Slope Rallies Against 580 Carroll, Rags on the BSA

Last night there was a rally outside of 580 Carroll Street in advance of the Board of Standards and Appeals hearing today on the developer's request for a variance to build three townhouses in addition to the rest of his Enrique Norten-designed project. The developer, Ashwin Verma, and some of his business partners made an appearance, as did a few dozen residents and some elected reps who are against the variance. Verma told the crowd that he's developed some townhouses in Harlem and has only been in the game for about five years; in his own words, "I'm no Donald Trump." He blamed his inexperience for not knowing there was a Con Ed substation on 580 Carroll's site, which led to cost overruns. As captured in the vid above, this explanation did not go over well with some of the people gathered last night. In fact, not much went over well: The developer was lambasted for the project's architecture ("It's horrible!" said one woman) and taken to task for implying that if the variance wasn't granted the project would become an abandoned, half-finished site ("We are not going to be threatened, sir!" said one guy). As the vid shows, there was also some BSA bashing and general discontent about trying to skirt zoning requirements.
Battle Over Carroll St. Norten Build Heats Up This Week [Brownstoner]
CB6 Doesn't Buy Carroll Street Hardship Claim [Brownstoner]
580 Carroll Developer Trying to Supersize Norten Project [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 580 Carroll Street [Brownstoner] GMAP
Enrique Norten-Designed Project in Park Slope Revealed [Brownstoner]
Four Developments Coming to One Stretch of Carroll [Brownstoner]