Mamdani’s BQE fix plan gets applause, skepticism from New Yorkers
Mamdani’s rehabilitation of the infamous BQE triple cantilever offers a long-needed fix. But does it simply reinforce the complicated legacy of Robert Moses?
The mayor’s pledge that his administration is “done kicking the can down the road” on overdue repairs to a section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway has drawn cheers and jeers from advocates, lawmakers and residents of the neighborhoods bisected by the highway.
Mamdani toted a copy of Robert Caro’s tome “The Power Broker” in his video announcing the $4 billion plan to rebuild the triple cantilever section dubbed BQE Central. But the deteriorating section beneath the Brooklyn Heights promenade is a “Robert Moses relic” that should be retired in the long run, local lawmakers including Council member Lincoln Restler, Assembly member Joanne Simon and State Sen. Andrew Gounardes said in a joint statement.
While the lawmakers conceded that repairs were urgent and further delay wasn’t an option, advocates are still angling for a proposal highlighted by The Real Deal columnist Erik Engquist that would replace the roadway with transit and public park space, while unlocking 100 acres for housing and commercial development.
Brooklyn Heights locals and promenaders from across the city will have chances to voice their concerns and give feedback on the process, with the Department of Transportation holding Q&A sessions on Oct. 6 and Oct. 22.
The Mamdani administration’s plan calls for a temporary two-story bypass built atop Furman Street, which cars would use during the rehabilitation project’s 10-year timeline. In order to set up the bypass road, the administration will need to go through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure in City Council and secure state legislative approval to alienate the parkland.
Mayor Bill de Blasio pitched his own fix in 2018, which drew massive blowback from neighbors for threatening to shutter the beloved Brooklyn Heights Promenade to make space for cars next to the top level.
Just blocks away from the BQE section slated for rehabilitation, the New York City Economic Development Corporation is already conducting environmental review and land use planning processes to shape the final project plan for overhauling the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, which aims to bring 6,000 apartments, industrial space, a hotel and open space to the Columbia Street Waterfront District and Red Hook. That means a lot of construction and changing traffic patterns coming to this corner of Brooklyn over the next decade.
What we’re thinking about: Do you think Brooklyn Heights and other surrounding neighborhoods will push back on Mamdani’s plan to fix the aging expressway section? What are some unforeseen challenges that may arise now that the mayor is tackling this fix? Let me know at ben.miller@therealdeal.com
A thing we’ve learned:
Nobody knows who owns the Charging Bull statue located at Bowling Green! The symbolic embodiment of Wall Street, a business built on buying and selling, has traded hands many times over the years. But neither Joe Lewis, a British investor who reportedly owned the statue after it was put up for sale by the artist in 2004, nor his family own the bull itself. His family owns the original cast and rights to reproduce it, but not its Bowling Green iteration, a spokesperson told The City Reporter.
Elsewhere…
- Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn’s widely condemned attempt to keep her seat atop the county party may actually succeed, after controversial amendments she put forth to block reform District Leader Julio Peña III from the role passed on Tuesday night, City & State reported. The closed-door meeting in Mill Basin excluded press, but the move to pack the executive committee with her supporters seems to have narrowly passed a vote. Peña and allies plan to re-file a lawsuit to block the changes in court, arguing the manner in which the bylaws were changed was illegal, after a judge denied their previous bid to halt the vote by ruling that no harm had yet been done.
- A former tenured professor at the US Military Academy at West Point claimed in a lawsuit that the school ordered its faculty to stop teaching about human-caused climate change, then pushed him out of his job after he raised objections, Gothamist reports. Adam Kalkstein taught geography and climate science at West Point for more than 17 years, suing the academy and three members of its leadership in US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
- Vanderbilt University’s newly opened New York City satellite campus has welcomed its first cohort of undergrads, many hoping to network their way into the city’s financial industry, Curbed reports. The General Theological Seminary had been struggling to stay afloat, selling off its building and air rights and was contemplating a deal with a right-wing, Catholic institution until a Vanderbilt alum told chancellor Daniel Diermeier about the opportunity to offer students a semester in Chelsea.
Closing time
Residential: The most expensive residential sale recorded Wednesday was $12.1 million for unit 14/15C at 941 Park Avenue on the Upper East Side.
Commercial: The most expensive commercial transaction was $20.7 million for 12,500-square-foot vacant property at 34-36 East 70th Street in Lenox Hill. The Real Deal reported on the signed contract in May.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market is $25 million for a 12,000-square-foot house at 6 East 69th Street in Lenox Hill. Jonathan Frank Normolle with Keller Williams has the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building project filed was for a combined 555,689-square-foot, 593 unit property at 1 Hall Street, 33 Hall Street, and 4 Ryerson Street in Clinton Hill. Hamish Whitefield with Fisher Rasmussen Whitefield Architects filed the permits on behalf of Yitzchok Schwartz of YS Developers. The property was purchased for $121.4 million in April.
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– Matthew Elo
