UPDATED, 6:20 p.m., June 23: Local officials say Simon Dushinsky’s Rabsky Group isn’t coming through on some promises the development firm reportedly made regarding affordable housing at the Rheingold Brewery redevelopment.
Dushinsky bought the site last year for $53 million and is looking to replace it with a 370-unit, six-story condominium project, according to DNAinfo. ODA New York is the architect of record of the building at 10 Montieth Street in Bushwick. The original developer of the site, Read Property Group, received approvals only after it agreed to include 30 percent affordable units. Local officials want Dushinsky to commit to the same, even though he isn’t legally required to do so.
But now, they are claiming that Dushinsky is not willing to talk about affordable units in the building and that he has refused to take meetings on the subject with community members, the website reported.
In response, a spokesperson for Rabsky told The Real Deal: “After Simon Dushinsky himself met with the councilman and his staff in May and after his office met with the various steering committees in June, we are appalled by the latest accusation from the article that we have no intention of building affordable housing.
“We have developed numerous projects in Brooklyn with affordable housing and have always lived up to our obligations and agreements. We have assured them that we will build affordable housing and we have every intention to do so,” the spokesperson added. “The project is privately funded and there is no affordable requirement. However, from the get-go, we had every intention to build affordable and we are committed to that. We are in the preliminary stages of the designing the project and will meet with the community as the project advances in the coming months.”
Bruno Daniel, a member of the Rheingold Construction Committee said that Dushinsky showed “a lack of respect.”
“He’s not taking very seriously our situation and our concerns,” Daniel told DNAinfo. [DNAinfo] — Claire Moses