Editor’s note: In honor of the 50-year anniversary of the Pratt Area Community Council, we are pleased to feature historic buildings PACC has redeveloped as our Building of the Day for four consecutive days. PACC is a community development corporation that preserves and develops affordable housing in central Brooklyn. Brownstoner is a proud media sponsor of PACC’s 50th Anniversary Gala, which takes place April 23.

15 Quincy St. NS, PS

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Apartment building called “Quincy 15”
Address: 15 Quincy Street
Cross Streets: Downing Street and Classon Avenue
Neighborhood: Clinton Hill
Year Built: 2007-2008
Architectural Style: Brick apartment building
Architect: ND Architecture & Design P.C.
Other work by architect: Modern and adaptive use projects throughout Brooklyn
Landmarked: No

The story: Today’s BOTD is another of the Pratt Area Community Council’s affordable housing buildings. PACC has been at this for 50 years, with many of their projects being rehabs of existing historic buildings. This is one of their new-builds; a 48-unit building providing affordable housing in the form of nine studio apartments and 41 one-bedroom apartments for low-income residents, some of them formerly homeless people.

The building is on the same block as last Friday’s BOTD, the former Frederick Loeser & Co. stables and warehouse building, and occupies the space once taken up by another important Brooklyn business. This was one of the locations of the Borden Milk Company, which had a block wide plant here, with its main entrance on Lexington Avenue.

That plant had been there since at least 1904, and held a number of industries over the years. In 1911, it was home to a bakery called Mills Homemade Bread. By 1922, it was W. M. Evans Dairy, and by 1926, belonged to Borden’s, which used the entire building to pasteurize and bottle milk shipped in from New Jersey. The milk, which actually came in daily from upstate New York, was loaded into special glass lined refrigerated train cars, shipped to Hoboken, and then trucked over in special glass lined refrigerated trucks to Brooklyn.

Borden’s operated the plant here until after World War II. This industrial part of Clinton Hill was considered part of Bedford Stuyvesant then, and the nearby streets are a combination of small industrial and commercial buildings and housing. The nearby elevated train on Lexington Avenue would have been convenient for the plant workers. In 1946, the plant was closed and the building auctioned off. It was probably used for warehousing, storage, and small businesses until it was demolished to build this apartment building.

The architects of the project were ND Architecture & Design P.C., located in Brooklyn. The project was a partnership between BFC Partners, Manatus Development Group LLC, and PACC. It was funded by Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal and a construction loan from Wachovia Bank. The building only takes up the Quincy Street side of the former plant site, the Lexington Avenue side is now devoted to parking.

This project was part of the density bonus for residential projects in Community Board 2, and was developed under HUD’s Inclusionary Housing Program, which was a part of the Toren’s affordable housing component. Today, this area is once again booming, as new homeowners are drawn to the neighborhood’s mixture of warehouse conversions and new construction. GMAP

(Photo: Nicholas Strini for PropertyShark)

Photo: Scott Bintner for Property Shark
Photo: Scott Bintner for PropertyShark
 1980s - Borden's Plant. Photo: Municipal Archives
Borden plant in the 1980s. Photo: Municipal Archives
Brooklyn Eagle ad for building auction. 1946
Brooklyn Eagle ad for building auction. 1946

What's Your Take? Leave a Comment