NEW YORK | 625 Fulton St | 500 FT | 35 FLOORS

[Hypothalamus]

Another Brooklyn Highrise on the way?


The Brooklyn Paper:

Take a number: Demolition of Downtown DMV building could mean more luxury apartments
BY JAIME LUTZ

Apartments could be coming to Downtown’s office complex — technically, anyway.

The seven-story building at 10 MetroTech Center — which is actually located on Fulton Street, a 10-minute walk from its namesake office tower compound — is undergoing a $8.2-million demolition and the path is clear for its owner, mega-developer Forest City Ratner, to build a residential tower or hotel in its place.

B&R Electronics
“We are currently demolishing the building and will then evaluate our options,” said company spokesman Michael Rapfogel, when asked about the future of the space.

The building previously housed a double-whammy of bureaucratic dread in the form of offices for the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Motor Vehicles. The tear-down started on Nov. 29 and workers have cleared out much of the building’s interior. The structure’s skeleton still stands at 625 Fulton St. near Flatbush Avenue and contractors are now ripping out plumbing and partitions, according to Department of Buildings records.

Under the lot’s current zoning, it could become an office tower, an apartment high-rise with ground-floor retail, or a hotel, and a real estate expert says the latter two are the more lucrative options.

“The best and highest use for the space is a hotel, or residential and retail if permitted,” said Chris Havens, a commercial broker with aptsandlofts.com.

Forest City is currently in default on a $40-million mortgage for the building, but it is not in immediate danger of foreclosure. It has two years to pay back the lender, which it might do with the cash it brings in from redeveloping the lot.

If the complex goes non-commercial, it will be the latest in a long line of Downtown facilities to make the switch from office space to retail or luxury residential digs, including the Municipal Building, the bottom two floors of which are now being leased to stores, and the former Board of Education building at 110 Livingston St., which is now apartments with a performing arts space downstairs.

Google Snapshot:
Green Marker is the building being demo'd...


Google Maps

[Crawford]

Notice there are three low-rise 60's office buildings in that pic at the corner of Flatbush and Fulton, and all were included in the upzoning a few years ago.

This is the first of three to go, but I think eventually all three office building sites will be home to highrise residentials. I know one of the two remaining is only offering short-term leases and has a demolition clause, so you know what that means.

[Tectonic]

This was taken on 12.27.13

[dumbo]

I've said it before but... This area, right along Flatbush is probably the one of the best places for development in the entire city. The best transit options anywhere at Atlantic av, right next to the beautiful brownstone-y parts of Ft Greene, lots and lots of great pubs and restaurants, and Ft Greene park is pretty good.

I just hope they don't waste the opportunity by building something ugly.

[chris08876]

I'd like to see more development along the sides of Prospect Park. That area is very nice. Almost like NY's Hyde Park IMO. Flat bush is beautiful. I'm usually in Manhattan, but I did take a trip one day and walked the length of Flat bush from Prospect Park, and was pleasantly surprised. I hope it becomes a canyon one day of high rises.

[Hypothalamus]

Here's some zoning information I found. I'm not sure what it all means, so maybe somebody more familiar with zoning rights could fill me in!

Forest City, Avoiding Default on 10 MetroTech, Will Demo for Residential
BY NORMAN ODER 6/05/2013 2:24PM

....
They decided, LaRue recounted, that the best use was to “take the building down. It has zoning in place that we can convert that building to residential property.”

LaRue did not provide details on the size of the build, but, according to the city’s zoning map, the C6-4 zoning at the site offers an FAR (Floor Area Ratio) of 10, though 80 DeKalb likely used some of the overall parcel’s available development rights. Nor did he mention whether Forest City’s new factory for modular construction, established in the Navy Yard in partnership with Skanska to build towers for Atlantic Yards, would be used.
.....

[Fardeb]

It would seem at least on paper something rather tall could go here, although like that article said 80 DeKalb could have used some of its rights.

There are tons of 300-550ft towers going up all over that general area, it would need to be 600 + to be impressive.

