Vote on Quadriad's Williamsburg Highrise Proposal Delayed

That 24-story building that Quadriad Development would like to build at N. 3rd Street and Berry in Williasmburg drew a large crowd to a Community Board 1 meeting that was expected to vote on the proposal. OnNYTurf reports 100 community members opposed to the building turned out. In the end, CB1 tabled a vote on the building after a week of intense outreach by opponents.

A number of community board members whose votes would have been crucial to getting the building approved did not even attend the meeting. Activist Phil DePaolo, who helped lead local opposition to the highrise, told GL that the project's supporters were concerned it would be voted down and also supported the delay.

"We can't figure out if it's good or bad," Mr. DePaolo said, "but at least we bought some time. The encouraging thing is that most of our elected officials don't think a building that size is appropriate at that location." City Council Member David Yassky has come out against the project, saying that a building that height is not appropriate in that location.

Approval of the Quadriad project would require a reversal of the "inland" downzoning that accompanied the rezoning of the Williamsburg waterfront for highrise residential towers in 2005. Quadriad hopes to introduce its "model" of getting huge density bonuses in return for providing that one-third of a development would be affordable housing (under the developer's definition).

[Conceptual rendering created by and courtesy of OnNYTurf]