Now There's a Hilton Open on Smith in Boerum Hill, in Flank's "Brownstone-Inspired" Condo Building

A Hilton opened Thursday in Boerum Hill, close to the intersection of Smith and Atlantic, on the lower six floors of Flank’s “brownstone-inspired” condo building, The Boerum.

Located at 140 Schermerhorn Street, The Hilton Brooklyn New York is the first Hilton in Brooklyn, which may come as something of a surprise to locals. It’s one of the few major hotel chains to open in this nook of the borough — close to prime brownstone Brooklyn, Downtown Brooklyn, and shopping on Atlantic Avenue — even though Brooklyn has been going through a hotel boom in recent years.

In deference to its Brooklyn location, the 196-room inn claims a 19th-century factory heritage and houses a home-grown restaurant, which opened yesterday.

Flank acted as both developer and architect for the project, which launched condo sales in 2014. The developer said the design of the 19-story building was inspired by nearby brownstones. Its red brick courses appear to weave over and under each other, and it is trimmed in brown-colored stone.

Flank bought the development site, then known as 71 Smith Street, in 2012 for $38.5 million. The condo section of the building, whose address is 265 State Street, comprises 128 apartments.

The Hilton is the latest development in something of a boom for Boerum Hill. It joins new builds with major anchor tenants such as the nearby Atlantic Galleria Mall at 252 Atlantic Avenue.

The restaurant is called Black Walnut and its chef is Rob Newton, who rose to local prominence with Carroll Gardens eateries Nightingale 9, Smith Canteen, Wilma Jean and Seersucker. Its dishes fuse Southern and global cuisine.

A Hilton press release claims the site was once a rope factory — an “iconic Schermerhorn factory” — and the interior design features rope patterns and old neighborhood maps. While that bit of history well may be true, the site’s most recent incarnation focused on a humbler material — asphalt. It was a parking lot for decades.

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