HPD is planning affordable rentals on city-owned land in eastern Brooklyn. Applications were filed on Tuesday for a four-story, 17-unit building at 1900 Park Place, on the border between Ocean Hill and Brownsville.
City blocks on the fringes between Queens and Brooklyn tend to be densely built out with low-rise, pre-war housing stock, leaving few empty lots for ground-up development. One such lot at 55-35 Metropolitan Avenue, which separates the neighborhoods of Ridgewood to the south and Maspeth to the north, has sat empty for more than half a century. The new rowhouse, developed by Shaoyun Chen, stands three stories tall, its plain cornice rising slightly above its neighbors. Permits list two residential units taking up 2,396 square feet of the 5,643-square-foot structure. A 1,623-square-foot retail space is located at the lower floor. Though the retail space would be the only one of its kind on the wholly-residential block, it is not out of place, given that most buildings on the other side of the street have ground level retail, as well. The building occupies 60 percent of its site, leaving space for a 35-foot yard in the rear.
Jane Street has been a hot spot for controversial projects of late. The latest was a proposal for a mega-mansion at 85-89 Jane Street. The presentation packed the house at the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday, where no decision was rendered.
The old wood frame houses and brick walkups along Bushwick Avenue in Williamsburg are slowly giving way to new concrete and glass. Today, we have a look at a new building headed for the corner of Bushwick Avenue and Powers Street, around the corner from the Grand Street L stop.
Most of the new construction in Long Island City dwarfs what it replaces, whether the new buildings are 50-story towers or mid-rise apartment buildings. However, every once in a while, someone tears down a wood frame house to build a slightly larger townhouse.
