Austin Nichols House, 184 Kent Avenue
Between North 3rd Street & North 4th Street
Key Details
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Year Built 1915Building Type CondominiumNeighborhood Williamsburg
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Total Apartments 338Total Floors 7Doorman FT Doorman
Description
This seven-story building at 184 Kent Avenue nine blocks north of the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn was erected in 1915 by Austin, Nichols & Company, one of the leading grocery wholesalers in the country, and it was designed by Cass Gilbert, the architect of the famous Woolworth Building in Lower Manhattan, the former U. S. Customs House at the foot of Broadway, the New York Life Insurance Company tower on Madison Avenue at 26th Street.
According to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, it is “one of the earliest concrete warehouses in the United States designed by a nationally prominent architect.”
The large building was acquired in 1985 by the Kestenbaum and Hirsch families of Williamsburg who obtained a variance in 1999 from the Board of Standards & Appeals to convert the warehouse to about 220 rental apartments designed by Ralf Mayer and Thomas Bargetz.
It was designated an official city landmark in 2005 when a developer planned to add towers to the existing building, whose façade was then patchy with many areas of missing paint, and then the City Council overturned the landmark designation, which led to the Mayor vetoing the action of the City Council, which subsequently voted to override his veto. A December 8, 2005 article by Robin Pogrebin in The New York Times said that “Simcha Fedler, chairman of the council’s landmarks committee,...[declared that] this building is a piece of trash, and it should be knocked down.”
In 2007, the National Trust for Historic Preservation put the Williamsburg waterfront on a list of “most-endangered places” and the property was sold and the new owner, 184 Kent Fee L.L.C., which is also known as JMH Development of which Jason Halpern and Glen Rau are principals, donated a deed of easement, which prohibits destruction of the warehouse and preserves its size and shape so that it could use Historic Preservation tax Credits to renovate the building, an act that curbed.com said in an article January 12, 2009 was “essentially preserving it without landmarking.”
In 2015, JMH Development became partners with Kushner Cos., which is headed by Jared Kushner, LIVWRK, which is headed by Asher Abehsera, and Rockpoint on the project, which calls for a $413.9 million condo conversion according to a May 22, 2105 article by Hana R. Alberts at ny.curbed.com.
The building, which is also known as 1-41 North Street, has Egyptian motifs with a coved, or flaring, cornice, battered walls and narrow window openings.
The building has 338 apartments.
SLCE is the architect for the conversion. Slade Architecture has designed the interiors and SCAPE is the landscape architect for the development.
The building has 17,850-square-feet of 25-foot-high retail space.
Building Amenities
- Concierge
- FT Doorman
- Hi Rise
- Pre War
- Central AC
- Full Service Garage
- Garden
- Health Club
- Intercom
- Pool
- Roof Deck
- Washer/Dryer in building
- Party Room
- Children's Playroom
- Valet Parking
- Lounge
- Fitness Center
