Sometime next spring, the landmarked Bronx General Post Office, located in the borough’s Concourse Village neighborhood, will start a new life as retail, office space, and a restaurant. Interior demolition work is underway and we got a peak inside last week, with Brendan Murray, vice president at Hollister Construction Services, and he pointed out an incredibly creepy aspect of the building’s history.
The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), with the Department of Education and the Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD), is preparing to launch a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the L-shaped development site at 131 Livingston Street (a.k.a. 409 Red Hook Lane), in Downtown Brooklyn. The property would be ground-leased to a development team for 99 years and redeveloped, according to the Brooklyn Paper. The site could accommodate a mix of residential units, office space or retail, though the city will likely require the winning team to build a 500- to 700-seat public school. The lot is currently occupied by a six-story office building that houses various city-level government agencies, and it will likely end up getting demolished.
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.
Greenwich Development Partners is planning to renovate the three-story, 25,000-square-foot office building at 330 Railroad Avenue, in the downtown section of Greenwich, Connecticut. The property will receive extensive renovations on the interior, bringing the building to Class A office status, and will see the exterior cleaned and restored, according to Westfair. Solar panels will also be installed on the rooftop. Greenwich-based Granoff Architects is behind the renovation design, but will also move its headquarters into the building once it’s complete. The architecture firm will lease 17,000 square feet of space, leaving 12,000 square feet on the top floor up for grabs. Occupancy is expected in January of 2017.
Last week, Chelsea-based developer and design firm Flank acquired the development assemblage at 41-53 South 3rd Street, in Williamsburg, and now the firm is purchasing another assemblage of properties two blocks to the north. Frank is paying $21.6 million for the two-story building at 70 Grand Street, the corner lot at 72 Grand Street, and the single- and two-story buildings at 314-326 Wythe Avenue, according to the Wall Street Journal. The property assemblage could accommodate 26,904 square feet of new development if the current structures are demolished. Current plans call for the renovation of some of the buildings, in addition to the construction of new ones (which means something is likely to be demolished). The program will include residential units, office space, and retail.
