Developer Files Plans to Build Housing Above Williamsburg Trader Joe’s

A developer has big plans for the building housing Trader Joe’s in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. But don’t worry, TJ’s shoppers, the beloved grocery chain isn’t going anywhere.

Red Hook-based Cornell Realty Management has submitted a zoning application to partially convert and expand its existing five-story office and retail building at 200 Kent Avenue into a 14-story residential and retail property with up to 143 apartments, according to a recent filing with the New York City Department of City Planning.

The 176 parking spaces currently on the building’s second floor and the office space on the third through fifth floors — which Cornell Realty called “underutilized and predominantly vacant” — would be turned into 116,780 square feet of residential space, the filing said. Of the up to 143 residential units set to be created at the property, 29 to 43 would be affordable.

The total 135,840-square-foot project would also keep its 19,060 square feet of ground-floor retail space — which is occupied by Trader Joe’s and smaller retailers — and create 43 parking spaces in the cellar, according to the filing. Trader Joe’s would remain a tenant if the project is approved.

“In addition to facilitating the transformation of a currently underutilized commercial building, the proposed actions would provide new opportunities for affordable and market-rate housing development in an area experiencing population growth in line with the city’s policy goals to develop housing in ‘high opportunity’ areas,” Isaac Hager, founder of Cornell Realty, wrote in the filing.

A spokesperson for Cornell Realty could not be reached for further comment.

Cornell Realty bought the property between Metropolitan Avenue and North Third Street for $12.3 million in 2013 when it was a vacant lot, property records show. Cornell Realty then bought the full-block parcel for $33 million in 2016. Construction wrapped up on 200 Kent Avenue in July 2020, New York YIMBY reported.

News of the potential residential project follows a string of new apartment developments in the trendy Williamsburg neighborhood.

A block away at 230 Kent Avenue, developer Yitzchok Schweid is in the midst of building an eight-story, 44-unit apartment building on a vacant lot, Crain’s New York Business reported.

Then, at 470 Kent Avenue, the Naftali Group is working on Williamsburg Wharf, its 3.75-acre, resort-style, waterfront complex that will feature five 22-story residential towers with 850 apartments and retail space.

Last month, Mayor Eric Adams also issued requests for proposals to create about 900 new homes at 390 Kent Avenue, with around one-quarter designated as affordable housing, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

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