New York City-based architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle has returned to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission with revised proposals to construct a new high-rise development within Brooklyn’s Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District. The building was formerly referred to as 192 Montague Street, but has been presented to the commission on the second try as 200 Montague Street.
The recently completed office-to-residential conversion of 180 Water Street has officially leased 95% of its residential units. Located in the Financial District, the Metro Loft-developed property only has 25 vacant apartments remaining.
Office-to-residential conversions are usually expected of ornate, pre-war high-rises, or tall-ceiling industrial lofts. Such conversions are much more rare at mid-century office buildings, particularly ones that had no redeeming architectural value in the first place. Long Island City’s Luna LIC became one of the city’s only such projects when it opened its doors earlier this year. The nine-story office building was built in 1955 at 42-15 Crescent Street, at the foot of the Queensboro Bridge. Over the past few years, Meadow Partners redeveloped the property into an 11-story, 124-unit rental, and sold it to World Wide Group for a hefty profit. The architects at Avinash K. Malhotra Architects, also known as AKM Architects, opted for minimal intervention, rather than a total structural overhaul, which was sufficient to transform the poorly-aged eyesore into the latest addition to the growing residential community around Court Square.