Applicant seeks to build a six-story community facility for women’s health. On February 24, 2015 the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises approved an application by Fort Hamilton, LLC to rezone the north side of Fort Hamilton Parkway between 53rd Street and 55th Street in Borough Park, Brooklyn. The application rezones the area from its current R5 to an R6 district with a C1-3 overlay, and is intended to facilitate construction of a six-story women’s wellness center with partial ground floor retail. The application was approved by the City Planning Commission on January 7, 2015, following approvals from Brooklyn Community Board 12 and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.
At the hearing Dan Egers of Greenberg Traurig and counsel for the applicant testified the proposed development site is occupied by a discontinued automotive service facility and a three-story house. The proposed wellness center would house a birthing center, medical offices, and suggested a pharmacy in the ground floor retail space to complement the medical presence in the rest of the building. Mr. Eggers testified accessory parking for one hundred and fifty cars will be handled by an automated stacking facility three levels below the center. Mr. Eggers repeated the application has received the approvals of Community Board 12, Borough President Adams, and the City Planning Commission. Fran Schwartz from Fort Hamilton LLC testified the center is an outpatient facility located within four blocks ofMaimonides Medical Center, and there is a great need in the area for a facility to provide specific medical treatment for women. Ms. Schwartz singled out the need for the birthing center, stating the Brooklyn Birthing Center in Midwood is the only standalone facility of its kind in all of New York. Mitchell Hirth of Hirth Real Estate testified in favor of the women’s clinic, and assured the Council the applicant had the resources to build the building.