Brooklyn Space December 13, 2023
The Long Island Rail Road railyards between Sixth Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue. For 20 years, people have been waiting for the yards to be “platformed,” with housing to be built above them.
Photo: Mary Frost/Brooklyn Eagle
Photo: Mary Frost/Brooklyn Eagle
After Default, Pacific Park Needs New, Inclusive Blueprint, Advocates Say
The Atlantic Yards controversy, which tore Downtown Brooklyn apart 15 or so years ago, was half-forgotten — until recently, when current developer Greenland USA, a Chinese company that gradually acquired the development from the now-defunct Forest City Ratner, defaulted on debt it borrowed to finance the project.
Now, six unbuilt sites over the MTA rail yards between Sixth Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue — which were supposed to be one of the centerpieces of the overall development site, now called Pacific Park — are slated to be auctioned off on Jan. 11, 2024.
Who’s to blame for this mess? Well, according to advocates of the BrooklynSpeaks coalition who held a Zoom news briefing on Monday, it’s none other than the Empire State Development Corp. They believe a new governing entity in the form of a local development corporation needs to be adopted.
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California-based Ohana Real Estate has Purchased the Hilton Hotel at 140 Schermerhorn Street
Here are the 11 winners of AIA Brooklyn’s 2023 Brooklyn Design Awards
Photo courtesy of house94.com
Around Kings County
Hudson Companies Secures $28.3 Million Restructure For House No.94 At 94 North 3rd Street In Williamsburg
The Hudson Companies has closed a $28.3 million capital restructuring deal for House No.94, a five-story residential building at 94 North 3rd Street in Williamsburg. The transaction, brokered by Newmark Holdings, involved financing from Voya Financial and a new joint venture with Meadow Partners. House No.94 yields 75 apartments, with 20 percent set aside for low-income households.
Life Time Signed Brooklyn’s Largest Retail Lease of 2023
Brodsky Organization, Tishman Speyer, Thor among landlords with Top 10 deals. Brooklyn’s retail market registered roughly a dozen leases of 10,000 or more square feet, the borough’s second year in a row without any deals larger than 40,000 square feet. Golf, grocery and gyms played a significant role in the leasing activity, as did educational facilities.
Retail Leasing Picks Up Steam at City Point in Downtown Brooklyn
CIty Point BKLYN has enjoyed a flurry of new tenants in 2023. Tennis and pickleball facility Court 16 opened earlier this fall, and new tenants coming soon include primary care provider One Medical; Brazilian steakhouse Fogo de Chao, veterinary care group GoodVets, cosmetics retailer Sephora, and entertainment facility The Escape Game.
California-Based Ohana Real Estate has Purchased the Hilton Hotel at 140 Schermerhorn Street
Ohana Real Estate is buying another Brooklyn hotel? Fuhgeddaboudit. The California-based firm bought the Hilton hotel and three retail condos in Downtown Brooklyn for $110 million from Tidal Real Estate, records show. Tidal, then known as Flank, paid $88 million to buy Carlyle Group out of its stake in the property at 140 Schermerhorn Street in 2016. The two bought the site in 2012 for $38.2 million. This is the Ohana’s second Downtown Brooklyn hotel propterty, having also purchased the Tillary Hotel in 2022.
111 Willoughby Street Rises In Downtown Brooklyn
111 Willoughby Street, a 40-story residential tower that has begun to rise in Downtown Brooklyn. Designed by GF55 Architects and developed by The Michaels Organization, Triangle Equities, and Geolo Capital, the 437-foot-tall structure will span 205,000 square feet and yield 227 rental units, a 20,000-square-foot ministry center for the St. Boniface parish, and 1,814 square feet of commercial space. ZDG, LLC is the general contractor for the property, which is located by the intersection of Willoughby Street to the south and Duffield Street to the east.
15 Hanover Place Nears Completion In Downtown Brooklyn
15 Hanover Place, a 463-foot-tall residential tower nearing completion in Downtown Brooklyn. Designed by Fogarty Finger and developed by Lonicera Partners, the 34-story structure will span 295,000 square feet and yield 314 apartments, with 95 reserved for affordable housing, as well as 9,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Noble Construction Group is the general contractor for the property, which was formerly addressed as 23 Hanover Place and is located at the corner of Livingston Street and Hanover Place.
Residential Tower to Rise at Former Fort Greene Salvation Army site
A former Salvation Army property in Fort Greene is set to be turned into a new residential building for the neighborhood. Developer Mendel Berkowitz of the Brooklyn-based firm Borough Developers recently filed plans with the Department of Buildings for a 101-unit project at 155 S. Elliott Place. Kao Hwa Lee Architects is the architect on the project, which will span about 86,000 square feet and include at least some low-income housing, according to the filing. The project will stand 9 stories and 89 feet tall with a parking garage on the ground floor.
