PARK SLOPE — A residential high-rise with a doorman will replace a half-dozen modest row houses on 11th Street and Fourth Avenue, the developers announced.
Slate Property Group, Adam America Real Estate Group and Naveh Shuster Limited are partnering to construct a 12 to 14-story rental building with retail space on the ground floor, The Real Deal first reported.
Martin Nussbaum, founder of Slate Property Group, told DNAinfo New York that the development will be a "fully amenitized" doorman building designed to meet the needs of residents in both Park Slope and rapidly growing Gowanus.
The building will have about 105 apartments, all of which will be market-rate rentals. It's being designed by Aufgang Architects, Nussbaum said. Slate Property Group is also developing a luxury high-rise that will replace a McDonald's at Fourth Avenue and First Street.
Development along Fourth Avenue has been a hot topic in Park Slope lately, and the Park Slope Civic Council recently surveyed locals about what improvements they'd like to see on the busy street. Many described the avenue as "ugly" and said it needed beautification and a more "active and welcoming" street life.
Nussbaum said the new development at 11th Street was a step in the right direction, because old, "decrepit" buildings would be replaced with new residences and retail businesses that would enliven the streetscape.
"We’re not putting up a glass tower, we're putting in something that’s conforming to the neighborhood," Nussbaum said. "We agree that the avenue needs to beautified, and how that happens is by developers coming in and being thoughtful."
News of the development confirmed what locals have been expecting for about a year now. Neighbors first began suspecting a new development was in the works when a coffee shop on the corner, Cafe 474, closed in February 2013 and was demolished a couple of months later.
Next, news emerged that several other buildings on the corner of Fourth Avenue and 11th Street were set to be torn down, including six row houses. The last resident, a 90-year-old widow who had lived on the block for 43 years, left in the spring of 2013.
In June, the corner lot was put up for sale for $20 million as a "prime corner development site." Slate Property Group, Adam America Real Estate Group and Naveh Shuster Limited bought the parcel for the $20 million asking price and plan to have the new building ready to rent within the next two years, Nussbaum said.
