Ian Bruce Eichner Agrees To Build Smaller Project Next To Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Continuum Co. has finally struck a deal to move forward with a controversial residential development across from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Developer Ian Bruce Eichner has spent seven years attempting to build two different versions of the project at 962-972 Franklin Ave. Under the agreement, his firm will finally move forward with a 355-unit apartment building, with 106 units set aside as affordable workforce housing, Crain’s New York Business first reported.

The project will now have a 10-degree slope instead of the previously proposed 15 degrees, The Real Deal reported. That change allows “for necessary sunlight to reach the Garden’s plant nursery and other crucial areas,” the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which signed off on the new plan, told TRD.

The agreed-upon final version is significantly deflated from Eichner’s first proposal back in 2017. Then, he planned to build two 39-story towers on adjacent lots. That project would have netted more than 1,500 apartments, half of which were planned as affordable units.

Both former Mayor Bill de Blasio and now-Mayor Eric Adams, as Brooklyn borough president at the time, rejected the controversial proposal. 

That plan was rejected by the City Planning Commission in 2021 due to concerns that the development’s shadows would impact the Brooklyn Botanic Garden across the street. 

Eichner proceeded to sell one of the lots for $64M, according to Crain’s. He then proposed a 14-story residential tower last year. 

Those plans were once again met with community concerns. Among the opposition was Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who claimed that the building’s shadows would impact the nearby Jackie Robinson Playground and threaten rare plant species in the garden.

Eichner threatened to kill the project in September after being forced to shrink the tower’s height by 30 feet, which he said would mean that the project would no longer make financial sense. It was revived by the latest agreement to add workforce housing as part of a city subsidy program, Crain’s reported, citing anonymous sources.

The project will include 8.5K SF of retail as well as parking.