In 2022, developers behind two Atlantic Avenue projects committed to making a “record-setting” 35 percent of the apartments affordable. But after interest rates shot up and the owner cited cost pressures, nonprofit partners recruited by Councilmember Hudson agreed to renegotiate, rather than pursue enforcement.

It looked like dramatic progress. In April 2022, 35th District Councilmember Crystal Hudson announced that, after the Council approved two spot rezonings along under-built Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, it showed that “developers can and must offer more” affordable housing than what the city usually requires under its Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) program.

Hudson, who had earlier told the applicants to wait for an area-wide rezoning, got the developers to commit to a “record-setting” 35 percent low-income affordable units. Projected as 153 apartments—out of 438 total—the units would be set aside for tenants at a range of incomes, averaging 54 percent of Area Median Income (AMI). She earned praise from numerous stakeholders, including affordable housing advocates like ANHD.

“For too long, developers have driven the land use and planning process in this city. They’ve convinced New Yorkers that affordability quotas and community demands will stifle development in a time when we need to build more to confront the growing affordability and housing shortage we’re facing,” Hudson said in a statement at the time. “However, the truth is developers can stand to do much more.”

But four years later, after a sharp rise in interest rates and closed-door negotiations excluding Hudson that were never formally revealed, the buildings have opened with only 25 percent affordability, plus a gift of nearby property that might—assuming government agencies offer future funding—help make up for part of the shortfall.

The deal also gave the developers a head start on competitors also looking to build in the area. As part of that 2022 statement, Hudson also announced that the city would pursue a comprehensive rezoning along the Atlantic Avenue corridor in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights, from Vanderbilt Avenue to Nostrand Avenue, involving capital, infrastructure, and programmatic commitments.

So the two buildings, then known as 870-888 Atlantic Ave. and 1034-1042 Atlantic Ave., were the last one-off upzonings—allowing an enormous boost in valuable square footage—before the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan (AAMUP), which was approved three years later.

Developers had long eyed the blocks, shackled by low-rise industrial zoning but near gentrifying areas and just east of the long-gestating Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project. That had prompted Brooklyn Community Board 8 to pursue a plan, known as M-CROWN and a precursor to AAMUP, to encourage housing while retaining job-creating space.

Not what was promised

The two 19-story buildings, today dubbed Eight80 and Prosper Brooklyn and for now looming over neighbors, come with taglines like “sophisticated design meets effortless luxury” and “where Brooklyn’s energy meets modern luxury.”

They do not, however, offer the promised 35 percent affordability: 15 percent of units for households earning 40 percent AMI—$58,320 for a family of three, as of 2025—15 percent at 60 percent AMI, and 5 percent at 80 percent AMI.

Among the 517 apartments now renting across the two buildings, 130 are below-market, with 97 (about 20 percent) at 40 percent AMI, such as 50 one-bedrooms averaging less than $1,000 in rent, for two-person households earning roughly between $37,000 and $54,000. (That’s well below the city’s $1,215 benchmark for that income category, but tenants must pay for all utilities.)

The buildings reflect both the “deep affordability” option under MIH, with 20 percent “very low-income units,” and Option A of the state’s 421-a tax break, which allows middle-income units as part of 25 percent affordability. There are 26 units (5 percent) at 130 percent AMI, plus seven studios at 60 percent AMI.

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