New details about the planned Eighth Avenue Center mall

October 6, 2014 Heather Chin
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Brooklyn’s Eighth Avenue between 61st and 63rd Streets is still slated to be the home of a new multi-story shopping and hotel development known as Eighth Avenue Center, which will begin construction in spring of 2015.

As we reported in July, the sites at 6128 through 6224 Eighth Avenue are planned to feature a 17-story office building, a seven-to-10-story/150-room hotel, and two 15-story condominium towers.

The foundation of all of those buildings will be the project’s centerpiece at 6208 Eighth Avenue: a 160,700-square-foot three-story mixed use retail center, which will house retail shops and a pre-kindergarten program, as well as possible amenities such as a library, computer lab and rooftop public green space.

In a nod to the neighborhood’s existing traffic congestion issues, there will also be three underground parking levels that would be open to customers as well as the public.

The Eighth Avenue N train station will also be undergoing rehabilitation beginning in 2015, with two elevators, a new PA system, waterproofed walls and floors, and a wheelchair-accessible ramp slated to be added as part of a $300-million, two-year project along the N line by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).

According to architect and co-developer Raymond Chan of Flushing, Queens, he and his fellow developers aim to balance community and commercial interests.

The entire Eighth Avenue Center will tower over the neighborhood, which is predominantly homes and businesses up to eight stories tall.

The site is zoned C4-2—a “regional commercial district” with both commercial and residential floor area units,

It was once considered as a potential home for a new Home Depot with housing above it, although that plan did not move forward.

“The prior owner, Andrew Kohen, had a proposal back in 2007 for a mixed-use development which I believe was certified by the Department of City Planning (DCP) for an 11-story building that included the Home Depot and some residential units,” said Josephine Beckmann, district manager for Community Board 10, which represents residents in the area.

“Back then, the board had some concerns about the size,” said Beckmann, but [the final consensus of CB 10] was to support it with some height restrictions.” The new development, as proposed, would be larger than the development originally planned for the site.

The Eighth Avenue Center project has not been officially filed with the DCP yet and does not require CB 10’s support, although it could ease its transition into the community.

The site, now an abandoned lot.
The site, now an abandoned lot.
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