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…)

Ikea to build a 346,000-square-foot waterfront store in Red Hook. The City Planning Commission approved an application by Ikea Property, Inc., for the development of a 346,000-square-foot furniture store and three ancillary buildings on a 22-acre site along the Red Hook, Brooklyn waterfront. The store, Ikea’s first in New York City, will be its largest store in the United States. The Commission also approved 70,000 sq.ft. of retail and restaurant space and a 6.3-acre public esplanade/bikeway.

Red Hook is primarily zoned M3-1 for heavy manufacturing. Recently, the neighborhood has begun a slow revitalization with the opening of the Community Justice Center in 2000 and with increasing private renovations to its residential and neighborhood retail buildings. (read more…)