Here Are the 11 winners of AIA Brooklyn’s 2023 Brooklyn Design Awards
Each year the Brooklyn Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Brooklyn) highlights contributions by Brooklyn-based architects in its annual Brooklyn Design Awards. This year’s iteration had eleven winners ranging from small-scale architectural activations to large-scale urban projects with an emphasis on high-performing, sustainable buildings. About three-quarters of this year’s projects that took home medals are sited in Brooklyn while the remaining include projects in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Texas by Brooklyn-based architects.
Affordable Housing Lottery Launches For 209 North 11th Street In Williamsburg
The affordable housing lottery has launched for 209 North 11th Street, a seven-story mixed-use building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Designed by MHM Engineering and developed by Yisroel Greenfeld, the structure yields 53 residences. Available on NYC Housing Connect are 16 units for residents at 130 percent of the area median income (AMI), ranging in eligible income from $113,726 to $165,230.
Housing Solutions From
Across The Globe
Photo: Nathalie Anfuso/Unsplash
Yes, Building More Housing Does Lower Rents, Study Says; Researchers Says ‘Supply Skeptics’ Have it Wrong
It’s a question that looms large over the effort to promote more development in housing-starved Massachusetts: Does increasing the supply of housing, even if it’s mainly higher-cost, market-priced units, temper the run-up in costs that has so many residents straining to make ends meet?
The idea follows the basic economic principle of supply and demand – when more of something is made available, its price falls.
Perspectives From Brooklyn
And Beyond
► Mayor Adams Combats Housing Crisis With “Green Fast Track” to Build More Sustainable Housing More Quickly
Mayor Adams and New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) Director and City Planning Commission (CCP) Chair Dan Garodnick unveiled the “Green Fast Track” — a streamlined environmental review process to accelerate the production of small and medium-sized housing projects across New York City. The streamlined review process is a major initiative of the administration’s “Get Stuff Built” plan to create more housing by cutting red tape, streamlining processes, and removing bureaucratic obstacles.
► Mayor Adams Names Leila Bozorg as Executive Director For Housing, Launches Housing-At-Risk Task Force to Save Affordable Housing Projects
New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued Executive Order Number 38 which states that an Affordable New York project that commenced construction after December 31, 2015 and on or before June 15, 2022 must receive a temporary or permanent certificate of occupancy covering all residential areas from the Department of Buildings on or before June 15, 2026. At the New York Housing Conference’s annual awards ceremony, Mayor Adams announced the appointment of Leila Bozorg, a national affordable housing expert, as the city’s new executive director of housing, part of the expanded housing, economic development, and workforce team under Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer.
► Pro-Housing Zoning Policy Gains Traction Nationally — But Runs Into Barriers
From poison pills to broad loopholes to good, old-fashioned community panic, opponents of new development have a deep bench from which to draw.
► Remarks by National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard Addressing the Challenge of Housing Affordability At the National Housing Conference
During the National Housing Conference, National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard highlighted the importance of addressing the challenge of housing affordability. She emphasized that affordable housing is essential for Americans to have financial stability and achieve various goals, such as securing employment, education, and building a financial cushion. Additionally, Brainard discussed strategies aimed at reducing expenses for prospective homebuyers, fostering homeownership, and promoting equitable practices within the rental market.
► As Offices Sit Empty and Housing Costs Soar, some Texas Developers are Converting Workspaces into Apartments
Not every downtown high-rise is a good fit for an office-to-housing conversion, but some officials and developers see benefits in turning unused space into new residential units. From an 18th-floor apartment smack dab in the middle of downtown, a renter sipping coffee at a quartz countertop would have a view of towering office buildings and a distant horizon. If they moseyed to their bedroom window at the corner of Santander Tower, they could look down on bustling rush-hour traffic — and a giant sculpture of a eyeball.
Until earlier this year, no one could have called the two-bedroom apartment home. Before then, it was a vacant, unused workspace.
► SL Green to Convert nearly-empty Midtown Tower into Housing — but there’s a Catch
SL Green plans to convert the office tower at 750 Third Ave. into apartments, a move that would transform a building that’s 81% vacant into a thriving community of 543 units, 20% of them affordable. ‘We are preparing the building to be the shining example for office-to-residential conversions,’ Robert Schiffer, executive vice president for development, said at an investor meeting this week. “But in order for the project to make sense economically, New York’s largest commercial landlord says the building needs a ‘full’ property-tax abatement. It currently pays about $10 million a year, according to city records.”
Brooklyn Space for Living, Working & Investing is produced by Eagle Urban Media. Contact at [email protected]
Copyright (C) 2023 by Eagle Urban Media. All rights reserved.
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View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.