80 Metropolitan Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 80 Metropolitan Avenue by Carter Horsley

The handsome, 6-story residential condominium building at 80 Metropolitan Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn is an impressive, solid mass of blue masonry with punched, multi-paned windows.

It has 114 loft apartments and 9 townhouse units.

The building, which was erected in 2008, is FHA approved for mortgages.

The building was designed by Greenburg Farrow Architects for Steiner Equities.

The site, which is bounded by Wythe and Kent Avenue and N 1st Street, was formerly occupied by an Old Dutch Mustard factory.

It is a short walk to the East River State Park, Bedford Avenue shopping and dining and the L subway line.

Bottom Line

This attractive residential condominium building is close to the East River State Park in Williamsburg and convenient to shopping and dining two blocks away on Bedford Avenue and the L subway line.

Description

A blue-brick building with a two-story corner entrance.

Amenities

The building has a full-time doorman, a concierge, a live-in superintendent, a full-time porter, a garage, a gym, a swimming pool, a roof garden with 29 cabanas, a bicycle room, cold storage, private storage, a courtyard and is pet-friendly.

Apartments

Apartment ceilings are almost 10 feet high.

Kitchens have Liebherr refrigerators, Bosch gas ranges and ovens, Blanco kitchen sinks, Caesar stone countertop and stone tile backsplashes.

Baths have Toto toilets, Zuma tubs and Robern mirrored medicine cabinets.

The townhouse units are on North First Street and each has a private backyard with wooden decks and direct access to underground parking.

Townhouse D is a four-level unit with a two-step-up entrance next to the front yard to a 22-foot-long living/dining room with an open kitchen with an island and a wood deck next to a 34-foot-long backyard on the first floor, two bedrooms with a terrace on the second level, a master-bedroom on the third floor and a 14-foot-long recreation room and a parking space in the cellar.

Apartment E on the second through the fifth floors is a 537-square-foot studio with a 20-foot-long studio space and a pass-through kitchen.

Apartment 3K is a three-bedroom unit with a 28-foot-long living/dining room and a pass-through kitchen.

Penthouse A is a three-bedroom unit with a 20-foot-long living/dining room with a pass-through kitchen and a 63-foot-long terrace.

Penthouse B is a three-bedroom unit with a 32-foot-long living/dining room with a pass-through kitchen and a 60-foot-long terrace.

Penthouse T is a three-bedroom unit with a 17-foot-long living/dining area with an pass-through kitchen and a 34-foot-long terrace.

History

When he was planning the project, developer Donald Steiner brought an old warehouse at 51 North 1st Street where Elizabeth Streb, a choreographer and dance studio operator, had several years remaining on her lease. The developer initially planned to raze the building but agreed to sell it to Ms. Streb minus its backyard, which he decided he needed for 80 Metropolitan.  The Streb Lab for Action Mechanics in the building works with Cirque de Soleil and trapeze artists.

Mr. Steiner is the chairman of Steiner Studios, a large production facility for making movies in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

He purchased the old factory in 1906 when it had been vacant for three decades.