New Look: Williamsburg’s Futuristic 87 Wythe Avenue
BY: STEPHEN SMITH ON SEPTEMBER 24TH 2014 AT 7:00 AM
87 Wythe Avenue, rendering by Cycle Cities
Last month, we got a peek at a rare office building planned for Williamsburg, at 87 Wythe Avenue. Developed by Cayuga Capital Management and designed by Cycle Cities, the 12-story office-and-retail structure at the corner of North 10th Street would be one of the first major ground-up private office projects in Brooklyn in recent years, signaling the ascendant desirability of Williamsburg as a neighborhood for both working and living.
Now, YIMBY has the full renderings of the project, along with a close-up of the cantilevers that will define the exterior.
87 Wythe Avenue, rendering by Cycle Cities
“We set out to design a building that was distinct from the kind of ‘faux-factory’ aesthetic that has characterized some recent Williamsburg development,” wrote Cycle Cities founder Tony Daniels. “You might find precedents for our approach in office buildings of the ’20s, with their setbacks and terraces that correspond to zoning envelope requirements, like the Bricken Casino Building, Squibb Building, the telephone buildings of Ralph Walker, etc.,” though of course 87 Wythe also adds thoroughly modern cantilevers to the mix.
“The form,” he continued, “also allows for each floor to have some dedicated outdoor terrace space and large shaded windows which frame views across the East River. The building aims to satisfy demand for office space in the neighborhood by tech, culture and media firms who could locate elsewhere, but choose to be in Brooklyn.”
Cayuga Capital has assembled three different lots for the project, whose M1-2 zoning – which allows commercial and industrial uses, but no housing – affords them nearly 60,000 square feet of net commercial floor space. The developer has yet to seek construction financing, instead waiting on the okay from the Department of Buildings. But, he told the Journal, “we’re not concerned about the marketability of the office space. There is a pretty drastic shortage of nice office space in the north side of Williamsburg.”
The other major office project in the works in this corner of Brooklyn is at Two Trees’s Domino Sugar Refinery site. There, Jed Walentas asked the Bloomberg administration and later convinced de Blasio’s team to let them swap out a certain amount of residential space for a much larger quantity of office space (which speaks to local politicians’ irrational distaste for new housing). The office space will be located mainly in the old brick refinery building, whose large floor plates and windowless expanses are less suitable for apartments. That project, however, is on Williamsburg’s south side, which has a grittier feel and has not (yet?) caught up to the north side in desirability.
