Downtown Brooklyn

Rendering of 625 Fulton Street; image: Albo Liberis /Genesis Studios As the future Brooklyn skyline takes shape, one of the borough’s largest office towers-to-be, a 36-story commercial skyscraper, is slated to rise at 625 Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn. Brooklyn-based Rabsky Group purchased the lot for $158 million and, as The Real Deal reports, plans are in the works to create 700,000 square feet of leasable space, for which the developer is in talks with City Planning to take advantage of a plaza bonus. Albo Liberis (see Williamsburg’s William Vale Hotel) has been commissioned as the architect, and while no […]

In the past year or so, there has been no shortage of talk about inventory glut, flat rental prices and bursting bubbles; Now, Slate blogger Henry Grabar has rustled up some numbers and real-life examples to go with the chatter, and we’re guessing they weren’t too hard to find. According to Grabar, a vacancy rate at its highest since 2009 (with a staggering amount of inventory in the pipeline), and the percentage of rental price chops at a record 42 percent in October point to an impending renter’s market of comparatively epic proportions. The key is that “comparatively”–it’s hard to […]

Image via mike_by_bike_/Instagram In the early 1900s, renowned sculptor Daniel Chester French was asked to create “two allegorical figures,” a Miss Manhattan and a Miss Brooklyn, to stand at the Brooklyn entrance to the Manhattan Bridge. The granite women were removed, however, in the 1960s when Robert Moses decided to move them. They were then relocated to their current home at the Brooklyn Museum’s entrance, but after a 10-year, $450,000 project, a resin replica of the original has returned to the bridge. As the Times tells us, sculptor and installation artist Brian Tolle (he’s also responsible for the Irish Hunger Memorial) designed the […]

Downtown Brooklyn is quickly becoming one of NYC’s most desirable commercial hubs. On top of hosting a lengthy roster of big name retailers and entertainment centers—which include a new Target, Trader Joe’s, Century 21, Apple store, Alamo Drafthouse cinema, and Barclays Center—the neighborhood will also welcome a brand new, lower-priced Whole Foods concept store called “365.” According to a press release, the store will open in early 2018 at Two Trees’ 300 Ashland Place, and be set up as a no-frills version of the grocery giant. Rendering of the Lake Oswego, OR 365 store, one of three concept stores already opened by Whole Foods While the store will feature […]

Rendering of 86 Fleet Place via Goldstein, Hill & West (L); Construction as of October 2016, via CityRealty Way back in 1982, the CEO and owner of Red Apple Group, John Catsimatidis (you may know him better as the billionaire owner of Gristedes or for his failed Republican run in the last mayoral election) paid $500,000 for a 2.5-acre, four-block site in Downtown Brooklyn, on the western edge of Fort Greene. Thirty-five years later, construction is wrapping up on the final, and by far the tallest, of the four-tower development. The curving glass building at 86 Fleet Place was designed […]

In 2012, NYU signed a 99-year lease for the Downtown Brooklyn building at 370 Jay Street, a former MTA headquarters. Two years later, the University opened its Tandon School of Engineering in the neighborhood, and now that 5,212 students are enrolled, NYU is moving ahead with a $500 million renovation, restoration, and expansion of the Jay Street building, adding 500,000 square feet of space for areas of study such as computer coding, video game design, and digital forensics. The Daily News first shared the news, and they report that the new facility will open this coming summer, in time to […]

33 Bond Street, Handel Architects, TF Cornerstone, Downtown Brooklyn affordable housing, Downtown Brooklyn rentals

A new 25-story rental building in booming Downtown Brooklyn is nearing completion at 33 Bond Street, just a block or two away from almost every subway line and a few blocks from BAM. Developer TF Cornerstone paid $70 million for the site, a former parking garage, in early 2014, partnering with Handel Architects on the rather standard, bulky, glassy design. In total, there will be 714 apartments, 143 of which have been set aside as affordable. These below-market rate units are now up for grabs through the city’s affordable housing lottery and range from $897/month studios to $1,166/two-bedrooms for households earning 60 percent of the area median income.

The building is 732,312 square feet with 55,938 square feet on the ground and cellar levels reserved for retail space. The apartments average 790 square feet and have access to amenities including a sun terrace, fitness center, computer lounge, dog grooming, party rooms, laundry room, and bike storage (some of these require additional fees).

