Brooklyn is no doubt seeing a boom in residential construction across much of the borough. Places like Downtown Brooklyn, Prospect Heights, and as far south as Coney Island are witnessing major transformations in the form of new skyscrapers and multi-building master plans bringing thousands of new market-rate and affordable units to the New York City real estate market. One neighborhood in particular, Gowanus, is just beginning to undergo a huge explosion of new housing and commercial space, thanks to the successful rezoning around the Gowanus Canal. Plans call for over 8,000 new residences with about 3,000 being dedicated to affordable housing. Below are five examples of projects that will make Gowanus into the next vibrant Brooklyn residential neighborhood.
1) 420 Carroll Street
420 Carroll Street, designed by FXCollaborative and developed by The Domain Companies, is a two-tower project rising 20 and 15 stories high with the tallest being 224 feet in height. Work has already topped out and stands as the current tallest structures in Gowanus. These buildings will bring 360 units with 25 percent set aside for affordable housing, as well as 27,500 square feet of retail space and 7,700 square feet of "Gowanus Mix" space pursuant to the 82-block rezoning of the district. There will also be a waterfront esplanade designed by Scape. Work is slated for completion in the spring of 2025.
2) Society Brooklyn and Sackett Place
Another two-tower mixed-use residential project is taking shape at Society Brooklyn and Sackett Place, a pair of 21-story residential buildings at 267 Bond Street and 498 Sackett Street. Designed by SLCE Architects and developed by Property Markets Group, there will be 594,000 square feet of newly built space with 517 residential units and 52,000 square feet of commercial space.
267 Bond Street at the northern end of the site is planned to span 364,000 square feet and yield 344 residential units and 32,000 square feet of commercial space, while 498 Sackett Street is planned to yield 230,000 square feet with 173 units and approximately 20,000 square feet of commercial space.
Both towers will rise from brick-clad podiums topped with landscaped amenity decks, and feature dark glass curtain walls across all four sides. There will also be identical glass-clad mechanical bulkheads at the top of each building. A public waterfront esplanade spanning nearly 20,000 square feet will feature raised garden beds, wooden tables and seating, and plentiful landscaping lining the eastern side along the Gowanus Canal.
Completion is expected by the end of next year or early 2025 at the very latest.
3) 300 Nevins Street
Another project along the Gowanus Canal will be 300 Nevins Street, the site of a two-building residential project designed by Fogarty Finger and developed by Charney Companies and Tavros Capital. The 600,000-square-foot complex will occupy a 2.3-acre full-block property and yield 654 rental units with 25 percent designated as affordable housing, as well as ground-floor retail space and a public waterfront esplanade designed by James Corner Field Operations.
The two tallest components both rise from multi-story podiums and are largely enclosed in brick, with a distinctive wide fenestration of floor-to-ceiling windows with arched frames. The podiums feature tighter window grids and incorporate sloped edges and curved corners that meet the bottom of their main towers. Both buildings feature landscaped outdoor terraces atop their podiums and upper setbacks that will provide views overlooking the Gowanus Canal. Official measurements have yet to be disclosed, though the rendering shows the structures standing 22 and 17 stories tall, each is a tower on a podium.
300 Nevins Street set the record for the largest residential development deal in New York City in 2021, when Property Markets Group sold the 101,118-square-foot plot to the current developers for $102 million. Brokerage firm TerraCRG successfully closed the transaction by January 2022. The zoning allows for 505,590 square feet of buildable square feet, and the development will include 225 feet of frontage along Carroll and Union Streets, 450 feet along Nevins Street, and 450 feet along the Gowanus Canal.
Completion is slated for the spring of 2026.
4) Majestic (540 DeGraw Street)
Majestic is planned to become a 12-story residential building at 540 DeGraw Street designed by Handel Architects and developed by Domain Companies, Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Urban Investment Group, Vorea Group, and Mega Development. The upcoming 146-foot-tall structure will span 244,882 square feet and yield 268 rental units with an average scope of 861 square feet, as well as 13,929 square feet of retail and office space and 45 enclosed parking spaces. Twenty-five percent of the apartments will be designated for affordable housing. Future Green Studio is the landscape designer.
Majestic's pouer cladding will consist of red bricks, with cutouts for the tight window grid surrounded by dark gray paneling. A setback volume enclosed in gray corrugated metal breaks up the massing and extends from the main entrance to the highest point of the structure. The building is shown with landscaped terraces on the upper levels, and new tree-lined sidewalks wrapping around its base.
Majestic is aiming for LEED Platinum certification and is slated to be completed in March 2025.
5) 585 Union Street
Our last project on the list is 585 Union Street, an upcoming nine-story residential building designed by Fogarty Finger and developed by Tavros Capital, Charney Companies, and Canyon Partners. The ground-up 95-foot-tall structure will span a total of 167,000 square feet and yield 214 rental units in studio to three-bedroom layouts, with 25 percent designated as affordable housing, as well as 8,900 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.
The main rendering of 585 Union Street shows a wavy pleated wall structure and a façade composed of light-hued stone framing floor-to-ceiling windows. A setback above the seventh story makes way for terrace space, followed by a more conventional massing clad in dark metal paneling up to the flat parapet. The ground-floor frontage will feature larger windows topped with canopies matching the undulating shape of the building above.
Select units on the fourth and eighth floors will come with private terraces. Residential amenities will include a fitness center, a shared outdoor roof deck, a swimming pool, and parking for up to 72 vehicles. The closest subway from the property is the R train at the Union Street station along 4th Avenue.
Construction is expected to be finished in the spring of 2025.
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