The glassy towers of North Williamsburg are slowly giving way to a more interesting wave of development on the south side of the neighborhood. Today, YIMBY has a look at a pair of connected mixed-use buildings at 69 Hope Street and 22-26 Marcy Avenue, right next to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Since late 2014, Isreal Gold has filed applications to turn the four-story, four-unit townhouse at 801 Driggs Avenue, on the western end of Williamsburg, into a five-story, eight-unit building. The original structure was completed in 1910, and the latest plans would expand the structure horizontally in the back and vertically by one story. In the end, residential space will total 6,078 square feet, which means units will average 760 square feet, indicative of rentals. Brooklyn-based John Schimenti is the architect of record. The building is located four blocks from the Marcy Avenue stop on the J, M, and Z trains.
Property owner Anthony Curcio has filed applications for a four-story, seven-unit residential building at 226 Withers Street, in northern Williamsburg, located four blocks from the Graham Avenue stop on the L train. The project will have 4,977 square feet of residential space, which means units will average a rental-sized 711 square feet apiece. There will be two apartments per floor, except the fourth floor will contain one unit with access to a rooftop terrace. Philip Toscano’s Brooklyn-based architecture firm is the applicant of record. An existing two-story brick building must first be demolished.
Just as the MTA considers a lengthy L train shutdown to repair flood damage from Hurricane Sandy, the Department of City Planning has kicked off the approval process for Williamsburg’s first new office building in decades. But the rezoning for the development at 25 Kent Avenue includes a policy that could shape industrial areas throughout the city. It would create a special district that allows developers to trade light manufacturing space for extra office space.
In 2014, YIMBY revealed renderings for a mixed-use redevelopment of the buildings at 119-123 Kent Avenue, in northern Williamsburg, located three blocks from the Bedford Avenue Station on the L train. Now, Commercial Observer reports CW Realty and Joyland Group have acquired the three four-story tenement buildings for $15.9 million, which measure roughly 15,000 square all together and come with 5,700 square feet of air rights. The new owners plan to combine the three buildings through the first floor and create a 5,625 square-foot retail space. It’s not known if the old proposal is being built, but the properties’ existing 18 total residential units will be renovated. Only two of them are currently occupied (and they are rent-stabilized).
