Artist rendering of 'Union Sackett' Condo Building. Image credit courtesy of Alchemy Properties
view from Court Street at the corner of Union Street
Union Street side
from Court Street and Sackett Street
The treatment is infinitely better than the dark, unappealing façade originally proposed in 2008 by Roger Marvel and The Clarett Group, the first developer of the site.
When Alchemy Properties, the firm which took over the stalled project after Clarett pulled out, members of the community met with Alchemy's President Kenneth Horn to address some concerns, notably to ask that his firm consider an alternate treatment.
At the meeting in June 2011, Horn had agreed that the façade needed to be improved. "The building will not be black" he stated. "It will be significantly lighter."
Though the height of the building certainly is still out of character with the rest of Carroll Gardens, the 'brownstone' treatment is an obvious attempt to make it blend into the surrounding brownstone neighborhood a bit better
The project also includes 11 one to two-family townhouses on both Sackett and Union Street. Below is a rendering of what they will look like when completed.
It has been announced that T.D. Bank will take over the building's ground floor.
Artist rendering of 'Union Sackett' townhouses on Union Street.
Image credit courtesy of Alchemy Properties
Finally, somewhere in the neighborhood I can go to get my banking done. Now all we need is a real estate office.
ReplyDeleteIt's still pretty damned ugly and out of place. The houses on Sackett are a nice attempt to conform to the neighborhood though.
ReplyDeleteI think that these building look beautiful, and are a great addition to Court Street. they are now a perfect blend of traditional and contemporary. They are way better than the brutalist modern medical center that was there before.
ReplyDeleteSucks about the bank though; who needs another bank on Court?
Selfishly, I am just glad they are zoned for PS 29, not PS 58! When are developers going to have to start providing resources for the schools in the zones they are building in, our neighborhood schools are PACKED now.
ReplyDeleteI hate this behemoth. Thankfully the Sackett street side isn't hideous. At first I thought I was looking at the corner of La Brea and Melrose. It has always looked like an overturned tanker ship, belly up, no matter what skin it's in. Fake brownstone or cement. But, thankfully it won't block the view of the Brooklyn Bridge. DUMBO, people. Thankfully we are not in DUMBO. And a bank is a sorely needed addition to the area . It's been hard to throw a rock and hit one, these days. Usually lands on a nail salon.
ReplyDeleteAnd those people won't be sending their kids to any lpublic schools. You can count on that.
ReplyDeleteThere are people with a LOT of money who are sending their kids to Brooklyn public schools. You would be surprised.. It's is why people are getting $5-6,000 a month in rent for 3 bedroom apartments.
ReplyDeleteBring back the ILA.
ReplyDeleteI know people who've already purchased in this building and they send their children to public schools.
ReplyDelete"I think that these building look beautiful, and are a great addition to Court Street. they are now a perfect blend of traditional and contemporary. They are way better than the brutalist modern medical center that was there before."
ReplyDeleteApparently the realtors are reading and participating on this blog
I have to laugh when I read the poster who doesn't need another bank. I used to live on Union and Henry in the late 1980s and 1990s and the ONLY banks were Citibank, which did not participate in the NYCE network and Independence on Atlantic and Court, which is now Trader Joe's. Brooklyn was dying for banks back then!
ReplyDeleteFor whoever reposted my comment about liking the building; I do not work for a realtor, I have lived in this neighborhood for almost 30 years, and I really do like the way this building looks.
ReplyDeleteWe live in the 21st century, and new buildings should reflect the times in which we live. Why should all new buildings be slavish reproductions of 19th century architecture. It's that contrast of old and new that makes NY streetscapes so interesting. There has to be a balance of old and new, and I think that this building achieves that balance.
Haha I've lived here for almost as long as the non- realtor with an eye for Brutalism. I loved that ILA building. Loved it.
ReplyDeleteI have a thing for eastern block, Functionalist styles. I agree to a point, I like new and modern styles within a context. The Sackett side is saving those neighbors except I believe the garage entrance is there. The Sackett side is a compliment. The designers of that thing never listened to the neighborhood and set a deadly precedent.
It's too big. Too tall, too wide and too MUCH. This isn't Williamsburg. It's just not right. Even that Oliver house, which I also don't like, works, because of the open block and adjacent another similar structure.
No balance. It's just too big. Sackett ok.
ReplyDeleteI reposted the comment, and I was mostly joking, considering there is nothing new or fresh about the building.
ReplyDeleteI know not everything can be a slave to the past and architects have to create something functional and new. But while I appreciate they tried to apply a brownstone texture, it still looks like any other glass box that goes up these days. It already looks dated. Why does everything have to look like a 1960's middle school these days?
Plus the building practically blots out the sun.
Remember, the ILA was also a building of its time (the brutalist bunkers - and entire era of architecture - are going to become extinct because of their coldness and lack of windows, and most people are ok with this). In 20 years they will be tearing this cheap condo building down too, and hopefully it won't be replaced with a 20 story tower.
Pretty sure they are using COR-TEN steel panels, similar to those used on the Barclay Center.
ReplyDeletenot corten - fake painted simulation. I took a close look and touched the panels - it's just painted aluminum. If it were corten you will know after the first rain because the entire sidewalk will be covered with rust stains.
ReplyDeleteThe architects are trying to ride the wave SHoP created with the stadium, where true corten was used.
Oh well, development work and architects with no vision. Typical...