Bonkers 30-Story Condo Tower Slated For Voorhies Avenue Next To Subway Station
When developers proposed a 22-story development at 1501 Voorhies Avenue, the community balked at the sheer scale of the project. After sitting silent for five years and a change in ownership, new plans have been filed for a whopping 30-story residential development.
Muss Development and AvalonBay submitted the plans to the Department of Buildings yesterday outlining a 333-foot tall building, with 266,244 square feet of residential space spread across 250 units. At 30 stories, it will be approximately four times taller than anything else in the area except the St. Mark Church belltower.
The building will have a lounge, playroom, bike storage, and outdoor recreation space, according to plans filed with the agency. There will be 14,530 square feet of office space and parking for 124 vehicles inside a split-level garage, and another 52 spaces available outside.
The building’s basement level will be used for storage in addition to parking, with mechanicals and utilities elevated to the first floor to protect against flooding. The lot was overwhelmed with water during Superstorm Sandy.
The plans are being designed by the architecture firm Perkins Eastman, a top-tier outfit that has done a number of ultra-modern luxury apartment developments in New York City and elsewhere. They previously teamed up with AvalonBay to build Avalon White Plains and Avalon Riverview North in Queens.
And if Muss Development sounds familiar, it should. Muss made a name for itself in outerborough residential development when it built Brighton Beach’s Oceana Condominium complex. It appears they’re trying to replicate that success with luxury market-rate apartments in Sheepshead Bay.
As we previously reported, Muss and AvalonBay snatched up the 110,028-square-foot lot in July for $20.2 million. Originally it appeared the lot was split in two, with the former Verizon parking lot taking up 87,500 square feet and a commercial strip along Sheepshead Bay Road at East 16th Street comprising the rest. The latest plans appear to indicate that the development will encompass both sites, but it’s still unclear.
The land was sold by Acadia Realty Trust, which purchased them for $20.3 million in 2008. Acadia, in partnership with PA Associates had planned a two-building complex dubbed Station Plaza that included a 22-story mixed-use tower. There was to be mall with four floors of shopping, a new public street that cut through the property at East 16th Street, and more than 650 parking spaces – anchored by 16 floors of residential condominiums.
The plans are currently under review to see if they exceed zoning. We’ll keep you posted.
Addition (September 25): The development was also covered by Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY).