Rendering Shows Apartment Building That Will Replace Historic Clinton Hill Villa

A rendering has appeared on the construction fence outside the former site of a pre-Civil War Clinton Hill home, signaling what is to come for the property.

Located just outside the Clinton Hill Historic District at 532 Clinton Avenue, the property sold for $6.5 million to 532 Clinton LLC in December 2019, shortly after the home was demolished. The sale came with plans for a 14-unit, seven-story residential building in its place.

A new building permit for those plans was issued in June, calling for underground parking for five cars, a gym, two apartments per floor, and a rooftop recreation area. The rendering shows a largely symmetrical modern building with large, multi-pane windows, interest at the street level, and an entrance area highlighted in a light color. Shading appears to show most units will have glass-enclosed balconies.

A previous rendering included with the listing — meant to illustrate the possibilities for a prospective buyer — showed a more glassy, generic and asymmetrical building. Roslyn, N.Y.-based engineering firm Shahriar Afshari is the applicant of record.

Construction recently began on the site, which has sat empty since late last year. It was formerly home to an 1850s freestanding Italianate villa with some Gothic Revival touches and round arched windows. It was in the hands of a family named Warren going back at least three generations to 1982, city records show.

In December of 2016, the heirs of James N. Warren sold the house to an LLC for $525,000, according to public records. The LLC is associated with Yuval Golan of Bapaz Aderet Properties Corp., who also appears to be involved with the abolitionist house at 227 Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn, and who has a history of unusually low sale prices to longtime owners in Brooklyn.

Public records don’t appear to show who is behind the LLC that now owns the property. The LLC’s address is a mail drop in Bay Ridge, shared by Double U Real Estate, the developer of the controversial alteration of 70 Havemeyer Street, a once-distinctive 19th century former church school that dominates a prominent corner in Williamsburg. (One observer called the development an “architectural crime.”)

On the same block as the former Italianate villa, a giant Morris Adjmi-designed development is currently under construction that will tower over the property and replace a large section at the corner of Clinton Avenue and Atlantic, including once-famous drink spot Hot Bird, which was demolished in September 2019.

Related Stories

• Site of Demolished Clinton Hill Italianate Villa Sells as Development Property for $6.5 Million
• Mid-Demo, a Clinton Hill Villa Is Back on the Market as Development Site, Asking $9.76 Million
• Another Historic Clinton Avenue Gem to Be Sold and Razed for Apartments

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