Much of North Brooklyn’s manufacturing zone has become prime real estate for hotel developers, but the blocks where eastern Greenpoint bleeds into Williamsburg have remained stubbornly industrial, filled with factories, building supply companies, and the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. Now, we’ve spotted plans to build a commercial project that will fit in perfectly in a heavy industrial zone.
One of the landmarked Eberhard Pencil Factory buildings has sat vacant at 74 Kent Street in Greenpoint for several years, after a drug bust and a failed residential conversion. Now, renovations are nearly complete at the 108-year-old building, and the owners, Caerus Group, are on the hunt for trendy tenants to fill the space.
Back in November of 2015, the city approved design changes to the 630-foot-tall New York Wheel project at 155 Richmond Terrace, in St. George, Staten Island. At the time, construction was underway on the project’s four-level accessory commercial building. That commercial structure has since topped out and foundation work is now underway on the base of the Ferris wheel itself. The topped-out commercial structure encompasses 418,901 square feet, and features a 950-car parking garage, exhibition/gallery spaces, ticketing offices/security screening, a bike rental facility, a food hall, and commercial-retail space. The roof will also include a playground, a gallery, a restaurant, a performance stage, and landscaped recreational space. A large part of the building is expected to open this summer, with the entire project scheduled for completion in in 2017. Starneth B.V. is constructing the New York Wheel. S9 Architecture, with Navid Maqami as design principal in charge, and Perkins Eastman, with Jonathan Cohn as project manager, are behind the design.
Back in August of 2015, Quality Capital and Caerus Group acquired, for $60 million, the two four-story, mixed-use buildings at 827-831 Broadway, located between East 12th and 13th streets in Greenwich Village. Now, the developers have filed applications for a 14-story, 84,108-square-foot multi-use commercial building at the site. The building will stand 289 feet above street level. It will feature retail space across parts of the cellar through third floors, 6,394 square feet of medical office space on parts of the second and third floor, and office space on the fourth through 14th floors. Amenities will include storage space on the cellar, a terrace on the fourth floor, and a rooftop terrace. The existing buildings, which together measure 36,500 square feet, include retail on the bottom two floors and apartments on the upper two floors. Chelsea-based CD3 Architecture is the architect of record. Demolition permits have not yet been filed.
Sam Chang’s Great Neck, N.Y.-based McSam Hotel Group has closed, for $27.1 million, on a 99-year ground lease of the 7,454-square-foot property at 523-529 Eighth Avenue, in the Garment District section of Midtown. Located on the corner of West 36th Street, the lot is currently occupied by a single-story, 7,400-square-foot retail building with five commercial units, according to The Real Deal. The site can accommodate up to 74,540 square feet of commercial development. Neither demolition permit nor new building permits have yet been filed with the Department of Buildings. It’s not known when the tenants’ leases expire, and plans for the site have not been disclosed. The property owner is Joseph P. Day Realty Corporation.
