Councilmember Opposes Massive Sunset Park Rezoning In His District—And Finds Himself Outnumbered

Several weeks after a Brooklyn city councilman announced he would oppose a massive rezoning on the Sunset Park waterfront within his district, developers are hoping to mobilize dissident lawmakers in an effort to revive the far-reaching plan.

Carlos Menchaca, the Sunset Park Democrat, declared on Instagram that he could not back a plan to rezone more than a million square feet of Industry City, citing concerns about gentrification and the displacement of working class tenants in the immigrant-heavy neighborhood surrounding the development.

Typically, such opposition would mean the powerful Industry City developers—Jamestown, Belvedere Capital, and Angelo Gordon & Co—would have little recourse, because the 51-member City Council almost always defers to the local lawmaker on land use votes.

But the coronavirus pandemic, combined with Menchaca’s own weakened standing in the City Council, may give the developers a lifeline. Two Democratic city council members in different boroughs, the Bronx's Ritchie Torres and Queens' Donovan Richards, recently penned an op-ed in support of the project, pushing back on the idea that Menchaca could unilaterally shoot it down. A third city council member, Robert Cornegy, is circulating a letter to colleagues urging them to back the rezoning, citing a promise of 20,000 new jobs in the depths of a pandemic that has crushed New York City’s economy.

“I have to skate to where the puck is gonna be, not where the puck is,” said Cornegy, a Brooklyn Democrat. “Industry City and Sunset Park and the Borough of Brooklyn have to skate to where the puck is gonna be: light manufacturing and tech.”

A traditional manufacturing power on the Brooklyn waterfront, the Industry City area has been reinvented in recent years as a retail hub, with eateries and various design, fashion, and tech tenants. Developers at one point hoped to lure the second Amazon headquarters to the 35-acre complex. The rezoning would allow for a massive retail expansion and the construction of luxury hotels, though Industry City now says they will omit the hotels from their application.

“Changes to a project of this type are made when it reaches the City Council, usually at the sub-committee or committee levels. The changed application then goes back to City Planning to verify any changes are within the scope,” said Lee Silberstein, an Industry City spokesman. “We’ve committed to removing hotels which the final plan will reflect if it reaches that point in the process.”

In addition, Industry City would seek to create a public technical high school on the site and a “manufacturing hub” managed by a “mission-driven nonprofit.” Some of these were concessions to Menchaca, as well as activists who have decried the loss of land that had been zoned for manufacturing. Menchaca had demanded a “community benefits agreement” with Industry City; though the developers accepted a number of his terms, CBA’s are historically difficult to enforce.

Local opponents of the project believe whatever jobs are created at Industry City would be offset by increased gentrification and tenant harassment in a neighborhood that has already seen average rents surge in recent years. A rezoning of a large area or neighborhood typically raises land values, encouraging landlords to chase away poorer tenants.

It’s unclear, in addition, how exactly Industry City can deliver on its jobs promises in the depths of a recession, with the brick and mortar retail sector struggling mightily. Job projections were made before the onset of COVID-19, and Industry City has not altered them for a post-pandemic New York.

Neighborhood activists have rallied around alternative plans for the waterfront, including a proposal from UPROSE, a longtime community organization. The UPROSE plan calls for a return to full-scale manufacturing while building wind turbines and solar panels as part of a national Green New Deal.

“To me, it sounds like disaster capitalism—they’re trying to exploit that we are in a crisis in order to advance the goals of capitalism,” Gisselle Jiménez, a Sunset Park activist, said of Industry City’s plan. “There are other ways to create jobs. Privatizing the waterfront isn’t the only way to do that.”

Progressive organizers have also faulted Industry City’s record as an employer. In June, protesters decried their treatment of essential workers during the pandemic as “ruthless” after a whistleblower alleged he was threatened for speaking up about unsafe working conditions.

"There has been no real community engagement in terms of what Sunset Park envisions for the future of our waterfront and how we want to see it moving forward," said Antoinette Martínez, an organizer with Protect Sunset Park, a local group rallying against the rezoning. 

