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Pratt designs bigger future in Brooklyn

524 Myrtle Ave., Courtesy of WASA-Studio A

The Pratt Institute plans to break ground on a new LEED-certified mixed-use building in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighborhood, as the art and design school looks to expand.

In March, Pratt expects to begin building a 120,000-square-foot building at 524 Myrtle Avenue, between Emerson Place and Hall Street, said Mara McGinnis, school spokeswoman. The vacant site is one block from the main campus.

Pratt needs more space and will use the new building to house several academic programs, administrative offices and 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

Pratt co-owns the property with the original owner, who will lease out the retail space. The school will own and operate floors two through six. Pratt will foot the entire $50 million construction bill.

The school hopes to achieve one of Brooklyn's first gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) designations from the U.S. Green Building Council. Green features might include a landscaped roof to help insulate the building and prevent water runoff, and a geothermal climate control system. Construction is expected to be completed by summer 2009.

Two years ago, Pratt opened a bookstore down the block at 550 Myrtle Avenue at the corner of Emerson Place. The 15,000-square-foot Prattstore sells school books and trade books, magazines and journals to students and members of the community. The building is five times the size of the previous school store and also has a 750-square-foot exhibition and retail space.

With an eye toward further expansion, the school is likely to build a residence hall for 132 graduate students on Grand Avenue in the next three to five years, McGinnis said. Fifty graduate students are already housed at Grand Avenue Residence, in space that Pratt leases at 100 Grand Avenue. Only five percent of the school's 1,636 graduate students live in campus housing, while 47 percent of 2,980 undergraduates live in student housing.

Pratt is also planning to build a new student center in the next five to seven years on its main Brooklyn campus at 200 Willoughby Avenue.

And, as reported by Brownstoner, the school plans to convert 27 landmarked houses on Willoughby Avenue from faculty residences to student housing, contingent on faculty union approval and having an available $12 million.

Pratt was founded in 1877 and has 25 acres in the Clinton Hill area, as well 80,000 square feet in a seven-story building at 144 West 14th Street in Manhattan.