Long-Vacant Watchtower HQ Could Become Apartments Instead of Offices

A Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) is close to commencing for the former Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower headquarters, where a previous office and retail proposal fell through. This time around, developers propose a mixed-use project with 113,000 square feet of commercial space and over 600 apartments, some of them affordable.

Developer CIM Group and Morris Adjmi Architects shared a pre-ULURP presentation to Community Board 2 in June. The developer filed a land use application in December, according to Department of City Planning records.

Crain’s first wrote about the proposal, which would enlarge the 12-story building at 25 Columbia Heights to 17 stories with 14,850 square feet of commercial/community space on the ground floor and 392 apartments above. Now 13 stories, 30 Columbia Heights would gain an extra floor to become a 14-story, 269-unit building with commercial or community space and parking. Twenty percent to 30 percent of units in each building would be designated affordable. Three buildings, ranging from four and five stories, at 50 Columbia Heights, 58 Columbia Heights, and 55 Furman Street would not be enlarged.

CIM Group is the only remaining developer from the original group who purchased the buildings from the Jehovah’s Witnesses for $340 million in 2016. That team proposed a retail and office redevelopment dubbed Panorama Brooklyn, but LivWrk and Kushner Companies pulled out in 2018.

The Department of City Planning’s environmental assessment of this current proposal states that both 25 and 30 Columbia Heights currently sit vacant. A rezoning would result in a net increase of 1,446 residents and a net decrease of 1,752 workers by 2029, according to the DCP analysis.

Not much remains of the building’s Jehovah’s Witnesses past. The iconic lit-up red Watchtower sign, a landmark in Brooklyn Heights for almost 50 years, came down in 2017. The yellow buildings were painted gray in 2018. Later, CIM put up a neon “Welcome” sign similar to the old “Watchtower” sign in the same location at 25 Columbia Heights.

The Department of City Planning released its environmental assessment statement for the proposal on February 10. As noted by the Brooklyn Eagle, the department will virtually hold the Columbia Heights Rezoning Public Scoping Meeting on March 12 to “give the public a voice in a proposal’s environmental impact statement,” according to the department.

Details to participate in the upcoming public scoping meeting will be available the day of the meeting. Written comments on the proposal will be accepted through 5 p.m. on Monday, March 23.

Following the public scoping meeting and a final Environmental Impact Statement, the ULURP process will officially commence and kick off review by Community Board 2, the Brooklyn Borough President, and the City Planning Commission. The process will conclude with a hearing and vote by City Council.

Related Stories

• The Watchtower Yellow Fades From View on the Brooklyn Heights Waterfront
• Kushner Companies Pulls Out of Two of Brooklyn’s Biggest Development Sites
• Kushner and Partners Set to Transform Former Jehovah’s Witness HQ Into Offices, Stores

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