August 28, 2007

Sneakers Out, Minibars in at 237 Duffield Street

The design for a Gene Kaufman-designed hotel on the west side of the street, across from the Underground Railroad houses, has been in the public domain for several months. Until now, though, we hadn't seen any plans for the hotel on the east side of the street just to the south of the Underground Railroad houses. This rendering of a 22-story, 107-room hotel to replace the VIM store at 237 Duffield Street recently just popped up on the Karl Fischer website. According to the site, the 108,000-square-foot building is scheduled to cost $40 million and be completed in 2008. That timeline seems a stretch given that there's not even an application for demolition listed on the DOB website. Anyone know anything more? Is this just in suspension while the city flexes its eminent domain muscles?
GMAP P*Shark DOB

Posted by Brownstoner at 11:52 AM | Comments (3)
Categories: Development, Downtown Brooklyn

August 21, 2007

Development Watch: BFC and Avalon Straddle Myrtle

A reader sent in a photo from this weekend of the Avalon Bay BFC project on the triangular plot of land bounded by Myrtle, Gold and Prince Streets. While this was originally reported to be a 42-story residential tower, the permit on file only calls for 37 stories. Perhaps the developer is still trying to round up some additional FAR. The same tipster reminds us that the Virginia-based Avalon Bay owns the row of of three-story buildings (photo on the jump) on the other side of Myrtle Avenue. The developer had its demolition permits ok'd on August 10, so the wrecking ball should be showing up any day. There are no new building plans filed yet for the site on the north side of the street yet—anyone know what's in store?
Avalon Coming to Myrtle, Sans Whole Foods [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark DOB

Continue reading "Development Watch: BFC and Avalon Straddle Myrtle"

Posted by Brownstoner at 12:01 PM | Comments (4)
Categories: Development, Downtown Brooklyn

August 16, 2007

Lots of Pictures But Unclear Address for Tillary Tower

Keeping track of all the projects in the planning and construction stages in Downtown Brooklyn is enough to keep anyone's head spinning so we could use some reader input on this one. A reader flagged some new renderings on the Karl Fischer website (Go the the News section and click on Gold Street Residential Tower) that deserve some attention. As far as we can tell, these are plans for the large L-shaped lot currently occupied by the McDonald's on Tillary between Gold and Duffield. It looks to us like the entrance to the main tower (which is 23 stories, according to our count) is on Gold Street. This is one of those sites with multiple addresses: 169 Tillary, 67 Duffield, and 248-268 Gold. There are no plans filed under any of these addresses on the DOB site. There was some activity with mortgages and agreements last June, according to PropertyShark, but no sign of a deed transfer. Do we have the correct site for this project? Is it actually happening or is Mr. Fischer just amusing himself? Has this been noted anywhere else yet? GMAP P*Shark DOB

Update: Okay, so a few commenters think that the site is actually one block further east, between Gold and Prince (#14 on this map), and we're starting to agree. If that's the case, it's the site of a $146 million project at 277 Gold Street, according to The Post. The problem with that theory is that the new building application, which was rejected by DOB back in May, called for only 13 stories. The other problem? The architect on the filing was Avinash Malhotra, not Karl Fischer.

Posted by Brownstoner at 11:56 AM | Comments (7)
Categories: Development, Downtown Brooklyn

August 13, 2007

Checking In on 96 Rockwell Place

After a little over four months on the market, about half the units at 96 Rockwell Place are spoken for. Of 37 total apartments, only 24 have been released on the market so far. (The breakdown: one two-bedroom, 12 one-bedrooms and 11 studios.) There are signed contracts on 15 apartments and contracts "out" on another three. Most of the remaining 13 apartment that haven't come online yet are in the new addition atop the original building. This batch includes four two-bedrooms, five one-bedrooms and three studios. Throw in one affordable unit, and there's your 37. The most expensive unit currently available is $870,000, though we assume some of the two-bedrooms coming down the pipe will be priced higher; most of the studios that were priced under $500,000 have been snatched up. As for timing, the developer's targeting Q1 of next year for completion and move-in. Anyone out there already bought here? Care to share your thinking?
96 Rockewell Listings [Halstead] GMAP P*Shark DOB
New Development: 96 Rockwell Place [Brownstoner]

Continue reading "Checking In on 96 Rockwell Place"

Posted by Brownstoner at 12:31 PM | Comments (17)
Categories: Condos, Development, Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene

August 8, 2007

37 Nevins: Visigoths Prepare to Sack Rome

As we cycled down Schermerhorn Street last week, we were surprised to see both a "Sold" sign and a scaffolding up at 37 Nevins. We've always had a thing for this beautiful three-story brick building so the scaffolding gave us pause: This architectural gem, with its cast iron cornice and bays, couldn't be getting torn down, could it? Unfortunately, it could (it's not landmarked) and it is. On July 23, the Department of Buildings issued a demolition permit that refers to a pending application for a new building; presumably it would also include the plot next door where a smaller brownstone structure is also teed up for demo. According to Property Shark, the 8,000-square-foot building is underbuilt by 20,000 square feet. The LLC that owns the property has a mailing address c/o The Brody Group but Eric Brody says that he's just consulting on the project. More photos on the jump. GMAP P*Shark DOB

