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Oct 21, 2024

After Bed Stuy Nursing Home Closure, Big New Build Rises

After a lawsuit, a rezoning, and years of no progress, the under-construction development now towers over the busy blocks in the area. 270 Nostrand Avenue. Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith A huge new

After a lawsuit, a rezoning, and years of no progress, the under-construction development now towers over the busy blocks in the area.

270 Nostrand Avenue. Photo by Anna Bradley-Smith

A huge new block-long development running along Nostrand Avenue between Dekalb Avenue and Kosciuszko Street in Bed Stuy, a site with a contentious history, has risen quickly over the past few months and appears to have topped out. Meanwhile, four more developments are going up nearby, some of them affordable, adding to congestion in the busy area close to Home Depot.

Prior to the development, the site at 270 Nostrand Avenue housed a nursing home owned by CABS Nursing Home Company, which sold it to Allure Group under the premise the group would keep the home open. Instead, Allure opted to close the home and build a largely market-rate residential development.

After a lawsuit, a rezoning, and years of no progress, the development now towers over the busy Bed Stuy blocks of Nostrand and Dekalb avenues and Kosciuszko Street. Sections vary between nine and 13 stories, according to city records. At 13 stories, the tallest building is located on Kosciuszko Street. The corner section on Kosciuszko Street and Nostrand Avenue is 10 stories, and along Nostrand Avenue heights vary between 10 and 11 stories. Along Dekalb Avenue the building is nine stories.

When Brownstoner stopped by last week, the area was a hub of activity with dozens of workers on site, a truck with construction materials blocking a lane of Dekalb Avenue east of Nostrand, and a towering crane using part of the road on the west side of the avenue. The building is covered in scaffolding and netting and is still without windows or a facade.

Renderings by architect S. Wieder Architect PC show the building facade alternates sections of orange and gray brick. The tallest section, on Kosciuszko Street, will be entirely gray.

The ground floor commercial level will be gray with big multi-pane windows along Kosciuszko Street and Nostrand Avenue. On the Dekalb side, the ground floor appears residential with smaller windows and a red brick finish. Many of the units will have balconies, renderings show.

The site was rezoned in September 2021, despite the community board and borough president’s opposition. In their application, the developers said the rezoning would facilitate the development of a 14-story building with 487 apartments, 144 of which would be affordable through the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program.

But according to building permits, the development won’t be that large. The permits show the development will include two buildings with a total of 320 units. The one that faces Dekalb and Nostrand avenues and wraps around Kosciuszko Street will reach 11 stories and include 210 units. The second building will be the 13-story one on Kosciuszko Street with 110 units. (There is conflicting information about the total number of apartments, with one of the permits saying the total number will be 369, while the architect’s website agrees with info elsewhere in the permits that there will be 320 units.)

If the building does include 320 apartments, 80 to 96 will have to be affordable through the MIH program triggered by any rezoning. Those would be targeted at families earning between 60 and 80 percent of the Area Median Income. The rezoning application stated the building would predominantly include studio apartments, and also have one- and two-bedroom units.

The site has a controversial past, being formerly owned by CABS Nursing Home Company, which was established in 1973. Beginning in 2009, the facility began operating at a loss, according to the owner in a court filing, and began to look for a buyer who would keep the nursing home open.

City records show that NNRC Properties LLC, which is part of the Allure Group, bought the property from CABS for $15.6 million in June 2015. But their plans, unbeknownst to CABS, included building apartments on the property. In October 2015, they filed permits for a seven-story development, which was approved later that same year.

CABS sued the developer in 2016 alleging fraud, but the claims were dismissed. Allure Group is also behind the controversial Rivington House nursing home sale in Manhattan, where they were accused of similar actions.

Then in 2020, a rezoning application for the site was filed by developer BRP Companies, with architect GF55 Partners behind the renderings that were included in the application. The rezoning said a new 14-story, 487-unit development would include retail on the ground floor and a medical office.

However, it seems BRP Companies is no longer involved in the project, with NNRC Properties LLC still listed as the owner and developer on the permits and in city records. In January, GF55 Partners filed a lawsuit against NNRC Properties LLC alleging the developer owes the firm $61,758.00 in unpaid labor. In the court filings, NNRC alleges it did not have an enforceable contract with GF55, meaning the firm has no claim for damages.

The developer was also hit with legal action from Hill West Architecture in late 2023, which alleged NNRC owed Hill West $556,942.84 in unpaid invoices.

Joel Landau and Jack Gold are listed as members of NNRC Properties LLC, according to city filings, and Chaim Deutsch is also listed as an owner of the site in Department of Buildings records.

Meanwhile, also on Nostrand Avenue just north of Dekalb Avenue, a six-story, 29-unit development has risen next door to Sugar Hill Restaurant and Supper Club. In 2022, the owners of the longstanding restaurant sold the land next door to 211 Nostrand Avenue LLC for $4 million, city records show.

Further east along Dekalb Avenue, two recently topped out seven-story developments at 639 and 652 Dekalb Avenue add to the new development landscape.

These two, however, will be 100 percent affordable rental buildings with units ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. Developed in a partnership between St. Nick’s Alliance and Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning, Dekalb Commons, as the two buildings are known, will have a total of 85 units combined.

Dekalb Commons also includes a third building at 1187 Fulton Street, which will have pricier units that help to fund the affordable housing.

Affordable housing lotteries will likely open in the coming months for the affordable units in 270 Nostrand Avenue and the two Dekalb Avenue buildings. When they do, applications can be submitted through the city’s Housing Connect website.

[Photos by Anna Bradley-Smith unless noted otherwise]

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