Last year, residential development in the South Bronx was booming. This year, builders are looking at their future tax bills – without the 421-a tax break – and realizing that it’s safer and cheaper to build hotels than apartments.
The residential, mid-rise street wall around McCarren Park in northern Brooklyn is receiving its latest addition as the six-story apartment building at 544 Manhattan Avenue nears exterior completion. Permits indicate Nicholas Notias of Flushing-based Neptune Mechanical, LLC as the owner and the firm also serves as the construction manager. LMW Engineering Group, LLC is also involved with the project.
RFR Holding, LIVWRK, and Kushner Companies are preparing to enter into contract to purchase the 11-story, 733,000-square-foot office complex at 25-30 Columbia Heights, in Brooklyn Heights, in addition to the vacant full-block, 135,000-square-foot development site at 85 Jay Street, in DUMBO, from the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The team of developers are paying $700 million for the properties, according to the New York Post. 25-30 Columbia Heights, which is commonly called the “Watchtower,” is the organization’s current headquarters. It could possibly be turned into a commercial hub, similar to how the same developers converted the former Jehovah’s Witnesses properties at 81 Prospect Street into offices back in 2014. As for 85 Jay Street, the site has been long approved for roughly 1.1 million square feet of development. That’s as many as 700 to 1,000 residential units, which could boost the neighborhood’s population by a third, Brownstoner reported a few months ago.
Brooklyn-based property owner Joel Berkowitz has filed applications for a seven-story, 16-unit mixed-use building at 236 Stagg Street, in East Williamsburg, located three blocks south of Grand Street stop on the L train. The structure will measure 23,496 square feet, and will include 3,307 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Residential units will begin on the second floor and should average 833 square feet apiece, indicative of rental apartments. Amenities are set to include bike storage, an eight-car garage, and an 101-square-foot medical room in the cellar. Nataliya Donskoy’s Brooklyn-based ND Architecture & Design is the architect of record. The 4,658-square-foot lot is currently occupied by a single-story warehouse. Demolition permits have not yet been filed.
Fishel Miller, doing business as an anonymous Brooklyn-based LLC, has filed applications for a four-story, six-unit residential building at 195 Troutman Street, in western Bushwick, located six blocks from the Myrtle Avenue stop on the M train. The structure will measure just 4,396 square feet, which means its residential units should average 733 square feet apiece, indicative of rental apartments. There will be one or two units per floor, and a laundry will be located on the cellar level. Greenwich Village-based De-Jan Lu Architect is the architect of record. The 20-foot-wide, 2,000-square-foot lot is currently occupied by a two-story house.
