City Planning OKs Moskovits’ 25 Kent special permit but cans Williamsburg rezoning proposal

The City Planning Commission blessed developers Toby Moskovits and Rubenstein Partners’ bid for a special permit enabling their planned 400,000-square-foot Williamsburg Generator office complex – but scrapped a rezoning plan that would have facilitated similar office developments in the neighborhood.

Moskovits’ Heritage Equity Partners and Philadelphia-based Rubenstein will next proceed to the City Council for final approval on the special permit, which will allow them to build additional office space at the block-through site at 25 Kent Avenue, located between North 12th and North 13th streets in Williamsburg.

While such a permit is usually provided to developments that include community space like doctors’ offices or schools, Heritage and Rubenstein plan to build 60,000 square feet of light manufacturing space at the eight-story building while using the remaining 340,000 square feet for office and retail, according to Crain’s.

Without the permit, the developers would only have about 160,000 square feet of office space to build at the site.

But the commission discarded a rezoning proposal for the neighborhood, which would have allowed other developers in a 14-block area to upsize their properties without including community space in their plans. Instead, the commission will judge projects on an individual basis. [Crain’s] – Rey Mashayekhi