Crown Heights real estate: hot on profits, cold on affordability

Crown Heights is hot. But is it double-your-money hot?

In 2008, Crow Hill Development bought a parcel in Crown Heights for $7.5 million. Five years later, they’re looking to sell it for $18 million – a cool 140% profit. While the neighborhood has gentrified, upping the value of the land as a development site, it’s not the main reason for this rapid increase. The main reason is that the land the property sits on was recently rezoned, allowing for bigger and taller buildings – which are more profitable to a developer.

But despite the community asking for guaranteed affordable housing as part of the deal, there is no provision that any public good will come of this rezoning, just private profit. The developer can make over $10 million off of a public action, simply by being in the right place at the right time, without any of that value going back to the public in the form of affordable housing, jobs, open space, amenities, or anything else.

This isn’t the way development should be done in New York City. Development  needs to be a partnership, between the city, the community, and the developer, with each benefiting. Right now the community gets left out in the cold. That’s why we need a guarantee of affordable housing when these actions happen.

CLICK HERE for Real Deal’s coverage on Crown Hgts real estate