Steiner Reveals Plans for Residential Tower on Downtown Brooklyn Property

February 13, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
Steiner_The_Hub_rendering_Dattner.jpg
Steiner_The_Hub_rendering_Dattner.jpg
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Rental Building To Be Called The Hub

By Linda Collins

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Developer Doug Steiner, chairman of Steiner NYC, has revealed his firm’s plans for the thru-property at Livingston and Schermerhorn streets and Flatbush Avenue.

First reported in The Wall Street Journal on Monday, a 52-story rental apartment tower containing 720 units plus 50,000 square feet of retail space at its base plus underground parking is planned for the site.

As the Eagle reported in early December, Steiner acquired a four-property package for an estimated $30 million, but plans for it were not yet known.

The four properties include the 120,000-square-foot six-story office building at 350 Livingston, a vacant lot at 325 Schermerhorn, a medical building at 345 Schermerhorn and a 20,000-square-foot parking lot at 62-64 Flatbush.

Why that location? “The center of Brooklyn is moving south and east of downtown,” Steiner told the Eagle late Monday.

“I think the [Barclays] arena will be the new center of things,” he added. “And it’s right next to the BAM Cultural District. We love BAM.”

To be called The Hub because it sits at the hub of five neighborhoods — Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Boerum Hill, Park Slope, Prospect Heights and the BAM Cultural District — it will have the address of 333 Schermerhorn St. But it will also have access from Livingston Street, according to Steiner.

A groundbreaking is slated for the fourth quarter of 2012 or early 2013, said Steiner, who told the Wall Street Journal, “This will be the best rental building in Brooklyn.”

In the phone interview with the Eagle, however, he said, “It will be the best building, period.”

He was referring to what he said will be “the largest amenity package of any rental building in Brooklyn” with  features like a 24-hour concierge, a giant landscaped common outdoor terrace with sundeck, a fully-equipped fitness center, yoga studio, locker rooms, a dog run, a grilling terrace, multiple lounges and bike storage for every unit. Apartments will also be pre-wired for cable, phone and high-speed internet connections.

“Our challenge was to design an attractive building with the best amenities we could offer,” he said. “I think we’ve done that. We’ll have spectacular views, great layouts and an iconic presence on the skyline. And we’re at the hub of so many great Brooklyn neighborhoods.”

The Hub will have a mix of unit sizes — “heavy on the studios and one-bedrooms” — with prices in the range of $40 to $50 a square foot, which is what the market is, he explained. Under those rates, a 1,000-square-foot apartment would rent for $3,333 to $4,166 a month, the Wall street Journal noted.

It will also be an 80/20 development, meaning that 20 percent of its 720 total units — 144 — will be affordable. He will seek financing through the city’s subsidized inclusionary housing program.

Steiner NYC’s current projects include 58 and 80 Metropolitan, a two-phase, market-rate condominium project of 173 units comprising a full city block in Williamsburg; and 25 Washington Ave., an approximately 285,000-square-foot expansion at Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, to include additional stages, support and post-production space.

The Hub joins several other towers planned for Downtown Brooklyn, including the 53-story tower at 388 Bridge St. by Stahl Real Estate and the 57-story Avalon Willoughby, a rental development at Bridge and Willoughby streets.

Steiner told the Eagle that although he is not a resident of the borough (“yet”), he and his firm are still  looking for more properties to develop — from Greenpoint south.

“We like northern Brooklyn,” he said.

Completion on The Hub is estimated to take between 30 and 36 months from groundbreaking.


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