[Tectonic]

Originally Posted by chris08876

I'd like to see more development along the sides of Prospect Park. That area is very nice. Almost like NY's Hyde Park IMO. Flat bush is beautiful. I'm usually in Manhattan, but I did take a trip one day and walked the length of Flat bush from Prospect Park, and was pleasantly surprised. I hope it becomes a canyon one day of high rises.

I live in that area along the park and while some sites can be redeveloped, I will not like to see a bunch of high rises exceeding 10 floors. Downtown Brooklyn south to to Atlantic Yards has better transit, that area should be maximized, commercial and residential. The B, Q, 2, 3, 4 & 5 trains are already crowded.

[dc_denizen]

this area (basically Grand Army Plaza to Barclays to BAM to Fulton market to DT Brooklyn) has the potential to evolve into the most interesting neighborhood in NYC, let alone Brooklyn.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by tubeworm

Here's some zoning information I found. I'm not sure what it all means, so maybe somebody more familiar with zoning rights could fill me in!

I would expect something of at least 30 floors, maybe as high as 50 or so.

Originally Posted by Tectonic

This was taken on 12.27.13

There are so many parking lots and garages in that area that are slated for development, and more will follow so long as the boom continues.

Originally Posted by dumbo

This area, right along Flatbush is probably the one of the best places for development in the entire city. The best transit options anywhere

Usually when people think of urban living in New York (outside of highrise living), this side of Brooklyn is what comes to mind. I always think of Brooklyn as the most "New York" of the boroughs,
it has everything the other boroughs have, though Queens is waking up to its potential.

Originally Posted by chris08876

I'd like to see more development along the sides of Prospect Park. That area is very nice.

It is indeed, though exactly how much development can take place is likely limited.


psweeting

[Hypothalamus]

Brownstoner:

MetroTech Building on Fulton Partially Demolished to Make Way for Apartments

by Rebecca
05/12/14 10:45am

Demolition is well under way at Forest City Ratner’s 10 Metrotech Center, where the Dekalb side of the building has been reduced to rubble. The 359,000-square-foot building will be replaced by apartments, but no new building permits have been filed. Forest City Ratner has owned 1960s-era property at 625 Fulton Street, a former candy factory, since 1989.

[chris08876]

Forest City Ratner aims to sell Brooklyn site for $185M — or find partner

Forest City Ratner is at a fork in the road with respect to its development site at 625 Fulton Street. Either the firm will sell the plot, which is asking $185 million, or it will find a development partner to construct a residential tower.

CBRE Group is marketing the site located between Hudson Avenue and Rockwell Place. It can accommodate over 600,000 squaree feet of residential development, Crain’s reported.

The asking price boils down to $300 per foot. Crain’s sources indicated the average Downtown Brooklyn asking price is $50 higher, however. That means the plot could sell for much more than its ask.

==========================
http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/10/....VWZxNKOk.dpuf

[NYguy]

Forest City Ratner is at a fork in the road with respect to its development site at 625 Fulton Street. Either the firm will sell the plot, which is asking $185 million, or it will find a development partner to construct a residential tower.

If Ratner can't handle it right now, better to let some other developer who can come in or take over the site. It's one of the largest buildable sites in that area, and Brooklyn is booming.

[chris08876]

When I noticed that 600,000 marker, given the area, it will be huge for the borough. Hopefully something goes down on this site because this is a great opportunity. 500 FT + possibly. Its a small site. I think something within the 45-55 floor range could be a possibility.

[chris08876]

Forest City Selling DoBro Site to Rabsky Group for $158M

Forest City Enterprises has reached an agreement to sell its vacant site at 625 Fulton Street to Rabsky Group for $158 million, according to Forest City’s third-quarter earnings report released today.

The site sits between Hudson Avenue and Rockwell Place across from Forest City’s 36-story residential building at 80 DeKalb Avenue, formerly known as 10 MetroTech Center.

