Newly Renamed BKLYN Air Close to Completion

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

New York—Work is nearly complete on BKLYN Air, an apartment development at 309 Gold St. in Downtown Brooklyn. Recently the project was rebranded with that name; it had originally been Oro 2, after the original Oro project at 306 Gold St. “Oro” means “gold” in Spanish.

The 40-story community had originally been slated to start in the late 2000s, but the recession kept the site vacant for a number of years, with construction only beginning in 2012. When complete, the tower will offer 255 rental units, including a mix of one- and two-bedroom units, plus penthouse units.

Common amenities will include a landscaped rooftop, an outdoor terrace, a 50-foot lap pool, a fitness center, yoga room, and a lobby lounge. Residents will also have access to parking. Rents for studios start at $2,315, while one-bedrooms start at $2,950 and two-bedrooms at $3,750. The penthouse units start at $8,500 a month.

The developer, Lalezarian Properties, tapped the NYC-based Ismael Leyva Architects to design both the exterior and interior of the property. Among other design details, the lobby is a combination of Grigio Serpeggiante stone and Traverk Series-Wenge, with custom art work by Amanda Weil and a chandelier by Studio BelVetro. Apartments include polished Calacatta stone bathroom vanities and GE Profile series appliances.

Brooklyn’s rental market still has some momentum. MNS reports that average apartment rents rose in the borough rose 6.8 percent in June 2014 compared with the same month last year, from $2,566 to $2,741. But the focus of the development is shifting: “New building developers are turning their focus away from the saturated markets close to Williamsburg and Downtown Brooklyn in favor of neighborhoods further into the heart of Brooklyn,” MNS’ latest report notes.