181 Troutman Street

Four-Story, Eight-Unit Residential Building Planned at 181 Troutman Street, Bushwick

1:00 pm on July 19, 2016 By Reid Wilson

Property owner Lazer Waldman, doing business as an anonymous Brooklyn-based LLC, has filed applications for a four-story, eight-unit residential building at 181 Troutman Street, in western Bushwick. The structure will measure 7,489 square feet and its residential unit should average 687 square feet apiece, indicative of rental apartments. There will be two apartments per floor, although one of the top-floor units will feature space in an upper penthouse level. Bahram M. Tehrani’s Jamaica-based BTE Design Services is the architect of record. The 25-foot-wide, 2,500-square-foot property is currently occupied by a two-story, multi-family brick building. Demolition permits haven’t been filed. The Central Avenue stop on the M train is six blocks away.

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455-459 Smith Street

Developer in Contract to Acquire Commercial Site at 455-459 Smith Street, Gowanus

11:00 am on July 19, 2016 By Reid Wilson

Property Markets Group is in contract to purchase the vacant 166,000-square-foot property at 455-459 Smith Street, in Gowanus, for roughly $50 million, DNAinfo reported. The site – bound by Huntington Street to the south, Smith Street to the west, Fifth Street to the north, and the Gowanus Canal to the east – is zoned for manufacturing. It can support 332,000 square feet of commercial development as-of-right in the form of offices, hotels, retail, and manufacturing/industrial space. The eventual new owner is mulling the idea of building a mixed-use development with a hotel, offices, and retail space, although development plans are in very early stages. The site, once home the Citizens Manufactured Gas Plant, is currently undergoing a remediation headed by National Grid. The plant’s last warehouse structure was demolished years ago. The Smith-Ninth Streets stop on the F and G trains is located a block to the south.

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8794 17th Avenue

Three-Story, 11-Unit Residential Building Filed at 8794 17th Avenue, Bath Beach

10:00 am on July 19, 2016 By Reid Wilson

Brooklyn-based WNS Development has filed applications for a three-story, 11-unit residential building at 8794 17th Avenue, in Bath Beach. It will measure 13,600 square feet and its residential units should average 923 square feet apiece, which means the apartments will likely be condominiums. All four units on the third floor — two of which are duplexes — will feature space on an upper penthouse level, although only the duplexes will have indoor space. There will also be nine off-street parking spaces. Harry R. Simino’s Brooklyn-based Simino Architects is the architect of record. The 75-foot-wide, 8,125-square-foot property is currently occupied by a two-and-a-half-story house. Demolition permits were filed in June. The 18th Avenue stop on the D train is six blocks away.

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Rockaway Avenue in Brownsville, photo by NYC DOT via Flickr

City Agencies Envision a New Brownsville

7:30 am on July 19, 2016 By Rebecca Baird-Remba

As the dust settles after a contentious rezoning in East New York, Brooklyn, the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development has set its sights on Brownsville, a neglected and similarly working class neighborhood next door. The housing agency announced the start of a new “neighborhood planning process,” which will collect feedback from residents, organizations, and business owners on how the city could improve the neighborhood.

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