Two pollution plagued properties in Greenpoint Brooklyn have been sold to developers who must go through a costly cleanup process.
The vintage Arte Modern style former Harte & Co. factory building property located at 280 Franklin St. has been sold. The buyer, Bo Jin Zhu plans to build a 400 unit apartment building with 200 parking spaces. The building will have affordable apartments as well as market rate units.
The property was sold for $23.25 Million. The seller, 49 Dupont Realty Corp had used the factory to manufacture vinyl. There were huge underground storage tanks of toxic materials that had leaked into the soil and groundwater. During the course of the past 10 years the factory property had been put up for sale but the projected cost of the cleanup was always a deal killer. While the cost of the cleanup was projected by some to be as high as $40 Million the actual cost was under $10 million.
The unique curved front of the building is made of yellow bricks and glass blocks. This vintage look is very much admired by preservationists, but Mr. Zhu may have something much different in mind.
Another large residential project underway is located at 1133 Manhattan Ave. It was Brooklyn's Transit Rail Yard. This large but polluted property has been leased to developer The Domain Cos. for 99 years. The property was deemed a brownfield site and was included in a state Department of Environmental Conservation program that offers private developers tax credits for cleaning up places possibly contaminated by hazardous wastes or petroleum, or both. The developer did a full on "Track 1" soil cleanup - the state Brownfield Cleanup Program's designation for the highest level of work, so that the property can be used for any purpose.
The $67 Million construction project is for a 210 unit rental building. The architect for the property is Perkins Eastman. The 210 units will be 50% market rate rentals, 30% wil be income restricted for middle income tenants and 20% will be solely for low income tenants.
For more information about Greenpoint Brooklyn properties or if you are planning to sell your house, mixed use property, multifamily building, commercial property, coop apartment, condominium or vacant land or property for developers, please call Jeff or Anna in the office at 718-375-2065. You will be very happy that you did.
