A Developer Is Slowly Buying Up an Entire Prominent Block In Downtown Brooklyn

For months, green construction scaffolding has been wrapped around a triangular block of buildings in Downtown Brooklyn. Will there soon be another tower sprouting up in the neighborhood that is fast becoming a forest of high rises?

The answer is yes, from the looks of it. Developer RedSky Capital has been slowly acquiring all the lots on the block, which fronts Fulton Street, Dekalb Avenue, Flatbush Extension and Bond Street. They currently own 14 of the 16 lots on the block, for which they have paid somewhere around $112 million to date.

Demolition permits have been filed for all the properties on the block owned by RedSky.

One holdout remains. Lewis Barbanel of Barberry Rose Management currently owns two of the lots, located at 559 and 563 Fulton Street, the latter of which is currently occupied by Duane Reade. “The building is a long term family asset,” said Barbanel in an email. “We have no plans at this time to sell it. The asset produces income that all partners are happy with.”

RedSky has plans for a project called Fulton Mall on their website, but no further information. CityRealty published what are allegedly renderings for the project back in January, claiming they were for this site.

The renderings show a tower of roughly 50 stories, with a larger four-story base at the bottom. It’s a rectangular shape that has been twisted at different parts in its elevation, breaking its uniformity and giving it a jagged look.

If built, the tower will join a cavalcade of soaring buildings in Downtown Brooklyn, including the 70-story supertall at 9 Dekalb Avenue, which is currently under construction across the street, and City Point at 445 Albee Square West. The third City Point tower, the 68-story Brooklyn Point, is nearing completion and visible from all over the borough.

Slated to be torn down are three cast-iron Italianate storefronts at 567-571 Fulton Street, built circa 1870. “These buildings are living on death row, as this site is a prime development area for the New Brooklyn,” wrote Brownstoner columnist Suzanne Spellen of the trio back in 2014.

RedSky, of course, is the real estate developer that has been snapping up strategically placed plots in Williamsburg, such as Brooklyn’s first Apple store, and elsewhere in the borough. Representatives for RedSky Capital did not respond to a request for comment.

[Photos by Susan De Vries unless noted otherwise]

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