Empire rezoning request from commercial to mixed-use

The Q at Parkside says that the former Toomey's Diner at Rogers and Empire is going to become apartments. There is a question as to how the lot is zoned though.

At least they'll have a SBS stop right outside!  

Damn, I didn't realize that Toomey's closed.  When I used to live nearby, there were several trips over there for weekend breakfast/brunch.. It was a good place if you liked hearing people winning small amounts of money on scratch tickets while consuming sustenance. 

I thought Toomey's was closed for renovations. I didn't realize it wasn't ever coming back. :-\ 

It is never coming back: http://www.brooklynian.com/discussion/44783/341epw-folks-to-develop-toomey039s-old-spot#Item_2

City Hall meetings are mostly announcements and theater with regard to planning; nothing actually gets decided there.

First DCP does a study, then has meetings about what they would like to do. The public gets to state its opinions:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/luproc/calbeg.shtml

Then, the City Council holds a public few hearings about the proposal and votes:

http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/Calendar.aspx

Most DCP proposal pass the city council with large majorities.

Then, the Mayor signs it.

...then it becomes law.

Note: I may have left out some of the really boring parts.

This article re: the mega project at Astoria explains the various levels of approval that a large project (such as the rezoning of part of CB9) has to go through, and the position of the various players:

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/10/28/astoria-coves-major-players/

The rezoning of sections of CB9 will not be much different.

Back in July of 2013, we talked about how 224 Empire was going to become a storage facilty.
http://www.brooklynian.com/discussion/38561/another-storage-facility-on-empire-224-empire/p1

Today, Brownstoner announces same:
http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2014/11/large-scarano-designed-building-rising-on-empire-boulevard-will-be-self-storage/

...they must have waited until they could get construction photos.