Continue reading "37 Nevins: Visigoths Prepare to Sack Rome"

Posted by Brownstoner at 12:02 PM | Comments (24)
Categories: Boerum Hill, Development, Downtown Brooklyn

Duane Reade Out, Apartments In at 166 Myrtle

The toothpaste and toilet paper has been removed, the shutters pulled down and it's now only a matter of time before the former Duane Reade building at 166 Myrtle Avenue meets its maker for the greater glory of the Downtown Brooklyn building boom. While the loss of a large, clean drugstore will hit residents of the nearby Ingersoll Houses in the short-term, presumably developer John Catsimadis (who made his first fortune in the supermarket business) will eventually have no problem getting some decent grocery and drugstore tenants in the base of his million-square-foot project, in whose footprint this tear-down falls. If, that is, he can get beyond that pesky Stop Work Order for not having adequate fencing protecting the site.
Development Watch: 180 Myrtle Avenue[Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark DOB

Posted by Brownstoner at 10:02 AM | Comments (7)
Categories: Development, Downtown Brooklyn

August 7, 2007

Development Watch: Son of Oro, All 40 Stories Of It

Construction workers at the Oro Condominiums recenty lost their parking spaces when ground was broken on the 40-story tower's younger sibling at 311 Gold Street in Downtown Brooklyn. While the 309-unit Oro is all condos, the new project across the street may include rentals, according to Ron Hershco of developer United Homes. While the residential mix may still be up in the air, one major question mark hanging over the project was removed at the end of June when the City Council approved the transfer of 75,000 square feet of air rights (the exact price hasn't been determined yet, but it's expected to be in the neighborhood of $9 million) from the adjacent police station as well as a negative easement that would restrict the city's ability to build within 60 feet of the development above the second floor; as part of the air-rights deal, United Homes also agreed to 13 on-site affordable units (in addition to the 9 units of off-site housing it had already signed up for). As a result, the project size increased from the as-of-right 35 floors to 40 floors, the highest allowed under the area's zoning. The last piece of the puzzle: To satisfy Tish James' concerns that the project wasn't including enough truly affordable housing (a matter she threatened to kill the 5-story addition over), a deal was struck, we hear, whereby HPD would build another 20 affordable units in her district.
Slick as a Brick: Oro Moving Along [Brownstoner]
Oro Tops Off [Curbed] GMAP P*Shark DOB

Posted by Brownstoner at 12:02 PM | Comments (19)
Categories: Development, Downtown Brooklyn

August 3, 2007

Clarett's Big Plans on Lawrence Street

Based on public documents and big blue fence that's started to go up, The Clarett Group (developer of the Forte and an advertiser on Brownstoner) is gearing up to build a 51-story, 491-unit, 456,000-square-foot residential tower t 107-111 Lawrence Street in Downtown Brooklyn; the architect is Gerner Kronick & Valcarcel. The first permit application was rejected but at the end of June, but the developer purchased more air rights in July so don't be surprised to see anothing application soon.

The back story that a reader helped us piece together is pretty interesting. Please keep in mind when you're reading that this is a best-guess scenario none of which has been confirmed by Clarett. The company is making no comment at this time.

Continue reading "Clarett's Big Plans on Lawrence Street"

Posted by Brownstoner at 11:01 AM | Comments (12)
Categories: Development, Downtown Brooklyn

August 1, 2007

Development Watch: Schermerhorn House Rising

It's been a long time—more than a year—since there was much to report about the Schermerhorn House, the second phase of the Abby Hamlin/Time Equities project that began with the 14 Townhouses. But there she is, rising like a phoenix from the asphalt. According to DOB filings, the 11-story building will have 190 units (a Fort Green Courier article last year said the number was 217), half of which will be for the formerly homeless and the other half for low-income residents and artists (which begs the question of whether you could be a high-income artist and still live there). We believe that all the units will be studios. In all, you're looking at about 100,000 square feet of new space, including the street level.
Some More 411 on the "Schermerhorn House" [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark DOB

Posted by Brownstoner at 11:59 AM | Comments (26)
Categories: Boerum Hill, Development, Downtown Brooklyn

Flatbush Flatiron Gets Ready for Take-Off

Downtown Brooklyn took another step towards world domination last week with DOB's approval of Isaac Hager's plans for a 21-story triangular tower at the intersection of Flatbush Extension and Tillary Street. The 150,000-square-foot building will house 108 residential units and reach a height of 262 feet. It will also be one of the first and most noticeable sights greeting drivers see as they reach the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge. Last time we posted this rendering it elicited rather strong reactions on both the postive and negative sides. We think it'll be hard to tell whether it's cool or cheesy until it's actually built. Could go either way.
Rendering [Ismael Leyva Architects] GMAP P*Shark DOB
Development Watch: 75 Flatbush Extension [Brownstoner]
Near the Bridges, Huge Towers For Flatbush [Brownstoner]

Posted by Brownstoner at 8:58 AM | Comments (27)
Categories: Development, Downtown Brooklyn