Williamsburg, the hipster mecca that’s arisen in a once out-of-the-way enclave in north Brooklyn, is braced for another transformation.
A massive rezoning of nearly 200 blocks has developers turning their thoughts to the East River waterfront, where 90 percent of the apartments have already been sold in the first building under construction as part of a plan to add 2,000 apartments to the area.
It’s a real jolt for the rezoned area, which also includes parts of Greenpoint, transforming it into ritzy riverfront after decades as a desolate industrial zone. Its current features include 23 waste transfer stations, the largest sewage treatment plant on the East Coast, and millions of gallons of spilled oil in groundwater aquifers. Even boosters concede there’s work to be done.
Schaefer Landing in South Williamsburg is the first waterfront development, and units there are fetching average prices of $710 to $750 a square foot. The first phase of the development, a 15-story building with 75 apartments, is sold out, and a 25-story building with 135 apartments had 75 in contract as of mid-August after only eight weeks on the market. Residents should start moving in by year’s end.
Bigger projects are in the works, particularly in North Williamsburg, and developers are eager to alter the local landscape. Between North Fifth and Seventh Streets, Douglaston Development plans a massive complex of about 1,000 market-rate units and 300 or so affordable housing units, all to be known as The Edge, said the company’s principal, Jeff Levine. Construction is expected to begin by next spring.
Features include a waterfront esplanade and water taxi pier at North Sixth Street, a small state park and a 28-acre city park. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has also been considering placing another stop on the L train at about Kent Avenue and North Seventh Street, according to Elan Padeh, president and CEO of the Developers Group, which markets new developments. There will also be 100,000 square feet of retail space as part of the project.
“Our development basically becomes an extension of the spine of chic Williamsburg,” Levine said.
Two blocks south, L & M Equity Participants, one of the developers on Schaefer Landing, is joining RD Management in building about 80 units in a high-rise waterfront building and a low-rise building on Kent Avenue, between North Fourth and Fifth streets.
Another project, a block farther south, will draw on the area’s architectural heritage. The planned conversion of a Cass Gilbert-designed industrial building at 184 Kent Avenue by developer Louis Kestenbaum into about 250 units has attracted the attention of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The developer may have difficulty adding new floors and enlarging the narrow windows of the large white structure.
The fate of the Domino Sugar refinery, which shut down in 2004, remains uncertain. The 11-acre site, just north of the Williamsburg Bridge, has reportedly caught the interest of C.P.C. Resources, the development arm of the Community Preservation Corporation, which finances housing rehabilitation projects, and private developer Isaac Katan. They are seeking to rezone the land from manufacturing to residential.
Success will mark another stage in the riverfront’s transformation, Padeh said.
“Five years from now you won’t recognize the waterfront,” he said. “It should easily get $1,000 to $1,100 a square foot at the end of the day at least 10 to 15 percent more than anything inland.”
Schaefer Landing is attracting buyers from across the river.
“We’re selling to couples, some singles, mainly from Manhattan,” said Douglas Elliman broker Helene Luchnick. “They feel it’s more economical here, and the water attracts them.”
The planned two-mile public esplanade was required by the city as a condition of the rezoning, and will be built by waterfront developers with various subsidies. The development plan calls for the creation of about 49 acres of parkland along the waterfront. Developers who wish to build 40-story buildings must set aside about 20 percent of their development as affordable for low- to moderate-income residents.
Schaefer Landing, built upon the only parcel zoned for high-rise residential on the South Williamsburg waterfront south of Metropolitan Avenue, predates these regulations. It is providing a third tower of affordable housing equivalent to 40 percent of the development, or about 100 apartments, according to marketers.
Gentrification doesn’t sit well with many Williamsburgers, from the long established enclaves of Hasidic Jews to the sizable Puerto Rican and African-American population.
“People who live here now probably displaced a lot of people coming in, so it doesn’t seem like a right or wrong issue to me,” said Patrick Smith, a 29-year-old who recently left the area. “But you never want to see the things around you the smaller things get overwhelmed by lots of money coming in.”
On a sunny August afternoon, Bernard Dupont of Paris stood in a tiny park located in the Domino Sugar refinery parcel, squinting at the Manhattan skyline through a fence topped by curling razor wire.
“We wanted to visit Williamsburg before it was rejuvenated,” said Dupont. “We wanted to see the industries and the smokestack factories that are disappearing.”