It’s not the People’s Playground!
Developers unveiled plans for a luxury residential development in Dumbo that includes a private arboreal paradise exclusive to the building’s well-heeled tenants.
The new development — dubbed Front and York after the cross streets that bookend the block-sized Jay Street housing complex — will feature an enclosed park lush with trees and perennial flowers curated to produce a “blooming sanctuary for all seasons,” according to the building’s website.
The private paradise — equal in size to roughly five basketball courts — will be offered exclusively to residents, and tenants can rest easy within their floral sanctuary knowing a full-time security force stands between them and the unwashed masses outside.
In addition to the botanic hideaway, Front and York will host a variety of palatial amenities, including a pair of rooftop pools ringed by cabana chairs, along with co-working lounges, pro-quality kitchens and private dining rooms, according to Julia Callahan, a spokeswoman for the development.
The complex will appear as a nine-story ring studded by two 21-story towers that will feature 320 rentals and 408 condos, with a garage hosting 727 underground parking spaces, according to Callahan.
The condos will be placed in the tower sections of the development, and feature their own fully-staffed lobbies and coach gates, or porte-cochères, while the rentals will be spread across the building’s lower sections, the spokeswoman said.
Construction on the project began last year and is slated to be “substantially complete” by 2021, she said.
The prices for the luxury units will be revealed later this year, according to the spokeswoman.
“We look forward to sharing details on the residences later this year,” she said.
The Manhattan and Dumbo firms CIM Group and Livwrk, together with Kushner Companies, the family owned real estate firm formerly headed by President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, bought the former parking lot for $345 million from the Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2016, in a sale that also included the church’s Watchtower complex in Brooklyn Heights.
Prior to selling the property, the religious group convinced the city to permit a 2004 rezoning allowing the construction of a four-building residential complex.
But the church would never lay a brick, and the rezoning instead allowed the other developers to pursue their own luxe building scheme as-of-right, without committing to a lengthy approval process, which usually results in concessions that include affordable housing, or public green space.
Kushner’s firm backed out of the project last year when it sold its reported 2.5-percent stake in both properties.
