Over a year ago, Blesso Properties shelled out $33 million for the former Lincoln Savings Bank site at 525 Broadway, next to the elevated subway tracks in Williamsburg. Now they’ve filed plans for a 27-story, mixed-use building that will be nearly evenly divided between apartments and office space.
Earlier this year, the city paid $53 million to acquire the property at 1 North 12th Street, located between North 12th and 14th streets along Kent Avenue on the border of Greenpoint and Williamsburg, with plans to convert the site into public park space. The city has now agreed to pay $160 million for the 11-acre CitiStorage site, located between North 10th and 12th streets at 5 North 11th Street, Crain’s reported.
Three years ago, developer Read Property Group negotiated a controversial residential rezoning of the former Rheingold Brewery properties in southern Bushwick. After neighbors fought for affordable housing there, Read sold the multi-acre industrial property to Rabsky Group and All Year Management, who didn’t have to honor Read’s promises for low income rentals. Now All Year Management is pushing forward with construction on its two pieces of the site, at 123 Melrose Street and 28 Stanwix Street.
When the city rezoned Williamsburg in 2004, it hoped to encourage truly mixed-use buildings that knitted together apartments, office space, and light industrial businesses. Few developers have taken advantage of the commercial part of the zoning, instead choosing to squeeze as many apartments as possible onto a lot. Chelsea-based developer and architecture firm Flank decided to take a different path for their project at 60 South 2nd Street, where three quarters of the building will be devoted to office space.
After 10 months of legislative limbo and stalled construction sites, the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and the Real Estate Board of New York have reached an agreement to resurrect the controversial 421-a tax exemption, which props up rental development throughout much of New York City.