Downtown Brooklyn

It's been quite a week to up your chances of snagging an affordable apartment in the city, with housing lottery applications being accepted for 175 West 60th Street, PS 186, EŌS, and 149 Kent Avenue. Now in booming Downtown Brooklyn, near BAM in the Brooklyn Cultural District, the Ashland at 250 Ashland Place has kicked off its lottery process, offering 282 below market-rate apartments, according to the NYC HDC. Unlike many of the recent launches, aimed towards low-income households, the Ashland is geared towards middle-income applicants earning between $28,835 for single individuals up to $200,400 for a family of six. Those who fall within the income guidelines have the opportunity to pay rents ranging from $801 for studios to $3,649 for three-bedroom units.
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January 12, 2016

Brooklyn’s Future Tallest Tower to Hit 1,066 Feet

Less than a month ago, developers Michael Stern and Joe Chetrit closed on Downtown Brooklyn's Dime Savings Bank building for $90 million, which provided them with the 300,000 square feet of air rights needed to construct Brooklyn's first 1,000+ foot tower at 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension. Since news of the future tallest building outside Manhattan first came to light in August, the exact height hadn't been reported. But now NY Yimby has uncovered the number, and it's a whopping 1,066 feet, amounting to 556,164 square feet of total space.
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New Developments

December 24, 2015

Brooklyn’s First 1,000+ Foot Tower Moves Forward, Developers Close on Last Site Needed

It's official, developers Michael Stern and Joe Chetrit have closed on the Dime Savings Bank building at 9 DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn for $90 million, providing them with the air rights needed to build the borough's tallest tower. According to Crain's, who first broke the news, Stern and Chetrit will be able to transfer the bank building's 300,000 square feet of unused development rights to the new structure's site at 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension. As 6sqft previously reported, the new tower will soar more than 1,000 feet and is being designed by SHoP Architects. It will also be the city's tallest building outside of Manhattan when complete.
on the deal here

New Developments

November 9, 2015

Rendering Revealed for Brooklyn’s First 1,000-Foot Tower

News broke back in August that Brooklyn's first tower over 1,000 feet might rise in Downtown Brooklyn as the result of the $90 million acquisition of Brooklyn’s landmarked Dime Savings Bank building by JDS Development. Previously, they bought the site next door for $43 million, and combined with the bank's 300,000 square feet of development rights, they acquired the means to build a tower of nearly 600,000 square feet at 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension. 6sqft got a taste of what's to come when we revealed a video that showed the insane views from the top of the could-be tower, but now Yimby has unveiled the official renderings and specs for the project, which come courtesy of starchitects SHoP. As previously speculated, it will reach 1,000 feet, making it the tallest building in the outer boroughs. The 90-story, vaguely Art Deco tower will have 466,000 square feet of residential space, amounting to 550 condo units, as well as 140,000 square feet of commercial space.
More on the development ahead

Atlantic Yards’ B2 Tower Employing Anti-Nausea Technology From NASA

B2 Tower photo © Field Condition

October 26, 2015

Atlantic Yards’ B2 Tower Employing Anti-Nausea Technology From NASA

"A new technology, designed to tame forces that could separate an astronaut’s eyeball from her retina, may also keep the one percent from throwing up," says The Real Deal. They're talking about a fluid harmonic disruptor, a device used during space takeoffs to protect astronauts from violent vibrations, which will be employed by structural engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti at Forest City Ratner’s B2 BKLYN, the 32-story modular tower at Pacific Park that could definitely succumb to queasy-making swaying and vibrations. The firm will put six water-filled pipes on the roof of the building, making up 0.5 percent of its total mass; then the disruptor will alter how the fluid, and therefore the building, reacts to wind and other vibrations.
More details ahead

October 20, 2015

Families Test Out Garrison Architects’ Post-Disaster Housing Prototype in Downtown Brooklyn

By Annie Doge

Last June, Garrison Architects unveiled their ingenious modular post-disaster housing solution. Now, as we approach the three-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, news comes that the city has finally begun testing out the units on a lot located at 165 Cadman Plaza East in Downtown Brooklyn. According to the Times, about 46 city employees and their families have spent the night in the shelters, and the reviews are most definitely favorable. “Almost everyone tells us these are nicer than their own apartments,” James McConnell, an official at the Office of Emergency Management, told the paper.
More here

