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PHOENIX FALL REAL ESTA TE/HOMEBrooklyn%u2019s Newest Community Is ActuallyOne Of The Boro%u2019s Oldest NeighborhoodsBY LIZ KOCHAs Columbia Terrace developer Ted Hilles wanders through the streets of his residential housing development, the fruits of his labor are very visible in the form of tended lawns, flowering plots and residents perched on their front stoops. It wasn%u2019t long ago that the lawns were garbage strewn lots.Hilles is recognized during his evening stroll by many of the residents who have moved into the five phase development on Columbia Street and as they pass him on the street, the same question is evoked over and over agin. %u201cHow soon?%u201d asks one woman and points to a large empty fencedin lot across the street from the new brick structures. %u201cAre you going to build?%u201d a man asks him.Hilles shrugs in reply and nods in the affirmative that he will build, the question remaining is when. The five phase development bordered by Columbia Street with its row of boarded up and charred houses and Union Street to the South and Summit Street to the North has slowly but methodically come to realization in the last two years.PHASE I IN PLACEPhase I of the work included 51 apartments on the North end of the President and Columbia Street block that ranged in price from one bedroom apartments that sold for $53,000 to three bedroom apartments that sold for $61,000. Under a Section 235 Federal housing program, buyers in the $20,000 to $30,000 income range could receive Federal mortgage subsidies as well as City subsidies. Phase II of the project created another 54 homes that also included federal subsidies and were sold out before the construction of the buildings was finished, with the sale of the 30 Phase III buildings following shortly thereafter.Young professionals were joined by onetime residents of Carroll Gardens and the surrounding Brooklyn neighborhoods in obtaining residences in the new development.Hilles is ready to approach the market once agian now, with Phase IV units nearing completion and estimates that they will be sold in the fall. Last minute touches of landscaping are now underway but unlike the progression of the previous phases, Phase V will not move right on the heels of its predecessor, rather the question of %u201chow soon?%u201d is one that Hilles and partner Nick Lembo mull over themselves.A sign hung on the fence surrounding the junk-strewn lot continued to announce that Phase V was coming in 1985. After that year came to a close, Hilles cautiously estimates that after another six months of paper pushing, the project should be under way. Negotiations, he says, with the Housing Preservation Department hindered the development of the last phase of the project as the City renegotiated the price for the property and hesitated on the issue of including commercial space in this predominantly residential development. THEY WANT STORES%u201cWe wanted to put stores in Phase V and Community Board Six also made it clear that they wanted stores there, but the City balked,%u201d Hilles says. %u201cMany of the people who bought units here want it to go ahead, and people buying into Phase IV will be more comfortable if they know that Phase V is coming,%u201d he adds. According to Hilles, the City preferred to maintain the development as purely residential. An agreement for the price of the property and the inclusion of commercial space has been reached, but Hilles adds cautiously that papers have not been signed. The last phase will include six or seven shops he says that will service the neighborhood. The 45 housing units in Phase IV and the last 36 in Phase V will 1-. sold at market rateHPD, however, is optimistic thai the project is read'- tn g'1 %u201cThere was a land reaopraisement because of the issue of commercial development,%u201d HPD%u2019s Ixirelei Hartison says, %u201cbut everything is settled now and the project will be moving forward very shortly.%u201dResidents of the neighborhood, both theColumbia Terrace partners Ted Hilles and Nick Lembo stand at the site of their partially finished residential condominium complex on Columbia Street. Construction on the fourth phase will be finished this fall. (Phoenix/Koch Photo)When we looked at the area in 1981 the question waswho was going to live there. Back then it seemed lik anadventuresome project.Columbia Terrace developer Ted Hilles chats with a resident from the community, yet one more person curious as to when his residential housing project will be completed. Currently a big empty lot stands where the final phase is planned. (Phoenix/Koch Photo)new owners of the Columbia Terrace condominiums and those from the surrounding streets view the completion of the project with some anticipation and the proposed stores for Phase V represent a small step in restoring Columbia Street to a shopping area. Hilles viewing the surrounding neighborhood anticipates linking the existing small commercial strip on Union Street with his new stores on Columbia Street. The whole Columbia Terrace development he views as a step to reviving the once thriving Columbia Street.%u201cIt%u2019s a controlled way of bringing the neighborhood back. Some people would call it gentrification but there was a conscious effort to bring in a mix of income groups,%u201d he explains. %u201cWhen we looked at the area in 1981 the question was who would live there. Back then it seemed like an adventuresome project,%u201d he adds.Since that time, however, the question has been resoundingly answered. Crowds lined up days in advance last year for apartments in the project that were sold on a first come, first served basis after the qualified applicants were selected.A Second DeveloperReadies To Build NewHousing In The AreaBY TRACY GARRITYWhile developer Ted Hilles moves through the process of constructing and renewing Columbia Street, another developer, Jonathan Eichner, is just beginning the process, and already the local community board is gearing up for a struggle.Eichner%u2019s project, to be built using Municipal Assistance Corporation (MAC) funds begins the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) during the fall, despite the fact that it was the least desirable of three plans submitted to Community Board Six %u2014 the body that holds the public hearings during ULURP.Eichner was announced as the developer of the MAC site on July 29, after several months of bickering between the Community Board which was not asked for input, and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) that made the final recommendation. Members of the CB6 Land Use/Landmarks committee reviewed the plans independently of HPD and selected a much different design as the one best conforming with the local community. CB6 chair Louise Finney said the Community Board will take a close look at the project during ULURP and suggest changes before making a final recommendation, but does not intend to block the project entirely.Eichner was announced asthe developer o f the MA Csite after several months o fbickering between the localCommunity Board andthe City's HPD.Eichner%u2019s plan for the property on Columbia Street between Warren and Kane Streets includes 19 three-story buildings each with three apartments. The 57 units will be divided into 19 one-bedroom apartments; four two-bedroom apartments; and 34 three-bedroom apartments. To complete his plan Eichner has allotted spaces for 19 cars inside the buildings, and 17 open-air parking spaces. The plans indicate that Eichner plans a brick veneer and brownstone stucco facade, and brick for the back of the building.In order to qualify for MAC funds. 20 percent of the apartments must be designated as low income units. Rents for those units will be set at $350 for a one-bedroom; $400f . , %u2018 *- -i- *cnn r .u n cx t A v r u t A U u m u , e m u i t . ; . a u n ubedroom unit. Mi apartments built througl the MAC program are rent stabilized including those that rent at market value) after the initial rent is established in order to assure long-term affordability.September 11, 1986, THE PHOENIX, Page 21