A zoning in the eastern section, defined by Schenectady Ave. and Pacific St. (also known as Micheal Griffith St.), allows for medium-density residential use with FAR of 5.01, with a partial, 10,000 s/f C2-4 mixed-use zoning category overlay in the southeast corner that also allows for FR of 5.01. The reminder of the site features the R7A residential zoning and FAR of 5.01.

“Once the design process proceeds beyond the current conceptual stage, the architectural team will visually break up the massing of the structure by creating a variety of scales and façade treatments,” said IMC project manager Charlie Wu. “The current preliminary design of the new building calls for approximately 300 rental residential units, including an affordable component. The building’s height will vary from 11 to 13 stories to comply with zoning-dictated FAR limits throughout the site. At this time, the property is expected to house retail and community facilities on the street level and multiple tenant amenities and shared spaces, such as outdoor terraces, a gym, storage and lounge.”