Square-shaped burger aficionados in Clinton Hill can no longer get their fix at White Castle. And those hoping to refuel at the Gulf gas station on the corner of Vanderbilt and Myrtle Avenue will soon be out of luck.
These are just some of the changes coming to Brooklyn’s Myrtle Avenue, which was once nicknamed “Murder Avenue” but is now being rapidly gentrified by a flurry of development projects.
Myrtle Avenue — an 8-mile corridor that cuts through multiple neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens — is slated to add close to 1,200 residential units in the coming years, divided across roughly 10 new projects, according to an estimate by the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership. The wave of new development — including projects from the likes of John Catsimatidis’ Red Apple Group and Madison Realty Capital — will also add more than 50,000 square feet of retail space.
“It’s a win-win area,” Catsimatidis told The Real Deal.
New retail is what the area desperately needs, according to Meredith Phillips Almeida, the executive director of the Myrtle Avenue Business Improvement District.
While there are a number of businesses in the area already, she said, residents want more food establishments, apparel stores and services such as gyms and laundromats.
The BID is also working on a new, 25,000-square-foot pedestrian plaza in the area.
An Associated supermarket will open in Madison Realty Capital’s 504 Myrtle Avenue — the location of the former Pratt Station Post Office and one of two Madison-developed rental buildings. Madison, which also just bought a $45 million office building at Nearby 93 Ryerson Street, close to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, is particularly interested in the area, according to the firm’s co-founder Josh Zegen.
Red Apple is yet to sign a retail tenant at its project, but interest has been strong, according to Catsimatidis.
“Brooklyn has really come around,” he said. “All we have to do is bring back the Brooklyn Dodgers.”
Rendering of 81 Fleet Place
Four buildings by Catsimatidis’ Red Apple Group
Red Apple developed the Andrea at 218 Myrtle Avenue, the first of four buildings across from MetroTech Center, which will include residential units as well as a community supermarket. Dattner Architects designed the 95-unit building. Catsimatidis is building three other buildings, at 81 Fleet Place, 86 Fleet Place and 180 Myrtle Avenue.
All Year Management is developing a 45-unit building at this location, which used to house a Gulf gas station. ODA Architecture’s Eran Chen is designing the project, which will have roughly 41,000 square feet of residential space.
490 and 504 Myrtle Avenue
Madison Realty Capital is bringing more than 200 units to the area. Madison is planning to complete 490 Myrtle Avenue in the next couple of months and launch rentals there. The developer is also building a new tower at the site of the former Pratt Station Post Office at 504 Myrtle Avenue.
525 Myrtle Avenue
This is the former location of Myrtle Car and will house a seven-story mixed use building with 22 units. Manhasset Homes is the developer.
Greystone is bringing a five-story mixed-use residential building to this former White Castle site. The building will include 27 luxury apartments as well as 6,000 square feet of retail space.