Three houses at 50-54 Clarkson Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens are being demolished right now to make way for an eight-story residential development. The plan exam application for the new building was first reported by BuzzBuzz Home. Nataliya Donskoy will be the architect on this project, which will have 48 units and 24,600 square feet. The 85-foot building will have parking for 24 bikes, a laundry room, two recreation rooms and an elevator.

Public records show an LLC bought 50 Clarkson Avenue for $760,000 in December 2012, and building permits reveal that the developer is Joseph Hoffman of Bushburg Properties. The other two houses were also purchased the same month, for $445,000 and $545,000. Donskoy, who previously worked for disgraced architect Robert Scarano, designed the unusual looking building at 146 South 4th Street in Williamsburg, which recently started leasing.

This new building happens to be just down the street from 111 Clarkson, where developer Seth Brown is planning two seven-story buildings with 50 units. At a meeting Wednesday about plans for 111 Clarkson, neighbors were complaining that the three buildings above had been left half demolished. The demo was stopped after the DOB issued a violation last November, and workers told us this morning that demolition resumed yesterday.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. There is an easement on the middle lot (52) meaning that they can’t build above the second floor without explicit permission from the apartment buildings on either side. Getting that permission won’t be easy.

  2. Good points, that tearing these wood frame houses down is so tempting to the developers. It is so important to remember where these houses were, now that they are disappearing. I can think of a few on Lenox between Flatbush and Bedford, as well as between Bedford and Rogers and Rogers and Nostrand Avenues. Where else? Bedford and Caton. In addition, what I find troubling is that as these houses disappear and multi-family housing becomes even more prevalent, policy analysts are attacking the very nature of single family ownership: http://furmancenter.org/thestoop/entry/join-the-furman-center-at-talking-transition-making-property-taxes-fairer

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