All articles by Ondel Hylton and Julian Friedman

April 25, 2016

First Look StudiosC’s Bed Stuy Rental Underway at 1875 Atlantic Avenue

Over the next decade, Brooklyn's Atlantic Avenue will likely continue its transformation from high-speed deathtrap to high-density residential boulevard. With more than a dozen projects already taking shape near its western extents, such as the 16-tower Pacific Park project, Cobble Hill's LICH redevelopment, and a pair of towers at Brooklyn Bridge Park, it's not difficult to imagine infill developments progressing eastward, rising from the acres of underutilized land along the ten-mile artery. And in East New York, the City Council just approved a rezoning of the neighborhood that allows for 10- to 14-story apartment blocks to rise along Atlantic Avenue. In Bedford-Stuyvesant, in between the two much-discussed areas, StudiosC Architects has crafted an eight-story apartment block at 1875 Atlantic Avenue, which will contain 118 rental units.
Get all the details on the building
April 22, 2016

First Look at StudiosC’s Boutique Condominium Underway at 187 Bridge Street

Within Downtown Brooklyn's detached island of urbanity between the Manhattan Bridge on-ramp and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, local architecture firm StudiosC has designed a modestly scaled, ground-up condominium at the corner of Bridge and Nassau Streets. Re-approved plans filed by the architect of record Karl Fischer detail an eight-story building with 12,000 square feet of gross floor area.
More details ahead
April 21, 2016

Checking in on Adam America’s Trio of Developments on a Single Boerum Hill Block

At the southern edge of Boerum Hill, where the quaint brownstone enclave meets Park Slope and Gowanus, a trio of sleek residential buildings is taking shape by developer Adam America Real Estate. Along a single block, bound by Third and Fourth Avenues and Baltic and Warren Streets, the Brooklyn-centric firm is busy constructing a 31-unit condo building at Six Ten Warren, a 70-unit rental at 595 Baltic Street, and a 21-unit rental 577 Baltic Street. 6sqft visited the block to see how construction is progressing and put together all the renderings and details for the projects.
Check it all out right here
April 14, 2016

As Rem Koolhaas Finally Designs First NYC Building, A Look Back at His Unbuilt Proposals

Thirty-eight years after the publication of his acclaimed book "Delirious New York," Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and his global architecture firm the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) seem to have finally landed their first ground-up New York City commission. Excavation is already underway at the 22,000-square-foot project site located at 122 East 23rd Street and will soon host a pair of block-through residential towers articulated by faceted elevations and chiseled corners. While there has been no official announcement that Koolhaas is on board, several consultant websites and Linkedin profiles indicate that the Pritzker Prize-winner has been tapped, while New York-based SLCE will serve as the architects of record. To mark the occasion, and as we eagerly await the design unveiling, 6sqft has rounded up Koolhaas' prior unlucky attempts to build in the city. The proposals befell to the usual suspects that typically stymie bold architecture in the city—community opposition, economic downturns, and the conservative nature of the city's developers and public sector. *Update 4/21: OMA has confirmed their involvement in the project and share that Shohei Shigematsu, partner and director of the firm's New York office, is leading the design effort.
See it all right here
March 3, 2016

New Renderings and Video Released for Sheepshead Bay’s Waterfront Vue Condominium

Rybak Development's latest venture named the Vue Condominium will add a bit of pizzazz and a sizable plaza to a popular stretch of Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay. Rising from a prominent, full-block parcel at the intersection of Emmons and Sheepshead Bay Road, the envisioned eight-story structure replaces former neighborhood fixture the El Greco Diner, whose site was snapped up by Sergey Rybak and Jason Reznik for $13 million in late 2014. The project first appeared one year ago, and now a handful of renderings and a video have been released by the developers. The 175,000-square-foot structure will be the first LEED Certified building in south Brooklyn and will house 58 condos, 26,000 square feet of retail, two commercial office units, and a 134-car garage shared by tenants and businesses. The 9,000- square-foot plaza will take up a quarter of the development site and will have raised planters, ambiance lighting and bicycle parking.
Watch the video and see more renderings
March 1, 2016

Williamsburg Hotel/Residential Tower at 500 Metropolitan Avenue Rises Above Ground

Not to be completely outdone by Bjarke Ingels' Via 57 West, Williamsburg is getting its own highway-fronting pyramidal pile. Alongside the bucolic banks of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the concrete frame of 500 Metropolitan Avenue has finally climbed above street level, now reaching its third floor. The uniquely massed 200,000-square-foot, mixed-use project ascends near the Metropolitan Avenue-Lorimer Street station of the G and L lines, and from a V-shaped lot that borders five streets: Metropolitan Avenue, Union, Keap, Ainslie and Rodney Streets. Its stepped, ziggurat-like form will soar 14 stories and 172 feet above the low-slung area, making it among the tallest structures in the 'hood.
Find out more
November 3, 2015

Construction Update: Herzog & de Meuron’s 215 Chrystie Street Shimmies and Shakes Upward

The structure of Ian Schrager/Witkoff Group's 26-story hotel/condominium combo 215 Chrystie Street is now more than half way up, giving us a clearer view of the "tough-luxe" exterior composed of raw concrete and large clear glass panes. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning firm Herzog & de Meuron, with Handel Architects as architects of record, the tower's lower levels feature a highly-textured facade of inwardly-tilting columns framing expansive clear panes of glass. The tilt creates slightly more interior space, and from ground level, increases the amount of reflection in the glass, thus providing more privacy for guests. According to the firm's webpage on the project, "The structure of the building is pushed to the exterior and follows the grid of the large floor-to-ceiling window bays. This introduces a depth to the façade on the exterior and liberates the interior from freestanding columns."
See more construction shots and renderings
October 30, 2015

New Renderings and New Tenant Revealed for 90-Story Hudson Yards Tower

Curbed reports that Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group officially announced the signing of private equity firm KKR & Co. for 343,000 square feet of their upcoming mega-tower at 30 Hudson Yards. Marking the event, the developers have released a slew of renderings for the project, which is rising from the southwest corner of 33rd Street and Tenth Avenue. The 90-story building will soar nearly 1,300 feet high, and the deal dictates that the firm will occupy the supertall's top ten floors. KKR will have a dedicated elevator bank, a private sky lobby, and access to the tower’s hotly anticipated observation deck (which will be the highest in the city). The firm will relocate from the Solow Building at 9 West 57th and is slated to occupy the space by 2020.
Lots more renderings and details