Eminent Domain Foes Fear Bid By Assemblyman
March 31, 2008
A bill winding its way through the Assembly is prompting concern about the state’s use of eminent domain in the potential condemnation of Pfizer Inc.’s Brooklyn factory.
If passed, the bill, introduced by Assemblyman Vito Lopez, a Democrat of Brooklyn, would allow for the state to take control of the company’s 15-acre plant in Williamsburg and develop it into 100% “affordable” housing.
Pfizer plans to shut down the Flushing Avenue plant at the end of this year and cut 600 jobs. The pharmaceutical giant has said it plans to develop a mixed-use project that would include an unspecified amount of “affordable” housing. The plant, situated on the site where Pfizer was founded in 1849, was built in the 1940s.
Mr. Lopez’s legislation would have the state’s housing agency acquire the site, then issue its own request for proposals to create about 1,700 housing units.
The assemblyman’s chief of staff, Stephen Levin, said he blames Pfizer for not specifying how much “affordable” housing it would be willing to build. Mr. Levin said the 6.7-acre Rheingold Brewery site in Bushwick is an example of a similar site that was developed into hundreds of “affordable” housing units.
Source: NY Sun Read the full story here
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