Long-contested development near Brooklyn Botanic Garden set for Council approval

A yearslong battle between the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and developers trying to build a shadow-casting tower nearby is over, with the New York City Council’s land use committee on Wednesday finally approving the rezoning required for the project.

The vote came after the garden and developer Continuum Companies agreed to further revised terms for the site at Franklin Avenue and Montgomery Street in Crown Heights, just across the street from the 52-acre green space. The rezoning now heads to the full Council for review.

Garden officials and their supporters had fiercely opposed the planned development, arguing it would cast a harmful shadow on some of the garden’s plants and flowers, including many rare and endangered species. The amended proposal features a number of specifications to prevent that — such as a 10-degree slope for the roof, down from the 15 degrees previously approved by the city’s planning commission — which the garden said would allow sunlight to reach its plant nursery.

“After more than six years of discussion, debate and vigorous public advocacy, the threat of permanent loss of sunlight for our living museum of plants is over,” Adrian Benepe, the garden’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We are grateful to our elected officials for their steadfast support and diligent work to craft a plan that ensures the sunlight that plants need to survive, protects the garden from permanent damage, and enables affordable workforce housing.”

Councilmember Crystal Hudson, who represents the area and has been a strong ally of the garden, said the committee vote and updated development plans were a win for her constituents.

“After years fighting tirelessly to protect the gem that is the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, our community can finally rest,” she said. “We fought for sunlight, and we won.”

Under the new agreement, the building will include 355 units of housing, 30% of which will be affordable, according to a release from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. An initial proposal included two towers that were 39 stories tall and had 1,578 units of housing, half of which would have been affordable.