City Continues To Push For Demolition Of Admiral's Row
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A battle continues to brew over Admiral's Row, a block of historic houses on the site of the Brooklyn Naval Yard that the city wants to turn into a supermarket. NY1's Jeanine Ramirez filed the following report on where the situation stands just weeks ahead of the final federal public hearing on the issue. The Admiral's Row homes at the Brooklyn Navy Hard were once home to high-ranking Navy officers. Dating back to the 1830s, 10 of them still sit on federal land, but fall within the boundaries of the Navy Yard, which now operates as a city-owned industrial park.
The city wants to buy the six-acre property so it can add a new industrial facility and a much needed neighborhood supermarket. The city's plan calls for demolishing the houses.
"From our point of view, it's an eyesore there," said Brooklyn Navy Yard President Andrew Kimball. "It hasn't been maintained at all. There are health issues, there are security issues. We'd bring down the wall, open up that space."
The buildings have been neglected for some 30 years since the Navy left. They are not landmarks, but the National Guard Bureau, which is overseeing the sale of the property to the city, says they're historically significant.
The bureau is now getting community input to evaluate their importance before any sale.
Civic groups say the houses should be preserved, but the city says it's too costly.
"We've had four different engineering studies that have looked at those buildings and they are in such bad shape," said Kimball. "You'd be looking in the average range of $50 million to rebuild them, and that's not preservation, that's rebuilding. You'd be rebuilding those from the bottom up, and the question is, is that an economically viable thing to do?"
Across the street are the Farragutt, Ingersoll, and Walt Whitman Houses. Residents say what is most important to them is the Navy Yard's plan for a supermarket. The nearest one was recently torn down to make way for luxury condos.
"The houses should be destroyed immediately to make way for the supermarket," said Ed Brown, president of the Ingersoll Houses Tenant Association.
"It's falling down. We shouldn't even standing be on this side," said resident Bobbie Hayes.
Many elected officials, including City Councilwoman Letitia James, said they agree that the houses should be demolished.
"That means tearing the buildings down and tearing them down now. We do not have $30 million," said James. "What we should be doing is investing in human infrastructure."
The federal government has been hearing arguments from both sides. A final public hearing is being planned for the fall.