Qualifying New Yorkers can apply for the affordable apartments until April 14, 2017. Residents of Brooklyn Community Board 2 will be given preference for 50 percent of the units. Complete details on how to apply are available here (pdf). Questions regarding this offer must be referred to NYC’s Housing Connect department by dialing 311.

Use 6sqft’s map below to find even more ongoing housing lotteries.

If you don’t qualify for the housing lotteries mentioned, visit CityRealty.com’s no-fee rentals page for other apartment deals in the city. And find future market-rate listings for 33 Bond Street here.

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Renderings via TF Cornerstone

View south down Flatbush Avenue

Alloy Development announced plans to build a pair of towers at 80 Flatbush Avenue, a 61,000-square-foot parcel of land between Flatbush Avenue, Schermerhorn Street, Third Avenue and State Street. The developer–who, with the Department of Education, owns the land–has been selected by the city’s Educational Construction Fund to build the mixed-use complex as part of the redevelopment of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, which will move into one of the two new school buildings that will be part of the project. The second of the two will be a 350-seat elementary school. The project will also offer 900 apartments (200 of which will be affordable), a 15,000-square-foot cultural facility, 200,000 square feet of office space and 40,000 square feet of retail space.

View west across Flatbush Avenue

Construction will happen in phases, the first being a 38-story triangular building that will contain residential, office and retail space. Both this building and the two schools are scheduled to open by 2022 according to the developer. The second phase will be another mixed-use tower, this one 74 stories, to be completed by 2025.

View of school looking north across State Street.

The planned project will bring 900 new residential units to the burgeoning development zone where Downtown Brooklyn meets Fort Greene and Boerum Hill. Residential units will include 200 affordable units for households making 60 percent of the area median income under the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program.

Urban strategy: Flatbush Avenue and State Street.

Urban strategy: Flatbush and Third Avenues.

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Images courtesy of Alloy

Tishman Speyer has released plans for the 422 Fulton Street Macy’s renovation that will turn a new 10-story space above the department store into a 620,000 square foot creative office hub called The Wheeler. Reflecting a recent trend in snazzy work spaces that attract TAMI (technology, advertising, media and information) clients, the space will comprise “620,000 square feet of opportunity in the center of downtown Brooklyn,” according to the developer. On offer will be the largest floor plates in Brooklyn with 15+ foot ceilings that “leave plenty of room for huge ideas,” and a sprawling rooftop terrace, part of an acre of outdoor space that “provides fresh air for fresher thinking.” There will also be 130 subterranean bike stations with lockers and showers for workers who bike to work.

Tishman Speyer inked a deal with Macy’s in early 2016 to redevelop the ancient Downtown Brooklyn store including a new addition to the historic building. Various renderings surfaced soon thereafter but the companies have remained quiet since then. Today’s news represents a new batch of intel on the project, including the news that the glassy new buildings will be designed by Shimoda Design Group and Perkins Eastman.

The two buildings in the complex–one from the 1870s and the Art Deco Macy’s building–will retain their historic details; the store will continue to occupy the first four floors. According to the New York Times, the new workspace was named for Andrew Wheeler, the builder of the former, a four-story cast-iron building above which the glassy new office tower will rise. “This building will combine the best of vintage real estate and contemporary design, giving tenants the feeling of an old warehouse but without losing all the amenities of new construction,” Tishman Speyer chief executive Rob Speyer told the Times.

Though it was conceived to address a lack of office space in the area, the $500 million project is being constructed speculatively without an anchor tenant. The space will be ready for occupancy in 2019.

Renderings courtesy of Tishman Speyer.

With two exposures, 11-foot ceilings and walls of windows, this 1,100-square-foot two-bedroom loft condo in the Toy Factory Lofts at 176 Johnson Street has its heart in the right place–even if its bathroom isn’t. The historic 1926 building–once the home of Tudor Metal Products and birthplace of many mid-20th-century toys–lends itself to authentic loft living in ever-changing Downtown Brooklyn. A modern renovation makes loft living easy–with a possible exception or two–and the $1.25 million ask comes with low carrying costs.