Milk Factory, 850 Metropolitan Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 850 Metropolitan Avenue by Carter Horsley

This handsome, 5-story building at 850 Metropolitan Avenue between Orient Avenue and Olive Street in East Williamsburg was built in 1920 and converted by Boaz Gilad to a condominium in 2020.  It has 34 apartments. 

The building was formerly a three-story Borden Milk distribution facility and the new four-story project is appropriately named the Milk Factory. 

The building was designed by RoArt, which is headed by Ran Oron and which has added a modern fourth floor. 

The site is two blocks away from the Graham Avenue L subway station.

Bottom Line

A pleasant low-rise building known as the Milk Factory in East Williamsburg with a handsome sunken courtyard framed by recessed and projecting appropriately white walls.

Description

The beige-colored, U-shaped building has a dramatic cantilevered fourth floor clad in white. 

The building has an attractive sunken courtyard whose recessed and projecting walls are white and a garden with a mural by a local artist.  A covered community terrace overlooks that courtyards from the second floor.

Amenities

The building has a virtual doorman, a fitness center, a bicycle storage, a roof deck, a double-height lobby lounge with a gas fireplace and a windowed gym.

Apartments

Apartments have oversized industrial windows, 5-inch white-oak floors, recessed light fixtures, Italian cabinetry and Bosch or Sub-zero integrated refrigerators, Wolf gas ranges, Bosch dishwashers and washers and dryers. 

More than half of the units have private outdoor space. 

A fourth-floor, two-bedroom unit gas a 24-foot-long living/dining room next to a kitchen with a breakfast bar and a stairway to a 1,000-square-foot roof terrace. 

A fourth-floor one-bedroom unit has a 16-foot-long living/dining room with a 15-foot-square terrace and an open 12-foot-long open kitchen with an island and a stair to a large roof terrace.