One of the big empty lots in Williamsburg’s Broadway Triangle is about to become a seven-story apartment building. Plans were filed yesterday to erect a 70-foot-tall residential development at 7 Whipple Street, on the corner of Flushing Avenue.
The building would have 51 apartments spread across 39,990 square feet of residential space, for average units measuring roughly 780 square feet. Each floor would hold eight units, except for the top floor, which would have just three units, followed by a shared roof deck. The cellar will also include 26 bike parking spots, recreation space, and storage.
No parking is included on the permits, which might mean the building will have affordable units. Thanks to the mayor’s unpopular new zoning changes, market-rate developers will be able to build fewer parking spaces if they include below-market rate apartments.
The developer is Isaac Dahan, who lists a business address on Wythe Avenue in South Williamsburg, next to the Williamsburg Bridge. Midwood-based architect Asher Hershkowitz will handle the design. Dahan’s LLC picked up the property for $6.5 million in July, paying roughly $160 for each buildable square foot.
The 10,000-square-foot lot between Throop and Flushing Avenues was rezoned from industrial to residential in 2009, along with several other blocks in the Broadway Triangle. Several properties in the area have been caught up in a fraught legal battle between community groups, but privately owned lots like 7 Whipple can apparently be developed.
The city originally rezoned the industrial, 30-acre swath to accommodate Hasidic development, and local activists filed suit against the city, arguing that the new housing would heavily favor the Orthodox community over nearby black and Latino residents. In 2012, a state Supreme Court judge issued an injunction to halt development in the area. Orthodox leaders have successfully argued that the injunction only applies to city-owned property, leaving private developers to push forward with projects like this one.
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