For proponents of the project, however, the Industry City rezoning is a remarkable opportunity for job-creation at a moment when the city has an unemployment rate as high as 20 percent, the local economy reeling from coronavirus-induced shutdowns. The hospitality, restaurant, and tourism industries have been decimated. Unlike the fight over the Amazon headquarters in Queens, the Industry City developers are not trying to circumvent the City Council’s land use review process or seek billions in tax subsidies from the city and state.

Torres, a Bronx Democrat who is poised to enter Congress next year, argued that the City Council should be able to debate the merits of the Industry City rezoning without one member shutting down discussions among other lawmakers.

“It’s a project of citywide consequence and should command consideration for the whole City Council. The process is more important than the substance,” Torres said. “The notion of a local council member announcing the death of a massive project on Instagram is uncharacteristic of how the City Council should operate.”

In most cases, developers do not press on with a project if the local council member isn’t supportive. There have been a few exceptions over the last 20 years: Helen Foster, a South Bronx city councilwoman, voted against the Yankee Stadium rezoning that overwhelmingly passed the City Council in 2006. In 2009, a Brooklyn city councilman, David Yassky, was overruled on rezoning in DUMBO. Developers there accomplished what Industry City hopes to do: circumvent local opposition through the rest of the City Council.

Are the votes there? Cornegy said he had gathered around 10 signatures for his pro-Industry City letter, with more expected, though 26 would be required for passage. A land use vote, if it proceeds, would likely happen in the fall, allowing many council members who are term-limited to weigh in. Richards, like Torres, will likely have a higher office next January as Queens Borough President, and Cornegy is running for Brooklyn Borough President next June.

Politics, as always, will determine what happens next. All three council members belong to a faction of the body that is much closer to the real estate industry than the growing number of progressives who have sworn off developer donations altogether. Both Richards and Torres received significant financial backing from the real estate industry in their bids for higher office.

Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who had launched a mayoral campaign but now appears to be reconsidering his options, slashed all discretionary and capital funding for Menchaca’s district after he voted against the controversial city budget in June.

Menchaca’s clout among his colleagues has diminished for other reasons. He drew condemnation for firing three staffers right before Christmas while retaining the outside consulting services of a life coach. In his first term, he was forced from his role as co-chair of the City Council’s Brooklyn delegation.

Within Sunset Park, activists on the left have been dissatisfied with Menchaca for not opposing the rezoning sooner while endorsing a rival to a socialist assembly candidate who had been organizing against Industry City.

Johnson’s office, in response to questions about whether the City Council should consider the Industry City rezoning if Menchaca has already stated his opposition, signaled there was a possibility the proposal would still be debated among members.

“If the City Planning Commission moves it along the ULURP [uniform land use review] process, the Council will review with community feedback in mind,” said Jacob Tugendrajc, a Johnson spokesperson. The full council vote on the rezoning could happen as soon as October.

On Wednesday, Menchaca sent a letter to all of his colleagues outlining why he was against Industry City’s rezoning plan. Menchaca argued a rezoning was not necessary to facilitate job growth and more land should be set aside for manufacturing. Like local organizers, he cited concerns about rising residential and commercial rents in the surrounding neighborhoods. (Asked to comment for this story, the councilmember referred us to his written statement.)

Menchaca also said Mayor Bill de Blasio’s unwillingness to guarantee additional affordable housing investments in Sunset Park—City Hall has been largely disengaged from the negotiations—drove his opposition.

“Because the City chose not to protect and invest in Sunset Park at a critical moment and because there is no legally binding contract to ensure Industry City delivers on their promises, offsets the rise in rents and displacement that a rezoning would exacerbate, or protect the manufacturing and green job potential of the waterfront, Menchaca wrote, “I cannot support their application.”

This story has been updated to correctly attribute quotes from Antoinette Martínez and Gisselle Jiménez.