New building applications have been filed for nearly 300 units of affordable housing on city-owned lots near where the elevated 3 and L trains intersect on Livonia Avenue in East New York. It turns out that these plans are Phase II of the city’s big Livonia Commons project, which will bring 791 deeply affordable units, retail and community space to a rather desolate stretch of the neighborhood.
Newmark Holdings and Northwind Group have purchased the 20-story office building at 40 Exchange Place, in the Financial District, for $115 million, according to Crain’s. They plan to renovate the property to accommodate small to mid-sized office tenants. Renovations will include significant changes to the lobby and the building’s common spaces, as well as the addition of retail space on the ground floor. Natixis Real Estate provided a $65 million acquisition loan and a $16.5 million construction loan.
Back in July, details were revealed of the planned renovation of Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Building 77 — a 16-story, one million-square-foot industrial building — and now Brownstoner reports work is well underway. Retail space is planned on the ground floor, along with a 60,000 square-foot public food hall, and the floors above will be leased to commercial and manufacturing tenants. Beyer Blinder Belle and Marvel Architects are designing the city-funded project, which is expected to open for business in the second half of 2016.
The single-purpose commercial district is a staple of the city’s urban patchwork, whether it is the Diamond District at 47th Street and Fifth Avenue in Midtown, the Lighting District along the Bowery, or the former Radio Row in Lower Manhattan. Among these spaces, the Flower District in Midtown South is among the most unique. The concrete jungle meets the green jungle on sidewalks lined with rows of flowers and shrubbery. Yet while the District has been around for over a century, ongoing transformations are shaking its identity to the core.
RXR Realty and Westbrook Partners are in contract to purchase the nine-story, 700,000 square-foot former industrial building at 47 Hall Street, in northern Clinton Hill, for more than $160 million, Crain’s reports. Parts of the building are currently rented out as art studios and creative offices, but the eventual new owners plan to convert the structure into modern creative offices; renovations include ground-floor reconfigurations and new outdoor terraces. Landlord Ruby Schron and the Fruchthandler family are the current owners.
