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New York

In Brooklyn, condos lurk in unexpected places

Developers increasingly turning banks, dorms and churches into residential properties

From left: the former Brooklyn Trust Co. bank in Brooklyn Heights, 100 Pierrepont Street and 27 Monroe Place in Brooklyn
From left: the former Brooklyn Trust Co. bank in Brooklyn Heights, 100 Pierrepont Street and 27 Monroe Place in Brooklyn

With very little land available and strict landmark and zoning rules, building new condominium buildings in old neighborhoods is no easy task. So in an effort to circumvent the challenges, developers are instead turning existing structures such as former churches, banks or dorms, into condominiums.

Jared Kushner, for example, is turning three Brooklyn Law School dormitories, at 100 Pierpont Street, 27 Monroe PlaceAnd 38 Monroe Place, into massive homes.

It’s still unclear what Kushner will charge for the homes. The median price of a Brooklyn townhouse, according to the New York Daily News, is about $7 million.

The Stahl Organization is converting the top floors of the former Brooklyn Trust Bank, an Italian Renaissance-style building on the corner of Pierrepont and Clinton Streets.

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“You’d be lucky to find a lot where you can build one or two homes,” developer Roger Fortune of the Stahl Organization told the Daily News. “So you’re seeing developers look to conversions of commercial buildings.”

These creative solutions come as condo sales in the borough have significantly decreased, the Daily News reported. Last year there were about 500 condo sales by developers in Brooklyn, according to data from StreetEasy. In 2012, more than 1,200 condos were sold. Only 21 condos have been sold in Brooklyn so far in 2014.

Across Brooklyn’s prime neighborhoods, 1,163 new condos are slated to open up this year, the Daily News reported, while next year less than 800 are expected. In Manhattan, about 10,000 new condominiums are expected to open up in the coming three years. [NYDN] — Claire Moses

 

 

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Brooklyn HeightsCondosJared Kushner