Forest City demolished the seven-story, 359,000-square-foot office building at the site in 2013 and had plans to build a residential tower there, as Commercial Observer previously reported. The property was home to the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Motor Vehicles. It was also the site of Barton’s Candy Company, which closed in 1981.

Last year, Forest City was looking for a partner to develop the site which offered 600,000 square feet of buildable space, or was interested in selling it. The company was asking $185 million, according to Crain’s New York Business.

“We remain as bullish as ever on the Brooklyn real estate market as demonstrated by our four residential buildings under construction today at Pacific Park, Brooklyn,” a spokeswoman for Forest City said in an email to CO. “This sale is related to our stated corporate commitment to our shareholders to shore up our balance sheet by enhancing liquidity and delivering through strategic dispositions as [Forest City Enterprises] becomes a [real estate investment trust] on Jan 1, 2016.”

Darcy Stacom and William Shanahan of CBRE represented Forest City in the deal, according to a spokesman for CBRE, who declined to provide further comment further. It wasn’t immediately clear who represented the buyer in the transaction. A representative of Williamsburg-based residential landlord Rabsky Group did not immediately return a request for comment.

Forest City owns a number of properties in Brooklyn, including 1 MetroTech Center and is co-developing Pacific Park, a residential complex which is under construction, with Greenland USA.

=========================
https://commercialobserver.com/2015/...roup-for-158m/

[sparkling]

Forest City Closes $158M Sale of Downtown Brooklyn Development Site

LIAM LA GUERRE
JAN. 26, 2016

Article

[NYguy]

Last year, Forest City was looking for a partner to develop the site which offered 600,000 square feet of buildable space

Very interested to see what gets developed there. It's a great location (they're all great in that area).

[chris08876]

I wouldn't say this "parcel" is canceled just yet. Something may spring up again down the line, but for now, this is crappy news.

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

Rabsky shelves plans for DoBro office tower

Rabsky Group is no longer moving ahead with plans for an office tower at the Downtown Brooklyn site it bought for $158 million, sources told The Real Deal.

The developer bought the site at 625 Fulton Street, which allows for a 625,000-square-foot project as-of-right, from Forest City Ratner in January. It then tapped Eran Chen’s ODA New York to design a 35-story office building. No renderings of the project were released, however, and sources said Monday that Rabsky has decided not to go ahead with the project for now.

The site is zoned for both residential and commercial. Forest City tore down the seven-story office building there in 2013, with plans to construct a residential tower. The real estate investment trust first sought a development partner, but ultimately decided to dispose of the property.
The former building on the site housed such tenants as the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Internal Revenue Service.

The purchase was Rabsky’s largest to date. The Williamsburg-based developer, led by Simon Dushinsky and Isaac Rabinowitz, secured an $80 million acquisition loan from Bank Leumi at the time of the closing in January.

The project also marked the residential-centric developer’s move into office development. Other than the office-and-retail conversion project at 101 Varick Avenue in East Williamsburg and a former minority stake in the early stages of the ground-up Williamsburg office project at 25 Kent Avenue, Rabsky does not have a track record of building office product.

=========================
http://therealdeal.com/2016/10/03/ra...-office-tower/

[PeterQM]

First Renderings of Rabsky Group's Soaring Brooklyn Office Tower Designed by Albo Liberis
December 9, 2016

A large Downtown Brooklyn development site at 625 Fulton Street is slated to receive one of Brooklyn’s largest office buildings. The parcel, bounded by Rockwell Place, Hudson, Fulton, and Lafayette streets, formerly held a drab, seven-story office building which Forest City Ratner razed in 2013. The lot was sold to Brooklyn-based Rabsky Group for $158 million, and a recent article from the Real Deal specifies the developer intends to build a 36-story commercial skyscraper, upwards of 700,000 square feet of leasable space. To garner a tower of that size, Rabsky is in talks with City Planning to take advantage of a plaza bonus.

More info and images in the post here.

[yankeesfan1000]

That base is amazing. Nice to see Brooklyn get more and more big, new office buildings.