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11-Story Rental Building for 'Young Professionals' Planned in Park Slope

By Leslie Albrecht | December 4, 2013 9:38am
 The new residential building will rise on Fourth Avenue and Douglass Street.
11-Story Apartment Building for 'Young Professionals' Planned in Park Slope
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PARK SLOPE — A father and son development team wants to bring an 11-story apartment building to Fourth Avenue and Douglass Street.

Imran Tahir and his father, Muhammad Tahir, recently filed plans with the city and they're hoping to start construction in 2014.

Two low-rise buildings, 153 and 155 Fourth Avenue, will be demolished to make way for the new highrise, which will have 17 balconied rental apartments with views of either downtown Brooklyn or Prospect Park. The first floor will be a "community facility," most likely a doctor's office, Imran Tahir told DNAinfo.

The two first-time developers have been planning the project, first reported on Brownstoner, for several years, Tahir said.

His father is a primary care physician who sees patients in a storefront office at 153 Fourth Ave. The elder Tahir bought the building back in 1996, and the duo purchased the adjacent building, 155 Fourth Ave., in 2008. They had hoped to launch their development dream back then, but the economic downturn dashed their hopes.

Now the time seems right to try again, Imran Tahir said.

"Brooklyn is definitely an up-and-coming area," said Imran Tahir, a telecom executive who lives in Connecticut. "We're basically hoping to attract young professionals who work either in Brooklyn or in downtown Manhattan."

The two have hired S3 Architecture to design the building, which will have a sleek, modern look. The structure will have plenty of glass, so sunshine can fill the apartments, Tahir said.

Fourth Avenue has seen several taller residential buildings spring up in the last few years, including the nearby Arias, at Butler Street. A new high-end apartment building with a 24-hour concierge recently opened near Sixth Street, and a luxury development is in the works at 275 Fourth Ave. In a new building near Eighth Street, some units rent for $8,500.

Some have decried the thoroughfare's new additions as a "canyon of mediocrity" but Tahir shrugged off the naysayers.

"People are always critical about anything new," Tahir said.