September 25, 2015

Check Out These Insane Views From Brooklyn’s First 1,000+ Foot Tower

Seeing the boroughs from sky-high heights is nothing new thanks to all the supertall towers in Manhattan, but it's not as common to have a panoramic view of our main island, which is why we had to share this video. JDS Development posted the short clip on their Instagram stream yesterday that shows potential views from their upcoming mixed-use skyscraper planned for Downtown Brooklyn using air rights from the Dime Savings Bank site. If constructed as intended, it will be the first 1,000+ foot tower outside of Manhattan. The nine-second video, whose camera height seems nearly eye-level to the 1,368-foot roof of One World Trade Center, depicts far-reaching, panoramic views to the west and northwest over Manhattan and beyond.
Check it out here

September 8, 2015

Historic Brooklyn Heights Site May Be Redeveloped Into 40-Story Condominium

Concept studies by the design firm SRA Architecture + Engineering (SRAA+E) reveal that an existing five-story commercial building in Downtown Brooklyn may be redeveloped into a dramatic retail and condominium tower. The prominent 19,000-square-foot, triangular site at 205 Montague Street is located at the gateway of Brooklyn Heights and currently holds a 1960s-era marble and glass office-retail building that was picked up by Joseph Cayre's Midtown Equities back in 2010. In 2012, the development firm filed permits doubling the building's size, envisioning a 100-unit residence that would convert the structure's three upper levels into apartments and add another six stories above. The permits, also filed by SRAA+E, were never approved, but in 2012 an insider told the Brooklyn Eagle, “an awful lot more can be built than what's in the Buildings Department plans." Midtown Equities, who is also busy rebuilding the Empire Stores in Brooklyn Bridge Park, could not be reached for comment.
Find out more about this possible project

Leaks and Alignment Issues Plaguing Atlantic Yards’ B2 Tower Were More Severe Than Reported

Image via Field Condition

September 3, 2015

Leaks and Alignment Issues Plaguing Atlantic Yards’ B2 Tower Were More Severe Than Reported

When it was announced that Brooklyn would be host to the world's tallest prefab tower, many believed that a new era of construction was upon us. Called the B2 Tower, the building would rise as stacked 32-story structure, affording all the perks of a conventional edifice, but be quick and inexpensive to build. But as it has been well-documented, the project, announced way back in 2012, has been a major flop. Stricken with delays and countless lawsuits flying left and right, the building today has only reached about half of its height. So where did things go so wrong? A fascinating piece by the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report's Norman Oder on City Limits provides some incredible insight into the project that has failed to deliver on just about every promise put forward.
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August 19, 2015

REVEALED: Bland Apartment Tower Replaces Karl Fischer’s Indigo Hotel Design in Downtown Brooklyn

Yesterday, we reported a staggering 22,000 residential units are on their way to the northern end of Brooklyn by 2019, 6,412 (29 percent) of which are slated for the half-square mile neighborhood of Downtown Brooklyn. Now, we have our first look at a small chunk of that count: a 105-unit residential building under construction at 237 Duffield Street, in the heart of the borough's central hub.
Find out more here

August 6, 2015

First Look at 22-Story Expansion of Downtown Brooklyn’s Hampton Inn Hotel

We all know Brooklyn's residential market is scorching hot, but its hotel market is booming as well. Two hotels recently opened at the borough's Manhattan Bridge entryway, the 174-room Dazzler Brooklyn Hotel and the 116-room Hampton Inn. The latter has just begun construction on a 145-room expansion on an adjacent lot at 156 Tillary Street, and we've uncovered the first look at what the 22-story Stonehill & Taylor Architects-designed tower will look like (an encore to the striped-brick banality that rose in the first phase).
More details ahead

First 1,000+ Foot Tower Outside Manhattan May Rise in Downtown Brooklyn

Rendering based on potential height, via CityRealty

August 5, 2015

First 1,000+ Foot Tower Outside Manhattan May Rise in Downtown Brooklyn

By Michelle Cohen

As the result of the $90 million acquisition of Brooklyn's landmarked Dime Savings Bank building by developers Michael Stern (111 West 57th) and Joe Chetrit, a new residential skyscraper in Brooklyn could nearly reach the height of the Empire State Building. The historic Neo-Roman building at 9 DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn–next door to the famed Junior's Restaurant–comes with 300,000 square feet of development rights, which, combined with existing air rights next door at 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension (which the pair bought last summer for $43 million), could be used to build an adjacent tower of nearly 600,000 square feet. The likelihood of a tower that reaches between 1,000 and 1,200 feet has been mentioned by sources close to the deal.
find out more about the planned Brooklyn skyscraper

New Developments

July 23, 2015

Construction Begins on John Catsimatidis’ Curvy Rental Tower at 86 Fleet Place in Fort Greene

