GreenbergFarrow to Design Warehouse-Inspired Condo Project

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Developer Steiner NYC has chosen GreenbergFarrow, an architectural, planning, engineering and development consulting firm based in New York, to design a warehouse-inspired condominium and townhouse project in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. GreenbergFarrow will transform the long-shuttered site of the Old Dutch Mustard Co.  into 80 Metropolitan, a six-story building with 114 lofts and nine three-story townhouses. “80 Metropolitan will incorporate many forward-looking design elements but will at the same time incorporate the character of the neighborhood, which was once dominated by factories and warehouses,” Navid Maqami, AIA, NCARB, LEED, principal of architecture at GreenbergFarrow, tells MHN.Located at the corner of Metropolitan and Wythe Avenues, the building will be topped by 24 rooftop cabanas available for purchase by individual homeowners. The loft condominiums range in size from 529-sq.-ft. studios to 1,483-sq.-ft. three-bedroom units. The townhouses have more than 2,000 sq. ft., with three bedrooms, private backyards and second floor terraces. Prices range from $425,000 to $1.635 million.The factory has been vacant for more than 20 years and Steiner purchased the site in 2006. The company hoped to incorporate the factory directly into the new development’s design plans. But after weighing construction code issues, handicapped access, and several design schemes created by GreenbergFarrow, the company decided to build from the ground up and create a residential complex that would capture the neighborhood’s historic architectural style motif.  “We tried really hard to see if we could build around the existing construction, but it was not possible,” says Maqami. 80 Metropolitan is expected to be ready for occupancy in early 2009.