Wythe Confectionery Apartments Completed in Brooklyn
New York--Caro Enterprises has completed work on the 69-unit Wythe Confectionery apartment property (390 Wythe Ave.) in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The project, which originally started as condos, is an adaptive reuse of a former factory.
By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor
New York—Caro Enterprises has completed work on the 69-unit Wythe Confectionery apartment property (390 Wythe Ave.) in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The project, which originally started as condos, is an adaptive reuse of a former factory.
The property features studio, one- and two-bedroom loft apartments. Amenities include bike storage, on-site parking and a roof deck. The apartments went on the market this February, and now have all been leased, which tends to indicate demand for apartments in an historic building in this part of Brooklyn, which borders the East River.
Studios at Wythe Confectionery started at $1,850 a month, while one- and two-bedroom units were listed at $2,650 a month and $3,800 a month, respectively. According to New York residential specialist MNS, the mean rental rate for studios in Williamsburg at the end of the first quarter of 2011 was $2,289. Williamsburg one bedrooms had a mean of $2,793 and the two-bedroom mean was $3,167.
The design and architecture firm Perkins Eastman undertook the redevelopment of the structure, which features exposed brick, original wooden beams and wooden ceilings. Originally built to house the Matchett Candy factory more than 100 years ago, the pine-framed brick building was one of the few candy factories in Williamsburg. According to Perkins Eastman, its goal was to preserve and restore original architectural features as much as possible while reclaiming and reusing materials to use in the project.
Perkins Eastman managed to retain architectural features such as the brick barrel-hinge corner, arched windows and decorative brickwork punctuated with decorative iron ties across the facade. The architect exposed and highlighted brick and timber columns, refurbished cast iron column straps and capitals, and restored and retained the original heavy-timbered plank flooring as ceilings—all combined with modern fixtures and finishes throughout. Other native materials, including extra timbers and slate flooring not used during the restoration, were reclaimed for reuse in the public and shared spaces of the building, which was designed by Visconti Architecture.