A KFC franchise will likely bite the dust at the corner of Bushwick and Myrtle Avenues in Bushwick to make way for a six-story, mixed-use building. New building applications have been filed to erect a combination of apartments, retail and community facilities at 668 Bushwick Avenue.
The wedge-shaped lot sits between the elevated M train tracks and the landmarked Cook Mansion, which dates back to 1889. The development will have 52 units, stacked on top of a 9,400-square-foot retail space on the ground floor and 9,200 square feet of community facilities on the second floor.
The apartments will be divided across 35,287 square feet of residential space, for rental-sized average units of 678 square feet. Residential will begin on the third floor, and each story will host 13 units. There will also be a 1,300-square-foot roof deck.
The cellar will host 28 bike parking spots, laundry, and a 69-car garage—far more than zoning requires for the residential part of the development. If the community facility is either medical offices or some kind of worship space, the zoning code calls for extra parking.
This project also gets a floor area bonus for including community facilities, and the developer has maxed out the site’s allowed residential density with a project that’s only 60 feet tall. Both Bushwick and Myrtle Avenues could likely support larger buildings, or even benefit from inclusionary housing zones that give developers bonuses for including affordable units.
And while we’re excited to see this corner redeveloped, we hope that the new building will make an effort to mesh with this particularly historic stretch of Bushwick Avenue, which is lined with 19th century wood frames, the aforementioned turreted Cook Mansion, and pretty barrel-front apartment buildings. The two gray brick buildings built a block away have detracted from the attractive block, and their facades are dotted with unsightly through-wall air conditioning units.
Maspeth-based architect Genaro Urueta applied for the permit, and the developer is Tsvi Lipsitz of Affordable Housing Real Estate Corp., based on Empire Boulevard on the border between Crown Heights and Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Lipsitz also owns 1040 St Johns Place in Crown Heights, where plans were filed last week to plop six stories of apartments on top of a single-story Rite Aid.
The 9,900-square-foot plot last sold for $1,400,000 in March of 2014, or just $25 per buildable square foot.
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The KFC will not be missed.
Fingers crossed that the new building has some character.
That’s one hell of a deal for that lot!
were can I get my application for one of the apartments.Iwould love to move back to new York.this is my address Ivette Ortiz 1233 oley st reading pa 19604
Where can I get an application for any of ur building in brooklyn . Here’s my adress:
Iris pagan
27-25 1st street
Apt #2-C
Astoria ny 11102
917-965-3904
This is the kind of thing that will drive out the poor people in Bushwick. This is nonsense, the poor people can’t afford to live in these condos that is $2000 and higher. You tell me where the people who can’t afford this will go?
Every part of Brooklyn is being dismantled to be replaced with apartments that average everyday working people can’t afford. All the restaurants, senior citizens center, daycare centers are being taken away to make room for the rich white money that is coming into these areas. There is no place for minorities to live, or shop, and what really makes it sad, is that we are being displaced and no one is doing anything about it.