Renderings Revealed for Simon Baron’s Office and Industrial Project in Greenpoint
By Rebecca Baird-Remba August 20, 2018 8:00 am
reprints
Simon Baron Development has unveiled designs for 12 Franklin Street, a planned seven-story Brooklyn office and manufacturing building on the Greenpoint-Williamsburg border that is set to enter public review today.
The 167,000-square-foot building will include 23,000 square feet of manufacturing and 134,000 square feet of office and retail space. The development will have rooftop amenity space, 15-foot ceilings, two lobbies, outdoor terraces on each floor, a shared conference room, bicycle valet, storage for 85 bikes and underground parking for 36 cars.
FXCollaborative is designing the building, which will rise on an industrially zoned parcel bounded by Meserole Avenue, Gem Street, Franklin Street and North 15th Street. Dan Kaplan, a partner at the firm, said the design would be “infused with the features that are coveted by contemporary creative enterprises: wide-open, light-filled loft spaces, access to ample outdoor gardens on every floor and a vibrant in-building mix of workplace, manufacturing and retail users.”
The property is expected to open in 2021.
Simon Baron hopes to get a rezoning that will allow it to build a significantly larger commercial building than is currently allowed under the site’s low-density industrial zoning. Like Heritage Equities and Rubenstein Partners’ 25 Kent development down the block, the developer will have to set aside a portion of the building for light industrial uses in exchange for the right to build a larger office building. The City Planning Commission is expected to certify the rezoning during a meeting this afternoon, and then the project will undergo the seven-month long Uniform Land Use Review Process.
“North Brooklyn residents increasingly want to work closer to home, and 12 Franklin will meet that need by providing modern, amenity-rich office space that Brooklyn small businesses have come to expect,” said Matthew Baron, the president of Simon Baron. “And at the same time, the project will preserve and enhance the neighborhood’s longstanding manufacturing job base by setting aside space specifically for those uses.”
The developer purchased the 28,000-square-foot property for $24 million in 2016 from investor Samuel Brach. It’s currently home to a two-story commercial building that houses two bars, Dirck the Norseman and Northern Territory.
