The tallest building in Brooklyn begins its rise to the top

Supertall 9 DeKalb Ave. will eventually top off at 1,066 feet

May 3, 2018 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

This is what needle-thin 9 DeKalb will look like in a couple years. Rendering by SHoP Architects

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Things are looking up!

Construction is about to begin on Brooklyn’s tallest building — the borough’s first thousand-footer that will rival the highest skyscrapers of Manhattan.

The supertall tower at 9 DeKalb Ave. at Flatbush Avenue Extension will eventually grow to 1,066 feet, with 73 stories of glass, bronzed metal and blackened stainless steel. It will have 417 rental apartments, 20 percent of them below-market rate.

The now-vacant landmarked Dime bank building will serve as retail and office space for a single tenant.

Supporters say the needle-thin SHoP Architects-designed tower — which will be as tall as the Chrysler Building but have less than half as much floor space —will vault Brooklyn into real estate’s big leagues.

Critics say it will burden Downtown Brooklyn’s subways, schools, sewer systems and other infrastructure.

Development of the 1,066-foot-tall tower began when JPMorgan Chase, which operated a branch in the Dime building, sold it to JDS Development Group and Chetrit Group for $90 million. The developers also paid $43 million for 340 Flatbush Ave. Extension, the other property on the site, city Finance Department records show.

The demolition of 340 Flatbush Ave. Extension will resume in a couple weeks. It has already been partly torn down. It’s the building in these photos that’s covered in black netting.

The Dime building, seen from Fulton Mall, is partly hidden by a construction fence. The Dime’s annex, which was built in the 1930s, has been demolished. It was never landmarked.

The developers didn’t need zoning changes to build their thousand-footer because of air rights from the century-old Dime building.