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By: Hellen Zaboulani
The massive Brooklyn migrant shelter, which has been the target of protesters, may be turned into a residential and retail development. As reported by Crain’s NY, RXR Realty has filed new plans on Friday with the Department of City Planning to develop the temporary shelter into a mixed-use campus. The shelter at 47 Hall St. in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill has been housing over 3,000 migrants, being used as a humanitarian emergency response and relief center. The proposal by RXR would build over 600 apartments and retail space on the full-block, 113,833-square-foot development site. The filing did not include a cost estimate.
RXR, led by CEO Scott Rechler, purchased the Hall Street property in 2016 for more than $160 million. The property, situated between Park and Flushing avenues, right under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and across the street from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, is comprised of 10 former warehouse buildings. Per Crain’s, three years after the purchase, RXR finished an extensive renovation, spending roughly $100 million on the site, eager to turn the buildings into luxury office space. Months later, however, the pandemic struck, leaving those plans to gather dust, and leaving the modernized buildings vacant until last year, when the city started utilizing the space to house families, children and asylum seekers in response to the city’s migrant crisis. RXR’s lease with Health + Hospitals is slated to expire in March.
Lately, local residents have been calling for added security and a downsizing of the shelter, following a nearby shooting, which left two men dead. Residents held a protest last week in front of the Hall Street shelter on Ryerson Street. “When people are now lifeless, dead bodies on the streets of Clinton Hill. That’s the last straw,” said Renee Collymore, Democratic liaison for the 57th Assembly District, who held the rally, and who repeatedly used the phrase, “not in my backyard”.
Per Crain’s, RXR’s plan for a sprawling 933,422-square-foot redevelopment project, would raze two of the buildings to make way for a new 21-story mixed-use tower. A third building would be salvaged and converted into residential apartments. Together, the buildings would include 611 apartments, some 153 to 183 of which would be set aside as much-needed affordable housing. The remaining seven buildings, spanning roughly 300,000 square feet, would contain a mix of commercial, retail and self-storage space, as per the application submitted Friday.
City Hall declined to comment on what would be the fate of the over 3,000 migrants currently living in the Hall Street shelter. If the lease is not renewed before March, those migrants will need to be moved within the next eight months. City Hall commented to say that RXR’s plans for the site will not impact the city’s contract to run the temporary shelter. RXR’s plan would require an approval from the city for rezoning before it can break ground, a lengthy process that is part of the city’s uniform land-use review procedure, which requires approval from the Brooklyn borough president, the local community board and the City Council. Even if approved, RXR’s plans for the site are not slated to be completed until 2030.
RXR said in a statement to Crain’s that the project would transform an “underutilized property” into a “vibrant, mixed-use campus.”
