EDC presented a plan June 3 to reclaim public land around Broadway Junction Station using $130 million in city and federal funds to expand parkland, improve streetscapes and relocate the NYPD Transit District 33 facility.

The proposal asks the borough board to begin the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) for four discretionary land‑use actions: a site selection for an extension of Callahan‑Kelly Playground, approval to relocate NYPD Transit District 33 to a portion of 1508 Herkimer Street and allow future redevelopment of the remainder of that lot, conversion of an MTA parking lot at Van Sinderen Avenue and Fulton Street into a 5,000‑square‑foot plaza, and related public‑realm changes and streetscape work.

EDC said the package knits together the city’s $130 million allocation with a federal RAISE grant and complements the MTA’s separate $400 million Broadway Junction station ADA upgrades. Julianne Herskowitz, senior vice president at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, told the board the program will “improve pedestrian safety, create better access to transit, and build new, beautiful, and accessible public open space in and around Broadway Junction Station.”

EDC said the Callahan‑Kelly extension would reclaim approximately a half acre of mapped parkland currently occupied by an above‑grade NYPD transit police station and deliver a combined park area of more than four acres. The presentation described regrading at the Fulton and Van Sinderen corner to improve visibility and wayfinding, and listed potential amenities such as seating, plantings, vendor space and public art.

EDC said the existing NYPD facility occupies roughly 15,000 square feet of parkland and is “severely deteriorated.” To replace it, the agency proposed a new, purpose‑built, four‑story, roughly 35,000‑square‑foot NYPD transit facility on a portion of 1508 Herkimer Street, with a ground‑floor transparent facade and a community room. EDC and NYPD said the new site would include off‑street parking for department vehicles; EDC estimated that 10–12 department vehicles that currently park on surrounding streets would be accommodated off the street. EDC said construction of the new NYPD facility is anticipated to begin in 2026 and be completed by 2028.

EDC also proposed converting an MTA‑controlled parking/operations lot at the southeast corner of Van Sinderen and Fulton into a roughly 5,000‑square‑foot public plaza, and two streetscape projects (Van Sinderen between Atlantic and Fulton, and Broadway between Jamaica Avenue and Truxton) that EDC said are in design procurement. EDC estimated design would start later in 2025, with construction for the public‑realm package targeted to begin in 2028 and to finish in 2031.

The package includes workforce and contracting commitments: a 30 percent MWBE target for the Callahan‑Kelly design contract, surpassing a 7 percent federal disadvantaged business goal for streetscapes, a community hiring goal that would require 30 percent of labor hours be performed by locally based hires (prioritizing NYCHA and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods), and EDC announced $1.4 million in awards to five local nonprofits to expand workforce programs in East Brooklyn.

During the public hearing, board members, community board chairs and Council Member Sandy Nurse’s office expressed safety, lighting, sanitation and parking concerns. Chairperson Lohmann (Community Board 5) and other speakers said the presentation left unanswered questions about how many police officers would park near the new facility, how the NYPD presence along MTA property would change, and coordination with nearby large private developments such as Totem. Samori Toure, chief of staff for Council Member Sandy Nurse, asked for commitments to temporary lighting and daily cleaning during construction to address longstanding safety and litter issues around the station.

Inspector Kenneth Gorman, commanding officer of Transit Borough Brooklyn, supported the relocation as an operational improvement for the district and said the department would retain a small presence inside Broadway Junction Station. Gorman said the department currently staffs roughly 200 uniform and civilian members for District 33 and described the existing station as undersized. He said the new facility would include a community room and amenities such as lactation rooms and juvenile meeting space.

Several community board chairs, including CB 5 and CB 16 representatives, asked EDC to continue joint meetings and to resolve outstanding items before the borough board takes an advisory vote. CB 5 publicly stated during its remarks that it did not approve the project at this time and asked EDC to return to the table with CB 16 and other stakeholders.

EDC said it conducted outreach since 2023 with Council Member Nurse, community boards 5 and 16 and neighborhood organizations and that the Sacman Street site and 116 Williams Avenue in the East New York Industrial Business Zone are the subjects of a separate multi‑site RFP for industrial/green economy uses.

No formal borough board vote or motion on the project occurred at the hearing. EDC said the ULURP clock began in April; the process includes 60 days of committee‑level review, a 30‑day borough president review, City Planning Commission and City Council reviews, with the overall ULURP calendar running about seven months.

The borough board recorded multiple public concerns about parking and construction impacts and asked EDC to provide additional design details and answers to parking, security and coordination questions as the review proceeds.

EDC indicated additional community engagement will continue during design and that design procurement for streetscapes and the playground extension is underway.