Construction has begun on the final building of the four-tower development on the western edge of Fort Greene. The 32-story tower at 86 Fleet Place will house 440 rental units and will be the culmination of a 15-year redevelopment of a low-slung, Robert Moses-era retail strip along Myrtle Avenue. The developer of 86 Fleet, and three other sibling buildings to the east, is Red Apple Group's CEO and owner John Catsimatidis, who we might better remember as the billionaire Republican candidate in the last mayoral election and the owner of the oft-maligned Gristedes grocery store chain. According to the Wall Street Journal, Red Apple picked up the 2.5-acre, four-block site for $500,000 from Long Island University in 1982. The site spans 900 feet along the southern frontage of Myrtle Avenue, between Flatbush Avenue Extension and Ashland Place, and shares its blocks with the Toren condominium to the west and the Fred Trump-built University Towers complex to the south.
More details on the development

June 25, 2015

$2M Townhouse in Downtown Brooklyn Has a Goldfish Pond and 30 Types of Flowers

By Aisha Carter

Sitting on a quiet block of colorful, historic homes in Vinegar Hill (okay, Downtown Brooklyn, but minor details...) is the perfect three-bedroom townhouse for a budding family. The 100-year-old storybook home covers 1,878 square feet and features a shady landscaped backyard with more than 30 types of flowers, a stone goldfish pond, and a winding path. And it's back on the market for $1.995 million.
Check it out here

Distinctive Homes

Extell May Build Brooklyn’s Tallest Tower at City Point

Rendering of City Point with a previously envisioned 65-story tower

June 3, 2015

Extell May Build Brooklyn’s Tallest Tower at City Point

Extell, the development company best known for gobbling up billionaires' row sites and building supertall towers like One57, is venturing into Brooklyn, a place they've long avoided. The New York Times reports that Extell has bought the last development site at City Point, a huge, mixed-use complex in Downtown Brooklyn that will include residential and retail space, and, of course, a massive food hall. Extell will pay $120 million for the city-owned property, on which they will likely build a 500-unit rental building. What's more noteworthy than Extell's move into the borough, though, is the fact that the tower could reach 60 stories, according to Extell president Gary Barnett, which would make it the tallest building in Brooklyn.
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April 14, 2015

Enormous ‘Authentic and Locally Curated’ Food Hall Coming to Downtown Brooklyn

Amongst the city's more delectable real estate news comes word that the developer of City Point has plans to bring a 26,000-square-foot foodie haven to their massive Downtown Brooklyn project. Dubbed the Dekalb Market Hall, the space will host somewhere between 35 and 55 "authentic and locally curated" vendors at the basement level of the 1.8-million-square-foot mixed-use development along Dekalb Avenue. Though leasing is still in the works, more than a handful of food purveyors have already signed on to stir what's sure to be a culinary revolution for an area more commonly associated with chains like Starbucks and Applebee's. So yes, put your best sweatpants on, friends, there will be artisanal doughnuts and barbecue.
More on who's moving in

Real Estate Trends

April 9, 2015

At Brooklyn’s Gateway, Woods Bagot Kicks Off Construction of the Jay Street Residences

AmTrust Realty has recently kicked off construction on a 250,000-square-foot, mixed-use project near Brooklyn's Manhattan Bridge approach. The development will be a step towards reconnecting Downtown Brooklyn to its waterfront, and, along with several other proposals, helps remedy a maelstrom of mid-century planning disasters between the two areas. Known as the Jay Street Residences by its designers Woods Bagot Architects, the project has previously gone by the addresses 120 Nassau, 199 Jay, 203 Jay, and 213 Jay Street. Its 38,000-square-foot lot, now under excavation, will give rise to an L-shaped complex composed of a 33-story tower anchoring Concord and Jay Streets, as well as an eight-story hotel and amenity wing along its western Jay Street frontage.
More details on the project here

March 4, 2015

Downtown Brooklyn Live/Work Warehouse with Wild Decor Lists for $3.25M

By Aisha Carter

This commercial space at 183 Concord Street is a bit of a project, but it already has some great qualities like exposed brick walls, tall ceilings, and a hot Downtown Brooklyn location near the Manhattan Bridge. More importantly, the second-floor offices already have approved residential plans, and you know what that means: it’s build-your-dream-home time.
More pics inside

Distinctive Homes

February 2, 2015

Brooklyn Paramount Theatre Will Reopen as a Gilded Public Performance Venue

Back in the summer we uncovered the history of the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre, which has been home to Long Island University's gymnasium since 1963. But now, the day before the Loew's Kings Theatre, a fellow historic movie house in Brooklyn, is set to reopen to the public, we've learned that the Paramount will follow suite. Brooklyn Daily reports that the Flushing Avenue theatre in Downtown Brooklyn will once again show live performances to the public, thanks to a deal between LIU and an affiliate of the Barclays Center, which will bring 1,500 seats back to the venue (down from the original 4,000) and showcase musical and comedy performances and boxing matches, all with an emphasis on emerging artists. The remainder of the space will still serve as a practice gym for LIU athletics.
More details ahead

