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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, JAN. 20, 2019
BEGINNING AGAIN?: Documents shared by the local community board suggest the city may be looking
for a new developer for its long-awaited Willoughby Square Park and garage project Downtown,
which if true would bring the years-in-the-making project back to square one.
Economic Development Corporation
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Brooklynspinecenter.com.
S f ti t
RELIEVES BACK PAIN
Local doctor treats herniated and bulging discs, sciatica, and serious lower back pain
BY JULIANNE CUBA
A years-in-the-making
plan to build a new green
space above a vending-machine
style parking facility
on Willoughby Street
Downtown will start from
scratch at the end of the
month, if the city and its
chosen developer can’t
wrap up their deal for the
project, according to a rep
for the agency overseeing
the job.
“The developer has until
Jan. 27 to close on an
agreement to develop the
site,” said an Economic
Development Corporation
spokesman, who admitted
“it’s possible” another
builder may be chosen.
“EDC is working diligently
to fi nd a path forward
with the developer,
and deliver this longawaited
project that will
benefi t the community.”
The rep told this newspaper
the deadline for the
deal — which agency leaders
previously said would
close in 2018 — days after
the local Community
Board 2 circulated documents
suggesting the city
might sever ties with Long
Island–based American
Development Group, which
it tapped to build both Willoughby
Square Park and
the garage beneath it back
in 2013.
“Learned by phone from
the (city) that it is going to
default the developer of the
Willoughby Square garage
and issue a fourth (Request
For Proposals), possibly for
a garage no larger than is
permissible as-of-right,”
CB2 District Manager Rob
Perris wrote in notes dated
Dec. 4, which he shared
with the public at a Jan. 9
meeting.
But American Development
Group’s head ensured
his fi rm will proceed
with the long in-the-works
project, claiming he’s set to
sign on the dotted line days
before the city’s deadline,
and that he’ll break ground
weeks later.
“We’re scheduled to
close with EDC on Jan.
22,” said Perry Finkelman.
“The work will
commence on March 1.”
In October, Economic
Development Corporation
bigwigs said they would
break ground on the job
this month — 15 years after
the city promised to
build the new meadow in
exchange for upzoning
much of Downtown, and
a decade after offi cials
controversially kicked
some residents out of
their homes in the area,
some of which were rentstabilized,
to make way
for construction.
And it’s not the fi rst
time doubts swirled
around the future of Willoughby
Square Park and
the garage, which will
park cars using a system
equipped with light sensors,
machines, and other
technology that automatically
moves vehicles from
an entry room, where drivers
drop them off, to one of
its below-ground parking
bays.
Last year, city offi cials
doubted that Finkleman
could come up with enough
cash to fund the job, leading
him to scale back the
underground facility in order
to secure the necessary
fi nancing.
That downsizing included
cutting the garage’s
original 700 spots to 467,
and shrinking it from three
to two levels, which cut
the project’s budget from
roughly $97 to $82 million,
Finkleman told this newspaper
at the time.
Square Park may go
back to square one
City: Willoughby Street project will start from
scratch if builder can’t close deal this month
/Brooklynspinecenter.com