Page 345 - Demo

At the 7th annual Brownstonedemonstrates the fine points of his art.Fair, a blacksmithThousands of visitorscame to the BrooklynBrownstone Conference'sBrownstone Fair onMontague St. over theweekend. Among theproudest of some 70exhibitors was the crewfrom Prospect-LeffertsGardens who were able totalk about the designationof their neighborhood as aLandmarks District earlierin week.Tenants Work For Best Dealin Concord Village Co-op PlanBY LIBBY HAYMANIi is now one month since the residents of Concord Village, the 1022 apartment, seven building complex, next to the Brooklyn Bridge, received copies of the final offering plan to convert to cooperative ownership. The plan was accepted by the State Attorney General%u2019s Office early in September, and tenants have ninety days from the September 14 dale of distribution to take advantage of the exclusive right to buy an apartment in the development at prices stated in the prospectus.Those prices, which arc discounted 20 percent from a stated price for outsiders to buy into the buildings, start at $4,860 down payment for two room apartments, with assumption of $5,690 mortgage financing. The most expensive four and a half room apartment will cost a tenant $11,988 down payment, with a $14,035 mortgage. Maintenance fees are estimated by the sellers at $ 172-S424.27 monthly.In February, 1970, when a preliminary co-op plan was circulated by Concord Village owners, Inc., several tenant groups differed as to what was the best deal for tenants under the plan. Those groups arc now working on strategics based on the fact that the owners must obtain purchase agreements from 35 percent of tenants in order to put the plan into effect. Both the Concord Village Tenants Association (CVTA) and the Co-op Negotiating Committee (CNC) are attempting to keep their members from buying the co-ops immediately so that the landlords will have to negotiate in order to get their 35 percent. The two groups differ on what they hope most to gain from negotiaion. CVTA is especially concerned with the rights of those who do not wish to buy.A partial step toward a non-eviclion c la u se w as tak en tin s su m n icibuilding going co-operative who are 62 years old or above, and who have incomes under $30,000 per year, cannot be evicted if they do not purchase. The CVTA would like to see such protection extended to other tenants who are in %u201c straitened circumstances,%u201d as CVTA%u2019s legal committee chairman, Bernard Cahn, describes their goal. The committee is also concerned about prices, the condition of the apartments, and the mortgage plan, which would call for refinancing of a major part of the building%u2019s mortgage in ten years.The CNC consistently viewed the non-eviction clause as impossible to obtain, and has emphasized %u201ca better deal for buyers.%u201d Conditions of the buildings, especially (thc %u201c insufficient heating plant%u201d and %u201c gravely deteriorated windows,%u201d mean that co-op owners will be hit with heavy repair costs, according to Anders Sterner, head of the CNC. The goal, then, is mainly to get the apartments at a much better price, certainly no more than the prices quoted in the prelimiProspect Lefferts GardensWins Landmark Status VoteProspect Lefferts Gardens has become the latest addition to the City%u2019s 38 historic Landmark Districts by an unanimous vote of the Landmarks Preservation Commission on October 9th.In a Brooklyn Borough Hall meeting the Commission voted the designation which will be reviewed by the Board of Estimate. Prospect Lefferts Gardens is located East of Prospect Park between Empire Boulevard and New York and Clarkson Avenues.The area was developed between 1895 and 1925, parts of it located on the old Lefferts Farm dating back to 1660 now called Lefferts Manor.The Lefferts family establishedBoard Seeks To StallNew Precinct Linesnary prospectus, somewhat lower than those now being asked.The groups realize that their time is short. Although the owners have 18 months in which to get their 35 percent purchase, the tenants lose their exclusive right to purchase after only ninety days if the co-op plan goes into effect. CVTA is conducting %u201c lobby meetings%u201d and door to door canvassing to urge tenants not to buy until negotiations have taken place. Sterner, of CNC, also hopes that negotiations will be forced, and says that the landlords will be much more likely to deal with CNC, which %u201c obviously represents people who will buy if the conditions are right.