Carter's Review

Pierhouse is a spectacular, curved, mid-rise residential complex at Brooklyn Bridge Park across the East River from Lower Manhattan that has been developed by Toll Brothers City Living and the Starwood Capital Group.

It has 108 condominium apartments in two buildings and a 193-room hotel and is south of, and very close to, the Brooklyn Bridge. The north residential building is 10 stories and the south residential building is four stories.

It has been designed by Jonathan Marvel of Marvel Associates.

Michael Van Valkenburgh was the landscape architect for the project and the park.

Bottom Line

Impressive duplexes with awesome vistas of the waterfront park and the Lower Manhattan skyline and large layouts with many amenities.

Description

The finned façade of the north residential building facing Lower Manhattan is bent and has a very high fenestration factor but its inland façade is more traditional.

There is a very attractive pedestrian bridge that slants upward from Brooklyn Bridge Park, which is lushly landscaped and has nice medium-size boulders, and goes between the two residential buildings.

The main finned façade has some slight setbacks and the fins rise a bit above the roofline giving the building a very complex and interesting appearance that almost conjures ripples.

The hotel structure, on the other hand is a well-defined glass box with horizontal bands of windows that are a bit reminiscent of a distinctive civic building in downtown Los Angeles.

Amenities

The project has a 24-hour concierge and a fitness center in each of its two buildings with refrigerated storage as well as a meditation studio, a children’s playroom, a pet wash and residents’ lounge.

In addition, residents have access to all the amenities of the adjacent 1-Hotel that has a spa and gym and rooftop pool.

Apartments

The 108 units are all duplexes and are entered off a single corridor that faces Brooklyn and many have living-rooms with double-height ceilings and some have park-facing master bedrooms.

Apartment S-409 is a five-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads to a 28-foot-long living room with a 37-foot-long terrace, a 19-foot-long dining room next to a 16-foot-long pass-through kitchen and a 20-foot-long bedroom on the entry level, four bedrooms and a 24-foot-long family room and two terraces on the lower level, and a 68-foot-long roof terrace.

Apartment S-113 is a four-bedroom unit with a large entry foyer that leads past an 18-foot-long office to a 20-foot-long dining room and an angled, 30-foot-long living room with a 33-foot-long, curved terrace next to an open 15-foot-wide kitchen on the entry level and a 17-foot-long den and four bedrooms on the upper level.

Apartment S-108 is a five-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads past a 10-foot-long pantry and an open 16-foot-long kitchen to a 18-foot-long dining room and a 22-foot-long living room with a 16-foot-wide curved terrace on the entry level and five bedrooms and a 22-foot-long office, and a 29-foot-long angled family room on the upper level.

Apartment N-1007 is a five-bedroom unit with a 20-foot-long entry foyer that leads past an 18-foot-long office and a 13-foot-long den to a open 16-foot-long kitchen with a pass-through to a 16-foot-wide dining room on the entry level that has one bedroom and are there are four bedrooms on the lower level with a 44-foot-loot long living room with a narrow terrace.  The unit also has a 64-foot-long roof terrace.

Apartment S-407 is a four-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads to a 22-foot-long dining room next to a 16-foot-square open kitchen with a pass-through to a 16-foot-wide breakfast room with a 60-foot-wide terrace on the entry level and four bedrooms, a 16-foot-long den and a 27-foot-long living room with an 32-foot-wide terrace on the lower level.  The unit also has a 56-foot-long roof terrace.

Apartment N-530 is a two-bedroom unit with a small entry foyer on the entry level that leads down to a 22-foot-long living room  with an open kitchen with an island and a 19-foot-long terrace that is open to a 21-foot-long dining room  with an angular alcove.

Apartment N-1016 is a two-bedroom unit with an entry foyer on the upper level that leads past a 16-foot-long open kitchen with an island to an 18-foot-long living room next to an 18-foo-tlong den.  The bedrooms are on the lower level.

Apartment N-1018 is a one-bedroom unit that has a 14-foot-long dining room and an angled open 9-foot-long kitchen on the entry level and an angled 17-foot-long living room and a bedroom on the lower level.

History

According to a November 22, 2013 article by Alison Gregor in The New York Times, “city and state funds paid for construction of the park, but the government agencies moved forward only because private sources had agreed to pay for its upkeep.”

“What this special arrangement means for condo buyers, in practical terms, is that all of their property taxes, though assessed by the city’s Department of Finance,,” the article continued, “will go directly to the park, said David Lowin, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation’s vice president for real estate. And the 97-year ground lease will add $1 to $2 a square foot to the total annual common charge, he said.

A January 25, 2015 article by Lisa Foderaro in The New York Times reported that some members of the Brooklyn Heights Association were upset over the height of this project and argued that it partially blocked views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the midtown skyline in Manhattan.

It said that Otis Pratt Pearsall, a member of the association’s advisory committee, had negotiated a 100-foot-cap on the complex in 2005 and that the cap included mechanical space.

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, however, the article continued, maintained that is “was not aware of the agreement,” although Mr. Pearsall said he had an e-mail from Michael Van Vanderburgh mentioning the 100-foot-cap.

Jonathan Marvel, the project’s architect, told The Times he was not aware of the agreement and the article pointed out that the warehouse that the development replaced also blocked about the same views.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Lawrence S. Knipel ruled in early June 2015 that while the project does "ruin" the view of the bridge it was not lllegal and that the statue of limitations had passed.  He noted further that the development plan for the project that had been agreed upon called for "economic sustainability" based on the development of some sites, including this one.

One Brooklyn Bridge Park is a taller building further inland that was erected in 1928 and converted to residential use in 2007 and contributes about $2 million a year to the waterfront park.

Pier 1 has 9.5 acres that include “two large lawns, a playground, a waterfront promenade, a series of tree-lined pathways, a salt marsh and a boat ramp that provides access for non-motorized watercraft,” according to the article, which added that “a pedestrian bridge provides direct access to Brooklyn Heights from the pier.”

The project uses pine wood reclaimed from former warehouses on the site for flooring and wall treatments and some of the same granite used in the Brooklyn Bridge is used in parts of the project.