December 31, 2014

REVEALED: 141 Willoughby, 30-Story Mixed-Use Tower to Replace Site Once Slated for Eminent Domain Takeover

A Downtown Brooklyn school once planned to be seized through eminent domain will sprout a 30-story mixed-use tower by Savanna Partners. Renderings posted on Savanna's website reveal a glass tower at 141 Willoughby Street with a retail base, student housing, and commercial or residential space above. The project will replace the three-story building that's home to the Institute of Design and Construction, a 77-year-old technical college.
More details on the project

December 30, 2014

REVEALED: Mixed-Use Development One Flatbush Avenue to Rise from Prominent Brooklyn Corner

Here's our first look at 1 Flatbush Avenue, a 19-story, 160,000-square-foot mixed-use building planned for the very visible corner of Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn. Images on the website of Ryder Construction show a dignified building that blends with its streetscape. Slate Property Group is listed as the owner of the site and Goldstein Hill & West Architects (GHWA) as the architects.
More details ahead

October 27, 2014

Has the Failed B2 Tower Ruined Large-Scale Prefab Housing for the City?

Prefab housing has taken the world by storm in the last years, lauded for its low cost and flexibility, with buildings ranging from single-family homes to art schools popping up across the globe. But not until Forest City Ratner's plan for B2 BKLYN have we seen an attempt to build a large-scale module tower topping out at 32-stories—the world's tallest prefab tower. It's well known that the project has been a big flop; construction was far slower than originally projected and was halted in August amidst disputes between the builder, Skansa USA, and the developer, Forest City Ratner. In September lawsuits went flying, both pointing fingers as to why the whole thing failed. Forest City blamed the execution of the plan, while Skanska said the design was flawed. Fast-forward to today, and the work on the tower has been shut down with only 10 stories erected. A recent WSJ article looks at where the whole thing went awry, and more importantly: Is pre-fab construction even feasible at such a scale?
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October 2, 2014

Living in the Clouds: 50 New York Residential Towers Poised to Scrape the Sky (Part I)

It seems like every week a new residential skyscraper is being announced in New York City, just earlier this week the New York Times noted that a partnership between Steven Witkoff and Harry Macklowe is moving ahead with a redevelopment of the Park Lane Hotel at 36 Central Park West with an 850-foot tower. With the mind-boggling amount of residential spires poised to pierce the sky, here's a quick rundown of the tallest of the tall--the spindly bunch set to soar higher than 700 feet. Keep in mind that just 30 years ago, the tallest residence in the city was perched atop the 664-foot Trump Tower. Today, buildings are on the drawing board for more than twice that height.
See our list of the 26 tallest towers

September 23, 2014

City Kids: Why Parents Pick City Living Over the Suburbs

By Michelle Cohen

The 'American Dream' may have dominated the last few decades, causing a mass exodus to the suburbs, but today's families are reversing the trend and turning their attention back to the city. The reasons are many: An appreciation for cultural offerings, the camaraderie and creative cross-pollination of networks of colleagues, friends and family, the convenience of being able to walk or bike to school, work or child care without a long commute—just to name a few. New York City has always been a haven for the forward-thinking, albeit a challenging one. And its newly-”discovered” outer boroughs as well as an unprecedentedly low crime rate have made the city a prime choice for family living. But what is it about those city kids—the ones with parents who planned from the start to raise their kids in a non-stop urban environment? We interrupted the busy schedules of five families currently raising school-age (or soon-to-be) children in New York City's many diverse and multifaceted neighborhoods to get some insight about why they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Hear what five parents of city kids have to say

September 15, 2014

Penthouse Sales Launch at Brooklyn’s Tallest Skyscraper, 388 Bridge

By Annie Doge

Downtown Brooklyn's most talked about new development—and tallest tower—has just announced the launch of its 'Penthouse Collection'. Located at 388 Bridge, 40 penthouses ranging from 1,144 square feet to 2,371 square feet on floors 45 through 53, have been priced at $1.742 million and up. The units offer up 360-degree views looking out to Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, and several residences have been set up as duplexes with outdoor terraces.
Find out more here including pricing

September 9, 2014

Junior’s Isn’t Going Anywhere, Owner Turns Down a $45M Offer to the Dismay of a Hungry Developer