CITY HALL, NY — A city plan to redevelop the vacant Bedford-Union Armory in Crown Heights will no longer include luxury condominiums, and more than half of the apartment units at the site will be designated affordable, City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo announced Tuesday during two city council hearings.

Cumbo hailed the sweeping changes to the controversial development — which were negotiated over the last week with the city and its chosen developer, BFC Partners — as "revolutionary" and "the most significant new affordable housing project that the Crown Heights neighborhood has seen in decades." The new proposal passed a subcommittee and committee vote in the council on Tuesday and will go before the full body next week, when it is expected to be approved.

"This project is producing more affordability than Crown Heights has seen in decades," Cumbo said. The previous proposal called for just 67 of more than 300 apartment units to be rented out to families of four making about $48,000 a year and below, along with 56 condos.



The new deal eliminates the condos completely and sets aside 250 of the now 415 rentals for families of four making about $57,000 and below. Of those 250 affordable units, 24 will be available for families of four making $48,000 and below, another 24 for families making $38,000 and 50 for families making $28,000. And half of those 50 will be set aside for formerly homeless people.

The median income in Crown Heights is about $45,000.

The rest of the apartment units, 165 in total, will be rented at market rates.

The community rec center will provide 50 percent of its memberships for just $10 a month for adults and $8 a month for kids who live in the area.

"Today I am proud to announce a dramatically revised Bedford-Union Armory project that lives up to the values I and so many in this room and beyond have fought to achieve," Cumbo told the subcommittee hearing.