Development

Building Starting to Rise on Prominent Site of Former Printing Plant in Downtown Brooklyn

Once destined for residential, the building will eventually reach 23 stories and have retail on the ground floors and office space above.

by Craig Hubert

08/04/2021 0

Another development suddenly grows in Downtown Brooklyn.

It’s hard to tell exactly how far the building, located at 141 Willoughby Street, has risen: About five stories of the base of the building appear to be framed, but only one part of the stepped-up tower, which will eventually reach 23 stories, has been erected facing Gold Street.

The section looks about nine stories tall so far. During a recent visit, preliminary work was being done on the ground floor.

On a prominent corner of Flatbush Extension, and across the street from the domineering Brooklyn Point development, the site was once home to an early 20th century printing plant, which was demolished at the end of 2018. Now, the new building will have two floors of retail and office space above, according to building permits.

The current plans are roughly half the size of what the developer, Savanna Partners, had originally envisioned. In 2014, there were plans for a proposed 49-story glass tower, which required a zoning variance. The City Council voted to rezone the site but with modifications.

They allowed a FAR of 15, rather than the 18 requested, enough to create a roughly 44-story mixed-use building. The Real Deal reported at the time that the building would include 203 apartments with 61 at below-market rates to comply with the mayor’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. Morris Adjmi was the original architect on the project; SLCE Architects are now the architect of record, while Fogarty Finger is the design architect.

The switch from housing to office, which occurred before the pandemic, was a possible reaction to the glut of luxury housing that was in the process of being completed in the area. Now, with many people still working from home, and return-to-office plans on hold because of the delta variant, it’s unclear how office space will fare.