A lethal dose of Brooklyn pollutants? http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090410/FREE/904109978 Toll Brothers’ Gowanus Canal development stalled Possible designation of polluted Brooklyn canal as a federal Superfund site may jeopardize builder’s residential development plans. Luxury home builder Toll Brothers’ plans to bring a mixed-use residential development to the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn... [more]
A lethal dose of Brooklyn pollutants?
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090410/FREE/904109978
Toll Brothers’ Gowanus Canal development stalled
Possible designation of polluted Brooklyn canal as a federal Superfund site may jeopardize builder’s residential development plans.
Luxury home builder Toll Brothers’ plans to bring a mixed-use residential development to the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn may be in jeopardy.
On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed that the industrial neighborhood be designated a Superfund site. The federal Superfund program is designed to clean up the nation’s hazardous waste sites that endanger public health and the environment. Superfund status will bring new funding to clean up the long-polluted waterway; however it may stymie Toll Brothers’ existing efforts to develop two blocks west of the canal. Timing couldn’t have been worse for the Horsham, Pa.-based company, which just got the green light to build a 450-unit building on two blocks of land in the area.
“We were excited and planned to move forward,” said David Von Spreckelsen, a vice president at Toll Brothers, adding that the firm is in the process of getting more information on how the Superfund nomination will impact its proposed project. “With the involvement of the EPA we are concerned about delays.”
He added that historically, the Superfund designation process is long and arduous and if it is not resolved quickly the company may have to reconsider its plans to build.
Just last month, the City Council approved the rezoning of an area bounded by Bond Street, Canal Street, 2nd Street and the Gowanus Canal for residential use. Toll Brothers has spent the last four years trying to rezone the area. Its plans have been opposed by neighborhood groups as well as Community Board 6. Upon the approval, Toll Brothers was preparing to draw up a design for the mixed-use project which would include 20% affordable housing, said Mr. Von Spreckelsen. Toll Brothers expected to break ground in 2010, he added.
“It has not been cheap,” he said, declining to specify how much the firm has invested in this particular project. According to earlier reports, Toll Brothers has spent $365,000 on lobbying efforts alone.
Mr. Von Spreckelsen recognizes that the canal needs cleanup but said plans proposed by the city and state to decontaminate the South Brooklyn area would be more efficient. The city has broader plans to rezone the 1.5 mile-long man-made waterway, which has not entered public review yet.
Like other developers, Toll Brothers has been scrambling to sell units in a depressed market. It has been introducing all types of incentives to spur homebuyer interest in three of its New York City luxury condo developments—Northside, 5SL in Long Island City, Queens, and 303 E. 33rd St. in Kips Bay, Manhattan. In addition, it is in the process of completing Two Northside Piers and is expected to begin construction of Northside’s third tower.
Earlier this week, Moody’s Investors Service revised its bond ratings outlook for Toll Brothers to negative from stable, in the expectation that the company’s business will continue to be dragged down as new orders for mid- and high-rise tower construction will remain weak and cancellations will accelerate.
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