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184 Kent: Renting luxury in Williamsburg

Williamsburg's 184 Kent Street

The developers of 184 Kent, the high-end rental building about to open in Williamsburg, will be hitting the streets of the Lower East Side in a van, looking to take well-to-do hipsters to the Brooklyn waterfront.

They won't actually be driving them there. But the idea is to troll for arty, young Lower East Side-type professionals where they live and hang out, parking the van -- plastered in ads based on the quirky "WilliamsburgLove" mock dating site -- in front of popular clubs.

"We're looking at the Avalon Bowery project on Chrystie Street in the Lower East Side as comparables," says Jason Halpern, managing partner of the building's owner, JMH Development.

With rental prices at a 15 to 20 percent discount off Downtown Manhattan rents, "we think we will have a significant demand both from Manhattan and throughout Brooklyn," Halpern says.

The project, a conversion of a historic early-1900s industrial building, was originally supposed to go condo, but switched gears when the market turned. It is now getting ready to begin leasing its 340 loft apartments.

Williamsburg has become the poster child for the oversupply of residential inventory in New York City after developers rushed to get projects built and then got slammed when the market turned. Sales have not been pretty for newly opened condos, including those at the Edge and Northside Piers, 184 Kent's high-profile neighbors along the waterfront.

And while the rental market has been ticking up since June, the competition among rental buildings will likely get tougher as failed condo projects are forced to lease their units.

According to StreetEasy, Toll Brothers' Northside Piers has already rented 37 of its apartments and has five listed for rent.

Still, Halpern insists that 184 Kent is uniquely positioned.

"We think we will have it fully leased in eight to 10 months," says Halpern, citing the smack-on-the-river location and the building's 14,000-square-foot condo-style amenity space as selling points.

"But the real story here," adds Bob Scaglion, senior managing director of residential marketing for Rose Associates, which is marketing 184 Kent, the first in its portfolio of upscale rental buildings to be located outside of Manhattan, "is the history of the building."

One of the first reinforced concrete structures in the U.S., the 425,000-square-foot building was built for a hefty $1.1 million in 1915 for Austin, Nichols & Company, one of the largest wholesale grocers in the country at the time. The company wanted to relocate to Williamsburg from Lower Manhattan to gain direct waterfront access for shipping goods.

Architect Cass Gilbert, famous for the 57-story Woolworth Building, the tallest building in the world at the time, was employed to design the structure. Cantilevered over the East River and large enough to run a train through its center, the structure on Kent Avenue matched the vertical achievement of the Woolworth Building in sheer massive sturdiness.

The building is significant to architectural historians as a bridge between the architectural styles of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its on-again, off-again landmark status is another story (see The Real Deal's February 2006 issue, "Battle Over 184 Kent").

The Kastenburg family, the previous owners, purchased the building in 2000, fixed it up as a rental and began leasing apartments. In 2004, as the real estate market was heating up, the family began emptying the apartments, with a vision of building additions and converting it into a condo.

A fight with the City Council and the city Landmarks Preservation Commission, which recommended landmarking the building, ensued. Although the remaining tenants of the building joined with preservationists and the local community to back the landmarking, the Kastenburgs won the City Council to their side.

Enter JMH Development. The Manhattan-based development company bought the building in 2006 with plans to build their own version of a condo. But they switched gears when the real estate market began to shift. Sensing the impending collapse of the for-sale market in the city, JMH figured a high-end rental was their best bet, and brought in SLCE Architects to design the conversion, with Slate Architects handling interior finishes.

Halpern says they had always intended to restore the building's original bones. And, while penciling out the conversion, they made a deal with the New York State National Preservation Office to place the building under the auspices of the National Park Service in exchange for tax benefits.

The developer was allowed to build a 25,000-square-foot addition to the top of the structure, which will house about 20 of the 340 apartments, including several "premium" units with outdoor space.

Prior to construction, JMH gutted the entire building, leaving a 20,000-square-foot opening in the center, which will contain a dramatic interior courtyard. It will add value to the interior apartments, which will overlook the landscaped space through oversize windows, says Halpern. The 340 loft-style apartments will have 12- to 15-foot ceilings, high-end finishes and a washer and dryer.

The building will have a 24-hour doorman, full-service concierge and a 250-car garage with a valet for an additional fee.

The two-level, 14,000-square-foot amenity area will feature a library, fitness center overlooking the river and skyline, social lounge, children's playroom, billiards room and TV lounge. The building's 18,000 square feet of retail space will go to one tenant, a grocer, Halpern said.

Studios will rent for somewhere in the $1,800 to $2,100 range, says Scaglion. One bedrooms will go for between $2,600 to $3,000 and two-bedrooms will be priced from $3,600 to $4,000. The price of the three-bedrooms has not yet been disclosed.

The most opulent amenity, shared by all the projects on the Williamsburg waterfront, including the Edge and Northside Piers, will be the view of the Manhattan skyline.

But while the neighboring condo buildings are set back, not so for 184 Kent, which is cantilevered over the water, Halpern boasts.

"When you are in an apartment on the western facade of our building, if your windows are open, you hear the water flowing or crashing into the building."