Dumbo project to have over 700 luxury apartments

New York

FOR years, a full-block parking lot in Dumbo sat undisturbed, while the waterfront warehouse district around it became a white-hot neighbourhood. Bounded by Front, York, Bridge and Jay Streets, the lot was owned by the Jehovah's Witnesses, which once had extensive real estate holdings in Brooklyn.

Now, it's the site of the neighbourhood's latest amenity-packed large-scale luxury development - Front & York, at 85 Jay Street.

When the religious group was selling off its properties and moving its headquarters upstate a few years ago, a development team including CIM Group, LIVWRK Holdings and Kushner Cos bought the lot with plans for a mixed-use project that "would complement the industrial character of Dumbo", said Jason Schreiber, a principal at CIM. (Kushner last year sold its minority stake and bowed out of the partnership.)

Morris Adjmi Architects, which is known for its sympathetic repurposing of old factories, has designed the building and its interiors.

With the site supplying ample space to work with, the architects opted to set the complex back from its surrounding streets, allowing for wide sidewalks with allées of trees all around, and gave it a squared-donut footprint, with open space at the centre.

Low-rise portions of the complex will be eight storeys - the height, more or less, of the neighbourhood's historic buildings; they will contain 320 rental apartments (available when the project is completed in 2021), a massive state-of-the-art health club run by Life Time and ground-level retail space.

Rising from opposite corners of the complex will be two 21-storey towers housing 408 condos, which will go on sale later this month.

Brown-grey brick will clad the complex, which will also have large windows with divided lights. The Manhattan Bridge, which looms over the neighbourhood, inspired blue-grey metal arches that will embellish the retail spaces.

The condo interiors will feature Venetian plaster and terrazzo for the building lobbies and oak and marble for the kitchens and baths in the apartments.

Most units will have one bedroom, starting at US$945,000 for 631 square feet, or two, from US$1.795 million for 1,126 square feet.

There are 80 units with three bedrooms, from US$2.475 million, and a handful with four bedrooms, from US$5.95 million.

The amenities that the condo towers will share tick all the usual luxury development boxes, from underground parking to an outdoor pool on the roof of a low-rise section that connects the condo towers. A rendering of the latter shows cabanas draped with gauzy fabric that look like they belong on a Caribbean island, not in Brooklyn, steps from the F train, but they reflect the development team's concept of the project as "an urban resort".

More in tune with the local zeitgeist, perhaps, is a 1,700-square-foot co-working area and adjoining coffee bar. "Co-working spaces are more used than regular lounges," said Mr Adjmi, speaking about luxury residences generally.

One amenity you won't find everywhere else - a lush park at the centre of the complex, providing a grove of magnolias, scattered slabs of stone that will serve as benches, and green views from interior windows.

This 25,000-square-foot oasis, open to renters and condo owners, has been designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the landscape architecture firm responsible for Brooklyn Bridge Park, a couple blocks away.

But Scott Streeb, an associate principal at the firm, said he and his colleagues made an effort not to create a mini version of the public space, but rather "a private garden with its own unique character." NYTIMES