Last summer, the Times reported that Extell had acquired the third and final piece of City Point, a sprawling mixed-use development in Downtown Brooklyn. The developer rolled out initial renderings for their 59-story tower at 138 Willoughby Street in January, and now we have a better look at what will eventually be one of Brooklyn’s tallest towers.
RFR Holding, LIVWRK, and Kushner Companies are preparing to enter into contract to purchase the 11-story, 733,000-square-foot office complex at 25-30 Columbia Heights, in Brooklyn Heights, in addition to the vacant full-block, 135,000-square-foot development site at 85 Jay Street, in DUMBO, from the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The team of developers are paying $700 million for the properties, according to the New York Post. 25-30 Columbia Heights, which is commonly called the “Watchtower,” is the organization’s current headquarters. It could possibly be turned into a commercial hub, similar to how the same developers converted the former Jehovah’s Witnesses properties at 81 Prospect Street into offices back in 2014. As for 85 Jay Street, the site has been long approved for roughly 1.1 million square feet of development. That’s as many as 700 to 1,000 residential units, which could boost the neighborhood’s population by a third, Brownstoner reported a few months ago.
Brooklyn-based property owner Joel Berkowitz has filed applications for a seven-story, 16-unit mixed-use building at 236 Stagg Street, in East Williamsburg, located three blocks south of Grand Street stop on the L train. The structure will measure 23,496 square feet, and will include 3,307 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Residential units will begin on the second floor and should average 833 square feet apiece, indicative of rental apartments. Amenities are set to include bike storage, an eight-car garage, and an 101-square-foot medical room in the cellar. Nataliya Donskoy’s Brooklyn-based ND Architecture & Design is the architect of record. The 4,658-square-foot lot is currently occupied by a single-story warehouse. Demolition permits have not yet been filed.
Property owner Junghyun Park has filed applications for a two-story, 5,077-square-foot, multi-use commercial project at 162-31 Depot Road, in Queens’s Murray Hill, located right across from the Broadway station on the Long Island Rail Road. The new building will contain 1,720 square feet of retail space on the ground and cellar levels, in addition to 1,692 square feet of medical offices on a first-floor mezzanine level and the second floor. Duk Gyoo Lee’s Flushing-based TL Engineering is the applicant of record. The 24-foot-wide, 1,816-square-foot site is has long sat vacant.
In July of 2014, FBS Realty, doing business as Jackson Heights-based Manhasset Homes USA, filed applications for a seven-story, 22-unit mixed-use building at 525 Myrtle Avenue, in northern Clinton Hill, located six blocks from the Clinton-Washington Avs stop on the G train. The 26,688-square-foot structure has now topped out, according to the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership. The ground floor will feature 2,143 square feet of retail space – to be sold as a single retail condo – and a 512-square-foot doctors office. The residential units, which begin on the second floor, should average 777 square feet apiece. Jamaica-based Gerald Caliendo is the architect of record. Completion can be expected closer to 2017.
