Dive Brief:
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The Hudson Companies’ plan for a 36-story, 134-unit condominium building in Brooklyn, NY, is one step closer to reality after the New York City Department of Buildings earlier this week signed off on the demolition of the Brooklyn Heights Library building currently occupying the site, according to The Real Deal.
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The Marvel Architects–designed tower slated for the property at 1 Clinton Street will also include a small library branch and retail space. The developer will also build 114 affordable housing units elsewhere in Brooklyn.
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Opposition to the project is coming primarily from advocates of the library, who are concerned with the historic preservation of key building elements, as well as from observers who allege the city struck a sweetheart deal with Hudson, whose bid came in considerably lower than two others on the project.
Dive Insight:
Construction starts in New York City plunged 22% from 2015 to $32.2 billion in 2016, according to the New York Building Congress, which attributed the drop to a slowdown in residential starts. Still, housing activity in the city in 2016 came in ahead of the annual average for the past five years, indicating that if growth is slowing, it’s only just begun.
The high cost to build as well as to buy or rent in Manhattan is encouraging developers to look to the city’s other boroughs. Among them, Brooklyn has seen considerable construction interest and activity in the last few years and is home to a handful of high-profile residential projects recently opened or in development.
A 363-unit apartment high-rise is one newcomer to the Brooklyn scene. Called 461 Dean, the 32-story tower claims the title of the world’s tallest modular building and is the product of Forest City Ratner Cos.’ recently divested modular construction business.
On the boards in Brooklyn is a 246-acre waterfront development proposed by AECOM this past fall. The project, as planned, would dwarf both Battery Park City and Hudson Yards, in Manhattan. Multiple versions of the project have been put forth, with the most robust projecting up to 45,000 housing units.
In the meantime, Brooklyn can expect its share of high-earning residents to grow. A January report from apartment-listing website RentCafé noted that the borough’s rate of high-income households that rented their homes has more than doubled since 2011.
That jives with a December 2015 report from Axiometrics that forecast Brooklyn to continue to add more rental units to meet that demand, though a more recent survey from StreetEasy notes that as demand for housing outside of Manhattan picks up, so will the cost of for-sale and for-rent housing there.