%u201d At the rental office, where representatives of Douglas, Elliman, Gibbons, and Ives, the sales agents, arc handling purchases, sales people say that interest in the co-ops from outsiders has been %u201c tremendous,%u201d and the management may consider showing a few vacant apartments to non-tenants shortly.BY STEPHEN HABERSTROHCommunity Board Two passed a motion at its last Board meeting, October 10, requesting a delay in implementing new police precinct boundaries until the Board receives information from the Police Department.The Police Department had scheduled October 29th as its date to start the new boundaries which arc drawn to be contiguous with district board lines so as to comply with the 1977 City Charter.Board Two members in their motion said that they would like to review the boundaries which will divide the board into (wo precincts -- the 84th (Brooklyn Heights and Bocrum Hill) and the 88th (Fort Greene and Clinton Hill).A month ago Borough President Howard Golden requested that the Police Department supply information on precinct manpower allocations to have the Borough Board review the information. The Borough Board is made up of Community Board Chairmen and City Council members.At the October 11 Board of Estimate hearing Police Department officials made a commitment to reply before October 25 according to Harvey Schultz, executive assistant to Golden. Because of the delay in receiving the information Schultz commented (hat the October 29 date %u201c doesn%u2019t carry much w eig h tan d he feels that this date may be pushed back to allow lime for Borough Board and Community Boards review.The Charter requires that precinct lines, contiguous with District Board lines, be in effect by January, 1980.Howard Zimmerman, a Board member, who initiated the motion said: %u201c I he Police Department doesn%u2019t want any community input but that is part of New York City%u2019s responsibility on this major issue.\Zimmerman added, %u201c an aroused community and public officials%u201d may have an impact on the Police Department. %u201c We want a chance to sec all points of their plans-in-progress,%u201d he said.Church Ave. Gets FundsCombined programs by the Economic Development Agency and the city%u2019s Department ot Highways will funnel some $240,000 into Church Avenue south of Prospect Park, from Flatbush Avenue to Coney Island Avenue.The programs, aimed at helping it) commercially revitalizetheareas, will involve a $174,000 bid by Highways to dean up, straighten up and repair the streets and sidewalks along the strip, and a $66,000 matching-grant to help area merchants do facade cleanups and renovations. Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Peter Solomon predicts that the facade incentive program will spur merchants to spend as much as $100,000 on their storefronts, which would bring the grand total of money spent to rejuvenate theAvenue to $350,000.built of brick or stone, have a cellar and be set back 14 feet from the street.Other blocks in Prospect Lefferts Gardens are made up of row houses, attached and semiattached buildings in Federal, Romanesque revival and nco Renaissance styles.Commissioner Beverly Moss Span said that the area %u201c remains one of the finest enclaves of 19th and early 20th century housing in New York City.%u201d and that it was %u201c truly a district worth of preservation.%u201dAt the same meeting a hearing was held for the proposed designalion of the Clinton Hill areaStudy Contract Awarded To Upgrade DowntownThe Downtown Brooklyn Deveopment Association (DBDA) has announced the selection of a %u2019%u2019nationally acclaimed\firm, Gladstone Associates, for its $80,000 feasibility study for the Polytechnic Institute area in downtown Brooklyn. The goal of the study is to examine possibilities for attracting high-technology industries to the bloats surrounding Polytechnic, creating a research and development %u201c park%u201d similar to 'he University City Science Center in Philadelphia or the %u201cTechnologyC . ..__ i JC|UUI tBlock Grant which DBDA is using for several downtown improvement projects. Contributing $10,000 to the study will be the Brooklyn Educational and Cultural Alliances (BECA) of which Polytechnic is a member.Nancy Rosan, Executive Director of DBDA, announced that Rolf Ohlhausen, a Park Slope resident who is with the firm of Prentice, Chan, and Ohlhausen, will be architect-planner for the stqdy. Other redevelopment plans for the area, bounded by Tillary, Flatbush$xr 11 . %u00bb %u00bb iiiuu guu j' , J %u00abjtwhen a state law was passed providing that tenants of anyarea so as to ensure the quality of residents. IVS The funding for the study comes are expected to be made bythe houses - they had to be from a Community Development Polytechnic Institute.-L.H.October 18,1979, The PHOENIX. Page 3