The controversial Spice Factory site in Crown Heights could someday hold a modest six-story residential development, according to plans filed by the current factory owner.
The surprise move follows an intense battle in which locals thwarted developer Continuum Company’s plans to build two towers on the site higher than 30 stories that would have blocked the sun and threatened the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Ultimately, then-mayor Bill de Blasio blocked the plan.
The previously proposed development. Rendering by Hill West Architects
The new plans are filed solely by the spice importer, with the building owner listed as Abraham Zev Golombeck, as The Real Deal was the first to report. However, the sale of the site to Continuum was dependent on approval of the rezoning, and the site’s ownership is now under litigation, according to The Real Deal.
The newly filed plans would offer 293 apartments, 20 percent of what the originally planned development would have included. No zoning change is needed for the planned 60-foot-high building. Whether the apartments will be rentals or condos or include any so-called affordable housing is not yet clear.
A massing study from 2021 showing what as-of-right development on the site could look like. Rendering by Hill West Architects
Originally the Consumers Park Brewing Company, the site has a rich history, architectural significance, and was important to the history and development of this part of Brooklyn, as Brownstoner columnist Suzanne Spellen has written.
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