Downtown Brooklyn

Sale of Dime Savings Bank Officially Closes: Brooklyn, Prepare for Your Tallest Tower Yet

It’s a done deal: Downtown Brooklyn’s neo-Classical Dime Savings Bank has officially sold to developers Joe Chetrit and Michael Stern for $90,000,000. The 100,000-square-foot individually landmarked Roman temple look-alike at 9 DeKalb Avenue most recently housed a JPMorgan Chase branch, until the bank put the building up for a sale a year ago. While Chetrit and…

by Hannah Frishberg

12/24/2015 2

Dime Savings Bank Brooklyn Sold -- Chetrit and Stern Close the Deal — Joe Chetrit of Chetrit Group (left) and Michael Stern of JDS Development (right). Chetrit photo via DNA, Stern photo via JDS Development

It’s a done deal: Downtown Brooklyn’s neo-Classical Dime Savings Bank has officially sold to developers Joe Chetrit and Michael Stern for $90,000,000.

The 100,000-square-foot individually landmarked Roman temple look-alike at 9 DeKalb Avenue most recently housed a JPMorgan Chase branch, until the bank put the building up for a sale a year ago. While Chetrit and Stern entered contract for the landmark this summer, the purchase was completed Wednesday, Crain’s reported.

Rendering via SHoP Architects — Rendering of tower planned at 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension via SHoP Architects

In addition to its Classical charm and domed ceilings, the Dime Savings Bank also comes with 300,000 square feet of air rights for the adjacent 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension, which Stern and Chetrit bought for $43,500,000 in June 2014.

Now the duo can move forward with their plan to build Brooklyn’s tallest tower and the tallest city building outside of Manhattan, a 1,000-foot-tall finger building. The intimidating spire will include 550 residential units across 466,000 square feet with 140,000 square feet of commercial space on the lower floors, according to permits.

Photo via Google Maps. — Photo via Google Maps

It will be designed by SHoP Architects, the busy firm behind many of Brooklyn’s other large developments — from the Domino Refinery Buildings and Barclays Center to residential structures within Pacific Park/Atlantic Yards — whose renderings for 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension show a somewhat menacing, spear-like structure with a predictably glassy facade full of dark vertical lines.

Stern is no newcomer to the uber-tall: He is responsible for the 1,400-foot-high Manhattan tower rising on West 57th Street along Billionaire’s Row. Chetrit, of Chetrit Group, is similarly used to working on a big scale, having formerly bought and renamed Chicago’s Sears Tower and currently planning a condo conversion of Manhattan’s Sony Tower.

Composite image of Joe Chetrit, Michael Stern, and 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension. — The two developers in front of 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension

Purchasing the Savings Bank was Chetrit and Stern’s plan B after their offer to buy neighboring Junior’s Cheesecake was rejected. While the duo has now succeeded in acquiring the century-old stunner’s transferable development rights, they will not be able to significantly alter the bank itself, due to its landmark status.

The Dime Savings Bank may become a grand entrance to the adjoining super-tower, according to Crain’s. Besides its use as a possible doorway to Brooklyn’s highest home, it is unclear what Chetrit and Stern will do with the beauty.