Former Greenpoint Wedding Venue to Become Apartment Building

A former wedding venue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, most recently home to music venue Brooklyn Bazaar, is set to become an apartment building, according to a filing with the New York City Department of Buildings this week.

Double U Development’s Michael Weitzman filed plans to turn the currently vacant two-story building at 144 Greenpoint Avenue, formerly a wedding hall named Polonaise Terrace, into a six-story retail and residential building, the filing shows.

The proposed redevelopment would convert the property — still emblazoned with the gold Polonaise Terrace logo — into a 35-unit residential building with 6,214 square feet of ground-floor retail space, according to the filing. The estimated job cost is $1.6 million, according to the filing.

Building Studio Architects partner John Field was also listed as part of the project. Building Studio declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Double U did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The building between Franklin Street and Manhattan Avenue, which Double U acquired from MacArthur Holdings for $8.9 million in January, was built in 1898 by Charles Heidelberger as an event and wedding venue, then became known as the Brooklyn Bazaar in 2016 as a music venue and flea market, according to Crain’s New York Business, which first reported the news.

Brooklyn Bazaar closed in 2019 after its owners were unable to extend their lease, leaving the property vacant ever since, Crain’s reported.

Any future redevelopments of the property must be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), as the Polonaise was an “unofficial landmark in Greenpoint,” according to the Historic Districts Council’s Lucie Levine.

The LPC voted unanimously in January 2023 to support a developer’s plans to transform the building into a four-story office and retail building, Brownstoner reported. It’s unclear what happened to that project, but the new proposal would consist of a vertical enlargement of the existing structure rather than a demolition, according to Crain’s.

News of the project comes as Double U works on another development in the neighboring Williamsburg, where it is building an 88,000-square-foot retail and sports center at 83 Wythe Avenue, Crain’s reported.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.