View-Blocking Pierhouse In Brooklyn Bridge Park Will Be Contested In Court, Resident Says

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Outraged Brooklyn Heights residents will return to court this month to battle a view-blocking luxury development in Brooklyn Bridge Park, two years after their suit first failed in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Save The View Now, a preservation group based in Brooklyn Heights, will appeal the 2015 decision to allow Pierhouse — the luxury condominium and hotel complex near Pier 1 — to stand as-is; three stories taller than developers originally said it would be.

The Pierhouse is the product of the 2006 General Project Plan agreement between the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation and city residents, in which developers promised the two buildings would not exceed approximately 100 feet in height.

STVN filed suit in 2014 when contractors added a 30-foot-tall mechanical bulkhead on top of the building, arguing it violated the agreement and local regulations that protect views in the Brooklyn Heights Scenic View District, established by the City Planning Commission in 2011.

"This addition will forever rob the citizens of New York and the millions of tourists of this protected and iconic view," organizers wrote in an online petition that has been signed by more than 7,000 people.

"The painstakingly negotiated compromise has now been tossed aside without community support or careful review."

But the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation argued that the bulkhead was allowable under permitted obstruction regulations in the city's Zoning Resolution, according to the organization's website.

Judge Lawrence Knippel sided with the BBP and ruled that while the buildings were “simply too large," developers Toll Brothers and Starwood Capital had not broken any laws, according to a Curbed report.

Developers have since completed construction and made real estate history in May when a Pierhouse apartment went for $10.6 million, making it the most expensive condo ever sold in Brooklyn.

STVN is slated to appeal the decision in Brooklyn Appellate Court at 45 Monroe Place on Oct. 20 around 10:30 a.m., STVN activist Steven Guterman said in an email.

BBP responded to a request for comment with a statement from its president, Eric Landau.

“As we have previously demonstrated, the hotel satisfies all height and bulk requirements," said Landau. "Like the other development projects in Brooklyn Bridge Park, it provides needed revenue to operate and maintain the Park."

Photo courtesy of Pierhouse