Image: Courtesy of GreenbergFarrow

Toll Brothers will build 67-unit project on vacant lot formerly occupied by factory building. On April 20, 2010, Landmarks approved Toll Brothers’ proposed 67-unit residential complex at 205 Water Street in Brooklyn’s DUMBO Historic District. The vacant lot fronts Water and Plymouth Streets and was formerly occupied by a factory last used by the Brillo Company. The building was demolished shortly before the district’s 2007 designation. A 2009 rezoning opened the industrial area up to as-of-right residential and commercial development. 6 CityLand 104 (Aug. 15, 2009).

At the hearing, attorney Valerie Campbell, representing Toll Brothers pointed out that the project conformed to the lot’s split M1-4/R8A and M1-4/R7A zoning. GreenbergFarrow architect Navid Maqami described the building’s design. Maqami said he drew inspiration from the varying street wall heights of the area’s architecture, as well as from the rusted metal, cobblestones, and concrete materials that characterize the neighborhood. He explained that the building reached 80 feet along Water Street and rose to 97 feet on the Plymouth Street frontage. A two-story tower would rise above the rest of the building, with a portion cantilevered slightly over Plymouth Street. The building would be faced primarily with castin- place concrete, and its base and entrance would be built with CorTen steel, which forms a rust-like patina as it ages. (read more…)