Williamsburg Adaptive Reuse Near Completion
The Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn has been a residential hotspot for some time now—ever since Brooklyn was discovered by hipsters and people tired of paying Manhattan rents—and the latest of a swarm of recent residential developments, 172 North 10th St., is nearly finished. The project is an adaptive reuse.
By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor
New York—The Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn has been a residential hotspot for some time now—ever since Brooklyn was discovered by hipsters and people tired of paying Manhattan rents—and the latest of a swarm of recent residential developments, 172 North 10th St., is nearly finished. The project is an adaptive reuse.
The three-story building at 172 North 10th St. housed manufacturing businesses for many decades. Now the building, originally constructed in 1920 as residential space, is being transformed back, into a collection of 14 loft condo residences designed by Gene Kaufman Architect P.C. (GKA).
According to GKA founder Gene Kaufman, the project was an opportunity to convert a manufacturing building that retains its original residential character on the street back to residential use, “completing a life cycle transformation of the property and cementing the roots of this neighborhood, which is simultaneously marginalized industrial and the epicenter of cool.”
When completed early this fall, the redevelopment include 12 loft units in the building’s three existing levels, as well as two duplex penthouses that will be comprise a new rooftop addition offering views of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Construction on the project is more than 80 percent finished.
On the whole, Brooklyn’s an epicenter of demand for condos, which is pushing prices up, though not to Manhattan levels just yet. According to Elliman, the average sales price for a Brooklyn condo in Q1 2014 was more than $681,000, up 7.3 percent from the same quarter in 2013. During the first quarter of this year, Brooklyn condos stayed on the market an average of 131 days after listing; a year ago, it was 160 days.
GKA is no stranger to residential projects in Brooklyn since the firm’s founding more than 25 years ago. Among other designs, it’s done work on the McCarren Hotel & Pool, the Decora and the Lucent, all in the Williamsburg neighborhood, as well as other Brooklyn projects such as Luxe 226, The Dunham and The Rialto.
