It’s been a year since Puccio Marble and Onyx sold their last Williamsburg building at 661 Driggs Avenue for $5.6 million. Now, the new owners have filed plans to replace the old two-story structure with a four-story development, and YIMBY found a rendering of the project on the developer’s website.
Over the past few years, new building applications have been filed and construction even started on a residential portion of the five-tower, 3.3-million-square-foot mixed-use Domino Sugar Refinery mega-development in Williamsburg, located immediately north of the Williamsburg Bridge. Now, new details and renderings have been revealed of the lesser-known office component of the project, the New York Post reported. The office portion will be anchored in the existing 11-story Havemeyers & Elder Filter, Pan & Finishing House, also known as the Domino Sugar Refinery, at 292-314 Kent Avenue, which is an individual landmark.
In late 2014, Apple signed a 20,000-square-foot lease at 247 Bedford Avenue, in Williamsburg, located at the corner of North 3rd Street, four blocks from the Bedford Avenue Station on the L train. Then in April of 2015, the former two-story corner building was razed to its foundation to be rebuilt as a new two-story structure. Brownstoner now reports much of the exterior construction is complete, with work currently focused on the interior. Marin Architects P.C. is the architect of record. RedSky Capital and Waterbridge Capital acquired an assemblage of buildings on the block, including 247 Bedford Avenue, for $66 million in 2012. While Apple is setting up shop at 247 Bedford Avenue, the developers are moving forward with renovations on the adjacent two-story, 27-unit mixed-use building at 159 North 3rd Street. As for the Apple store, opening can probably be expected later this year.
Idan Cohen, doing business as a Queens-based LLC, has filed applications for a four-story, two-unit residential building at 113 North 9th Street, in northern Williamsburg, located three blocks from the Bedford Avenue stop on the L train. The structure will measure 5,310 square feet, which means its residential units should average a spacious 2,655 square feet apiece, indicative of condominiums. One unit will take up the ground and second floors, along with part of the cellar, while the other unit will be located in the third and fourth floors. Woody Chen’s Elmhurst-based Infocus Design & Engineering is the architect of record. The 25-foot-wide lot is currently vacant.
The challenge of building on oddly shaped lots in expensive neighborhoods can inspire unique architecture. In Williamsburg, J Frankl Architects came up with an offbeat design for a wedge-shaped plot at 369 Berry Street, just south of the Williamsburg Bridge.
