By Alexandra Alexa, Tue, April 23, 2019 Rendering courtesy of Greenland Forest City Partners
Long in the works, construction at the Pacific Park complex in Brooklyn is set to ramp up after Greenland Forest City Partners announced a partnership with the Brodsky Organization to develop 18 Sixth Avenue. Designed by Perkins Eastman, the building will exceed 500 feet and become the tallest in Pacific Park. As 6sqft previously reported, Brodsky was also tapped for another apartment building in the complex at 664 Pacific Street, which will also include public space and a school. Groundbreaking at both sites is set to take place within the next two weeks.
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By Alexandra Alexa, Mon, April 22, 2019 Rendering via SHoP Architects
A fresh rendering of 9 Dekalb Avenue first published in the New York Times last week revealed a new aspect of the project: the Dime Savings Bank‘s roof will be transformed into an outdoor lounge for residents, including a pool that will partly wrap around the ornate Guastavino dome. Inside, the Beaux-Arts interior will become a flagship store, with further details to be announced. The rising 1,066-foot-tower is being developed by JDS Development, with SHoP Architects leading the design, and is set to become the tallest tower in Brooklyn upon completion.
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By Alexandra Alexa, Tue, April 16, 2019 Current construction shot of Brooklyn Point by CityRealty (L); Photo of the view courtesy of Williams New York (R)
Brooklyn Point, Extell’s first outer-borough tower rising at 138 Willoughby Street officially topped out this week at 720 feet, and the views from near the top are even more incredible than expected. The 68-story high-rise designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox will contain 458 luxury units, ranging from studios to three-bedrooms, starting at $850,000 and reaching over $4 million. On track to be completed by 2020, it’ll be Brooklyn’s tallest building (at least until the 1,000-foot building planned for 9 DeKalb Avenue rises) and boast the highest outdoor infinity pool in the western hemisphere.
Check out the views!
By Devin Gannon, Fri, March 15, 2019 Rendering of 570 Fulton Street via Slate Property Group
The New York City Council this week voted to approve a proposed 40-story building in Downtown Brooklyn, adding to the slew of new high-rises coming to the historically low-slung neighborhood. According to the Brooklyn Eagle, the council voted to approve zoning measures that permit Slate Property Group to build at 570 Fulton Street. With council approval, the 200,000-square-foot mixed-use building will move on to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s desk next, despite concerns from the local community board.
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By Michelle Cohen, Wed, February 20, 2019 Understudy; image credit: Liz Clayman.
Downtown Brooklyn’s City Point is pulling out all the stops to boost its cool factor. The 1.8-million-square-foot mixed-use development at 445 Albee Square West is already home to the subterranean food mecca known as Dekalb Market Hall as well as the popular dine-in cinema-slash-supper-club Alamo Drafthouse. City Point recently announced the additions of a speakeasy-style cocktail bar called Understudy within the food court and Dekalb Stage, a 7,500-square-foot events and live entertainment space just next door.
More fun per square foot, this way
By Michelle Cohen, Tue, February 12, 2019 Image courtesy of Downtownbrooklyn.com.
Downtown Brooklyn Partnership announced today the selection of a joint proposal from design firms WXY Studio (WXY) and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG Architects) for a public realm action plan aimed at implementing long-term improvements to Downtown Brooklyn’s plazas, streets, and public spaces to keep pace with the neighborhood’s unprecedented growth. According to a press release, the two firms will conduct a comprehensive study and create an implementation plan for Downtown Brooklyn’s public realm and help “advance Downtown Brooklyn as a competitive, national urban center.”
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By Michelle Cohen, Tue, February 12, 2019 McNally Jackson bookstore on Prince Street. Image by Carl Mikoy via Flickr.
Bad news took a U-turn at the start of this year when beloved independent bookstore McNally Jackson announced that it would not be closing its doors on Prince Street in Soho after all. The news came a few months after after owner Sarah McNally, who opened the store in 2004, announced the store would be moving out of the neighborhood due to a 136 percent rent increase (from $350,000 to $850,000). The flagship location of the bookstore is not merely staying open; it will be launching new branches in Williamsburg and Laguardia Airport, and as New York Magazine reports, is on an expansion binge of sorts with stores planned for South Street Seaport and Downtown Brooklyn‘s new City Point complex.
More books for everyone
By Michelle Cohen, Thu, January 31, 2019 Rendering: Economic Development Corporation.
It appears that residents at Downtown Brooklyn‘s new Brooklyn Point development won’t be getting their “beautifully landscaped one-acre oasis” after all. Plans to add a new park atop a high-tech parking facility on Willoughby Street across from City Point in Downtown Brooklyn are officially off the table, Brooklyn Paper reports. The plan was set in motion a decade ago under the Bloomberg administration. City officials said Wednesday that a deal with the developer chosen for the job back in 2013 failed to close.
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By Alexandra Alexa, Thu, January 31, 2019 Located in the award-winning, SOM-designed Toren in Downtown Brooklyn, this duplex penthouse at 150 Myrtle Avenue boasts three exposures and sweeping views of Williamsburg and Manhattan. On the 30th of 37 floors, the corner residence offers three bedrooms and three baths in a dramatic double-height space for the asking price of $2,100,000. And though these glassy, open spaces can often feel void, this one has been warmed up with creative decor and a curated collection of plants.
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By Lucie Levine, Mon, January 7, 2019 Since it opened in 1859, the Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn has been integral to the history of the borough it calls home. True to its name, you could open a savings account with just a dime. The first person to make a deposit was a man named John Halsey who invested $50. Scores of Brooklynites followed suit, and by the end of the bank’s first business day, 90 people opened accounts; by the end of the first month, more than 1,000 people were depositing at Dime.
But the bank cemented its prominent status in 1908 when the first subway tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn opened and Dime moved into its grand neo-classical building on Dekalb Avenue and Fleet Street. After the bank closed in 2002, the landmark still stood in all its former glory, operating as a special event space. Three years ago, JDS Development filed plans to build Brooklyn’s tallest tower adjacent to Dime, incorporating its Beaux-Arts interior as retail space for the project. And with work now underway, 6sqft recently got a behind-the-scenes tour of Dime Savings Bank with Open House New York.
Explore the history and future of Dime Savings Bank
