Developer Seeks Rezoning to Construct Eight-Story Greenpoint Commercial Building

A local developer is asking for a rezoning in order to build an eight-story commercial building in the protected industrial zone on the border of Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

The address is 1 Wythe Avenue, a triangular lot bounded by Wythe, North 15th Street and Banker Street in Greenpoint not far from McCarren Park. According to plans spotted in documents submitted to the Department of City Planning, the building will include a combination of commercial and light manufacturing, office and retail.

While demolition permits were applied for in 2019, an application for new building permits has yet to be filed.

The developer, Schlomo Karpen, is seeking the rezoning to increase the maximum floor area ratio and allow for an adjustment in height and setback regulations. The building will be 80,743 square feet and 110 feet tall, with FAR of 4.8 and space for manufacturing, office and retail. There is currently a one-story manufacturing building on the lot, which is located in the Greenpoint-Williamsburg IBZ.

Although the developer is required under the requested zoning to include 246 parking spaces, the rezoning application states that they want only 71 spaces and are requesting a waiver for the parking. “While the commercial and office market conditions remain unknown for the near future during the pandemic,” the applicant writes, they feel that by the estimated completion date of 2024, “office demand would be comparable to pre-pandemic levels.”

Renderings included in the documents show a triangular-shaped building with a jagged facade that fits the shape of the block. At the tip of the building is what appears to be open space on the fourth floor, with another four stories sprouting from the back of the building facing Wythe. New York-based architecture firm Archimaera is behind the design.

Developer Schlomo Karpen has had some trouble in the past, having had to settle with buyers at his Williamsburg Mews development and making headlines as the landlord of the building rented to the controversial Hotel Toshi at 808 Driggs Avenue.

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