PROSPECT HEIGHTS — A large 1920’s-era bank on Washington Avenue is set to be demolished, according to permits approved by the city last week, making way for a 14-story apartment building to be built in its place.
The former Green Point Savings Bank building at 856 Washington Ave. and Lincoln Place in Prospect Heights will be ripped down soon following the city’s approval on Oct. 6 for a full demolition on the site, documents show.
The neo-classical stone structure built in 1928, which most recently housed a Capital One Bank, will be replaced by a new 14-story residential building by Slate Property Group, which bought the property for $6.5 million through a LLC in January, according to building and property records.
A first report of the building project from New York Yimby says the new residential property includes 28 condominiums over about 45,000 square feet, with one floor-through unit on each of the top three floors.
Before the 1928 bank building sold to Slate, speculation about what would come to the eye-catching property gripped neighbors; in particular, a rumor that a Trader Joe's grocery store would move into the building persisted for months, fueled by wishful thinking and local blog reports.
The new building will be designed by the firm Kutnicki Bernstein Architects, designers of many new residential developments in Manhattan and Brooklyn, including the former “Colony 1209” at 1209 Dekalb Ave. in Bushwick, a project that changed its name this summer following an outcry by activists and elected officials who said the building’s marketing smacked of colonialism.
An inquiry about the project made to Slate on Monday was not immediately returned.