The proposed 17-story, mixed-use tower planned for Ridgewood has just found a new adversary: Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan.
Nolan has been known to fight out-of-character buildings coming to her district, such as the planned conversion of an electrician’s office into a five-story apartment building in Ridgewood, and she is now taking aim at the “Ridgewood Tower.”
In a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio, Nolan stated her opposition to large-scale developments such as the “Ridgewood Tower” claiming this new building — to be located at 54-27 Myrtle Ave., 336 and 350 St. Nicholas Ave. — would be “vastly oversized and extremely out of character” for that area of Ridgewood.
“These types of projects have the ability to single-handedly transform our neighborhoods and should be thoroughly vetted by our community board, neighborhood civic groups, tenant associations, and everyday residents in the area,” she wrote in the March 29 letter. “Once completed, this development will have a profound effect on infrastructure, schools, price of rental units and has the ability to negatively affect the quality of life of our existing and potential new residents of Ridgewood and the surrounding area.”
The assemblywoman urged de Blasio, his administration, and the New York City Department of City Planning to work with Community Board 5 (CB 5) to create a better zoning plan so that large developments cannot be built “as of right” in that section of Ridgewood.
Plans for the “Ridgewood Tower” show the site will have 129 luxury apartments consisting of 39 studio apartments, 51 one-bedroom apartments, 27 two-bedroom apartments, and 12 three-bedroom apartments, with 350 parking spaces, and commercial/retail space.
Nolan also noted in her letter to the mayor that she stands with the Ridgewood Tenants Union in their mission to ensure that rental units at the tower are truly affordable, and that local businesses have an equal chance at the planned commercial space.
The currently empty lots that will become the “Ridgewood Tower” are on the market for just under $35 million.
