COBBLE HILL — Community board members asked developers of a two-story retail center in Cobble Hill Thursday to reduce the size of its street-level windows to match existing storefronts in the historic neighborhood.
Community Board 6’s landmarks committee signed off on the red-brick building that’s slated for a vacant lot at 178 Court St., but not before adding a few conditions regarding window designs for developer and property owner Lonicera Partners.
The building is set to feature two floors of retail space at roughly 2,500 square feet each and a cellar that will primarily be used for storage, Robert Bianco, of PKSB Architects, said at Thursday's meeting.
The Court Street side of the building will also hold two commercial entrances, glass storefront windows and signs for the stores that will occupy the space, he said.
But some community board members felt the window sizes on the proposed building’s Court Street face did not fit in with the adjoining storefronts.
“All the other windows are a much smaller scale. It bothers me a little,” said CB6 member Allison Reeves, based on renderings presented at the meeting. “It looks like a Barnes & Noble.”
Since Cobble Hill is a historic district, the project’s team must seek approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission and Board 6’s landmarks committee before construction can begin.
Neither the architect nor the developer commented on the board's conditions Thursday night. The developer also did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
The landmarks committee conditionally approved the project, suggesting that the size of the street-level windows on Court Street be made smaller.
Other conditions included ensuring the color and style of the brick match with the rest of the neighborhood and reducing the height of a rooftop bulkhead so it is less visible from the street.
The committee also recommended adding some detailing to the building’s back wall, which is currently blank.
Jamie Anthony, a principal at Lonicera Partners, said Thursday he anticipated having two tenants in the building.
Anthony told DNAinfo last November that they planned to break ground within the first quarter of 2015 and complete the project within nine months.
