The stakes of the 960 Franklin Avenue Proposal on Crown Heights
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Medgar Evers College to lose sunlight
The 960 Franklin Avenue development proposal only made it past the first step of the city’s uniform land use review process (ULURP) before it tried to change course. Heeding calls from the community, project developers attempted to scale back their original 34-story, 1.4 million square foot massive structure which threatened not only the neighborhood’s affordability but it’s natural sunlight as well.
“This represents an existential threat to the garden,” says Ethan Lustig-Elgrably, Director of Government and Community Affairs at Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
The Brooklyn cultural institution is at the forefront of the opposition. Armed with the tagline “Fight for Sunlight and a petition that has already garnered over 50,000 signatures and initiatives to mobilize the community, the garden has launched an intense call to action for locals and beyond, hoping to stop the city from allowing the structure to be built.