State Renaissance Court, 200 Schermerhorn Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 200 Schermerhorn Street by Carter Horsley

This 8-story, 158-unit rental building at 200 Schermerhorn Street in Boerum Hill in Brooklyn was designed by James McCullar & Associates for State Renaissance LLC. in 2007.

In 2002, the New York State Empire State Development Corporation issued a Request for Proposals for this 60,000-square-foot site and about two-thirds of the units are in multi-family buildings and the remainder in 14 two-family townhouses on State Street. The plan was awarded to Strategric Construction Corporation and IBEC Building Corp.

The building has a concierge, a garage, a fitness center and sun terrace on the second floor, and an entrance marquee.

The multifamily development was financed by the NYC Housing Development Corporation through its mixed income "tax exempt" bond program. The bonds are credit enhanced by Freddie Mac and underwritten by Merrilly Lynch. Citibank Community Development Corporation provided credit enhancement to Freddie Mac by way of a letter of credit.

The building has 17,000 square feet of retail space.

Thirty percent of the units are target to very low and low income families, 20 percent to middle income families and 50 percent to market rate units.

The building's design originally called for two separate wings, one eight stories and the other six with a one-story vent shaft between them for the subway. It was changed to two eight-story wings with a six-story connection, creating a more contextual look, according to John Frezza of Strategic Construction.

"The building designs are intended to form a transition in the scale from the commercial activity of Downtown Brooklyn to the residential character of brownstone Brooklyn," according to Mr. McCullar.