Williamsburg has developed a reputation for unattractive modern architecture, but some architects are pursuing more traditional, factory-inspired designs. Today YIMBY can reveal a simple brick look for 535 Lorimer Street, a five-story apartment building planned between Ainslie and Devoe Streets, near the L and G trains at Metropolitan Avenue.
Earlier this spring, glass installation began at the two-story, 50,000 square-foot Whole Foods building at 242 Bedford Avenue, in northwestern Williamsburg, and now the building’s exterior appears to be nearing completion, Brownstoner reports. At the end of Berry Street, the building takes on a more industrial look, clad in brick rather than Bedford Avenue’s glassy envelope. Aurora Capital Associates and Midtown Equities are developing, and opening is expected in the spring of 2016.
Blesso Properties has acquired the former Lincoln Savings Bank building and the 13,000 square-foot parking lot at 525-545 Broadway, in southern Williamsburg, for $32.8 million; the site was placed on the market a year ago. According to Curbed, the assemblage includes 190,000 square feet of development rights, and a mixed-use building, with 100 rental units and a 15,000 square-foot roof deck is planned for the vacant lot. The existing 60,300 square-foot bank building will also be redeveloped, and the project is located right beneath the J and M trains’ Lorimer Street stop.
As the Rabsky Group plans to rezone an industrial swath of Williamsburg’s Broadway Triangle for a huge residential development, other landlords are converting the area’s commercial buildings to apartments and retail. Schlomo Landau has filed alteration applications to expand a two-story storefront at 687 Flushing Avenue to a nine-story apartment building.
In October of 2014, YIMBY revealed renderings of the six-story, 23-unit mixed-use building planned at 95 South 5th Street, in western Williamsburg, and now the building is topped out, according to Curbed. Horrigan Development and Pilot Real Estate Group are developing the project, while Standard Architects is designing. A 675 square-foot dining establishment is planned on the ground floor, and units will average 790 square feet in the 18,575 square-foot structure.
Notifications