Demo Starts at Tompkins Avenue Row Where Vasco Ventures Plans Controversial Building
Demolition has started on three buildings on Tompkins near near Hancock in Bed Stuy. They are coming down to make way for a 35-unit apartment building at 410 Tompkins Avenue whose unusual design caused a firestorm of controversy and prompted outreach from Community Board 3 to developers in the area. A reader sent us these…
Demolition has started on three buildings on Tompkins near near Hancock in Bed Stuy. They are coming down to make way for a 35-unit apartment building at 410 Tompkins Avenue whose unusual design caused a firestorm of controversy and prompted outreach from Community Board 3 to developers in the area.
A reader sent us these photos, which show a building at 414 and 416 Tompkins Avenue being demolished. The building on the corner, No. 410, is also slated to be razed.
The new, six-story building will be called Hancock Manor and will cover four lots. Vasco Ventures is the developer, and Charles Mallea is the architect.
Above, the controversial design for 410 Tompkins.
Locals and preservationists had few kind words for the design of 410 Tompkins when it appeared in January and circulated on private email lists and Facebook groups, as we reported at the time. The rendering’s depiction of black birds circling above a dark gray facade with mirrored cracks prompted Brownstoner commenters to dub the building the Bulgarian Neo-Goth Supervillian Crack Lair.
One door away at 420 Tompkins another large modern apartment building is going up, replacing longtime neighborhood hardware store Weinstein’s. It is also designed by Charles Mallea but looks very different. It mixes rusted steel with glass.
In the last few months, representatives from CB3 have been meeting with developers in the area, such as Brookland Capital, to request traditional masonry designs with traditional windows and cornices, to blend in with the existing architecture in the area, which is famous for its rows of 19th century brownstones.
Vasco Ventures is a private real estate investment group based in Midwood. It specializes in acquiring distressed property and estate sales. Its founder and principal is Isay (Izzy) Ildatov.
Architect Charles Mallea has at least a dozen mid-size apartment buildings under construction in areas such as Bed Stuy, Bushwick, Greenpoint and Flatbush. Most are traditional masonry buildings.
410 Tompkins Avenue Coverage [Brownstoner]
Charles Mallea Coverage [Brownstoner]
Renderings by Charles Mallea
Just down the street at 420 Tompkins, developer CS Management is planning this modern looking building with rusted steel and glass, also designed by architect Charles Mallea.
Let’s not kid ourselves, for the most part, the businesses here (and vacant lots/buildings) being replaced were not really that great. So, no great loss there. The proposed buildings are ugly, but the biggest loss here as that neither new building will include any retail. That being said, added density will lead to better retail – so for that reason, I think the new buildings will be a benefit to the neighborhood. Along the same lines, I think the new buildings coming to Fulton Street will be a good thing – no matter how ugly they are. Hopefully, even MM will not mourn the loss of nail salons and 99 cent stores on Fulton Street!
So you don’t like the nail salons and 99 cent stores… lots of people would agree with you but then again all the people who shop there probably disagree. The main thing is, businesses come and go depending on the demand from the neighborhood. If everyone in the neighborhood wants to pay $3 to flush paper down the toilet instead of 2 for 99cents, well then a higher end drug store will move in pretty shortly.
The “cracked” building on the other hand, is something the neighborhood will be stuck with for at least the next 50 or 100 years. Destroying buildings that have stood the test of time for the last 100 years to get new stores seems extreme and unnecessary.
Both new buildings make me sick to my stomach. As MM said new buildings in Bedford Stuyvesant are great if done right but both these buildings are totally telling the neighborhood F@#k You! I will do what I want who cares about context. Developer should go to architectural jail! Shame on these guys.
Looks haunted.
MM – I know what a dedicated preservationist you are, and I feel you are trying to sound reasonable. But I think its time for a conversation, citywide, about what “progress” means and what is “inevitable” in terms of growth. For the tenants who lived in these buildings, progress might mean the landlord installing air conditioning. Or solar panels on the roof to cut the electric bills. Not being forced to leave when their building is demolished. Progress could be a small business in one of these buildings adopting a stripe card reader, or marketing itself on facebook. We in brownstone Brooklyn are being hammered with the idea that we must grow and accept taller buildings, but in South Brooklyn there are community boards that unanimously reject variances for 4 story buildings in areas zoned for 3 stories. There are many low density areas of the city that are NOT accepting more density – and are not apologizing for it. We’ve experienced a decade of unusual population growth in the city overall. There is not agreement among urban planners that past population trends will continue indefinitely. Most believe that population growth is cyclical. So a period of growth could well be followed by some decline. Why should we be planning for continuous growth especially when it is destructive of things we treasure about our neighborhoods?