NEWS: LPC approves additon to Independence Bank Building
from the Brooklyn Papers:
http://www.brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol29/29_26/29_26nets8.php
New plan for ‘piggy bank’
By Ariella Cohen
The Brooklyn Papers
Cobble Hill residents were fuming after city landmarks officials violated their own rules and approved a 60-foot tower within the neighborhood’s historic district – which is supposed to be protected by a 50-foot height limit.
“We are very unhappy that the commission failed to recognize its own law and preserve the low-scale of buildings,” said preservationist Franklin Stone after the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved developer David Walentas’s plan for a tower adjacent to the Independence Bank building on Atlantic Avenue.
Walentas’s Two Trees Management had originally proposed a 60-foot residential annex “piggy-backed” above the landmark 83–year-old Renaissance revival building — but Landmarks voted it down because it required demolition of part of the bank.
But at a June 13 hearing, the panel greenlighted Walentas’s slightly wider 60-foot condo in two adjacent lots.
“We appreciate that Landmarks protected the [bank], but the bulk of the new building will still overshadow the bank and the entire street,” said Craig Hammerman, district manager for Community Board 6.
Cobble Hill residents and city landmarks officials had never seen quite eye-to-eye on the project, with Hill preservationists decrying the height of the proposed condo, while the commission focused solely on Walentas’s proposed demolition.
A Landmarks spokeswoman said this week that the 60-foot height was “compatible” with other buildings on Atlantic Avenue.