To quote from last month’s Daily News, “so much for downtown Brooklyn’s newest condos”. As has been reported, the City’s Department of Corrections (DOC) has dropped its plans for a mixed use HOD due to lack of developer interest.

All that is left on the table is DOC Commissioner Horn’s decision to re-open and expand the jail with an offer to include retail space along the Atlantic Avenue and Smith Street frontages if the community wants it. DOC will enlarge the site by doubling the current (750) inmate capacity. It’s all part of a citywide program to alleviate the crowded conditions on Rikers Island and to create decentralized prisons in each borough.

The Atlantic Avenue facility was a prime candidate for expansion since it is close to the courts, mass transit facilities (making it easier for visiting Brooklyn families) and social services. This has all the appearances of a decision already made and we expect these plans to proceed accordingly, with the expanded jail slated to reopen in 2012.

Borough President Marty Markowitz, along with all of our elected officials, took the lead in efforts to find creative ideas for the site that would also satisfy the needs of the DOC. It has not been easy. Horn has pledged to deal with parking issues around the jail, especially along State Street, and he is open to other possibilities for mitigation for the surrounding neighborhoods, such as landscaping and a more attractive design of the jail addition. We will continue to work with DOC and the elected officials to keep the mitigation issues in the forefront as the plans to reopen the HOD proceed.