[sparkling]

1,000-Foot Tower Is Probably Coming to Downtown Brooklyn

Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Zoe Rosenberg

Downtown Brooklyn might be getting its own 1,000-plus-foot tower. Developers Michael Stern of JDS Development and Joe Chetrit of Chetrit Group have been trying for a while now to cobble together development rights for a major project on the small triangular block bounded by Flatbush Avenue Extension, Dekalb Avenue, and Fleet Street. With news that Stern's forked over $90 million for the landmarked Dimes Savings Bank and its 300,000 square feet of development rights on that very block, it looks like the duo have something up their sleeves. According to Crain's, the developers have now amassed about 600,000 square feet of development rights, or enough square footage to erect a building on par in height with the Empire State Building.

Chetrit and Stern purchased a small triangular site on the block at 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension in June of 2014 for $43 million, with initial plans to erect a 775-foot-tall tower designed by SHoP Architects. It looks like the developers put the kibosh on that project, as they continued to seek air rights surrounding the site after those initial permits were filed. In September, Chetrit and Stern—and everyone else who made multi-million dollar offers—were turned down by the family that owns Junior's Most Fabulous Cheesecake and Deserts, who briefly put their Flatbush Avenue Extension storefront on the market before deciding that tradition trumps dollars.

Because of the 150-year-old bank's landmarked status, it won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Crain's suggests that it might become high-end retail space related to the project, or perhaps be incorporated as lobby space alongside a new tower in a way similar to how Stern is incorporating the landmarked interior of the former Steinway & Sons showroom at his tower at 111 West 57th Street.

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2015/0...n_brooklyn.php