By Tom Momberg
The talk around Bay Terrace has been centered on concerns that developers are planning to expand Bell Apartments by putting up new buildings for 187 condominium units.
Cord Meyer Development, which owns the Bay Terrace Shopping Center, said it could not confirm plans to develop the vacant green space across from Bay Terrace Elementary School on 23rd Avenue and 212th Street because they have not been finalized.
But the developers and the architect for the project presented the plans to leaders of the Bay Terrace Community Alliance last month, according to Warren Schreiber, the civic president.
Schreiber said Cord Meyer wants to build the new condominiums on the same block as the five-building co-op Bell Apartments. The original plans for the co-op complex called for seven buildings back in 1961.
The developers want to build shorter buildings to accommodate the 187 proposed units, Schreiber said. He also said the plans call for 187 parking spaces in an underground structure.
“The one thing we were insistent on is that we didn’t want any of the entrances or exits for the parking to come out on 212th Street because of the school,” he said at the civic’s monthly meeting Tuesday night.
He said Cord Meyer agreed to limit the traffic impact on 212th Street as it moves forward in its planning process.
“I hear that some people are unhappy about this, but Cord Meyer is going to do this as of right, which means they don’t need anybody’s permission to do this,” Schreiber said. “All they have to do is enter into a legal agreement with Bell Apartments to rescind the current lease. They don’t need community board approval or zoning variances, as far as I know.”
The land lease between Bell Apartments and Cord Meyer would need to be changed and an agreement reached between the co-op board and the developers to give the land to the co-op in exchange for the right to build on the undeveloped land.
“With that land lease, it seems as if the people in the co-ops themselves need to make sure their representatives on the co-op board actively pursue their wishes and be heard,” Bay Terrace Community Alliance Vice President Arthur Cheliotes said. “That’s where it has to happen — it has to be a negotiation between the co-op board and Cord Meyer.”
Reach reporter Tom Momberg by e-mail at tmomb
