Features
Peter Poon Architects (PPA) gives us our first conceptual look at a mixed-use development planned for a full-block parcel along the Greenpoint waterfront. The owner of the two-parcel site is Brooklyn-based investor Miriam Chan under the LLC, Java Street Realty, Inc., and she is spearheading another development a few blocks north at 161 West Street/53 Huron. The site, bounded by the East River to the west, currently holds a collection of one- and two-story industrial buildings dating to the early 1930's, back when New York's manufacturing sector was still in its heyday. Land maps from the period show that the block held lumberyards, and others were also located near the site. The lumberyards are now gone, and each of those lots are earmarked for mixed-use complexes in various stages of development.
PPA's recently updated website shows a handful of renderings depicting a single 40-story tower rising from the the northwest quadrant of the site, and a series of interconnecting low-rises encircling a central courtyard.
The tower, sheathed in glass and masonry, resembles a stack of Tetris blocks nearing game over. The slab appears to rise at or near the district's height limit of 400 feet, and cut-outs in its mass incorporate double-height terraces and open areas throughout. The low-rise wings, rising 3-8 stories, are covered in glass and according to PPA, are scaled to "relate to the lower building heights of the neighborhood." As with many waterfront sites with high water tables and at serious risk of flooding, the parking garage is located above grade,"forming the innards of a raised courtyard and base of landscaped roofs."
The Java Street development is located one block south of the East River Ferry landing and like all of Williamsburg and Greenpoint's waterfront developments, the 2005 rezoning of the area prescribes that the East River shoreline be fronted by open space and a public esplanade. The Bloomberg administration rezoned 180 blocks of a two-mile stretch of Brooklyn's East River waterfront to encourage the creation of thousands of new housing units on formerly derelict or underutilized land. Now, nearly every parcel in Greenpoint is now earmarked for development. Across India street, RedSky Capital and JZ Capital Partners are planning to develop a 40-story mixed-use tower at 18 India Street. Other plans include Chetrit Group and Clipper Equity's 77 Commercial Street, Brookfield Property Partners and Park Tower Group 22-acre Greenpoint Landing, and Mack Real Estate and Palin Enterprises' now-rising 10 Huron Street.