Crown Heights’ Franklin Avenue has grown to become one of the most charming and vibrant streets in brownstone Brooklyn. Near it’s semi-industrial border with Bedford-Stuyvesant, a striking new rental development designed by ODA Architecture has taken form. Located at 1040 Dean Street at the southwest corner of Franklin Avenue, the structure replaces a set of low-slung buildings and is adjacent to a 36-unit conversion of the Nassau Brewing Company’s surviving buildings.
1040 Dean encompasses 135,000 square feet of floor area and fully consumes its large 22,000-square-foot site. Well-placed setbacks and a modest rooftop height of 80-feet allows the building to fit neatly into the neighborhood’s human-scaled environs. A bold and black gridded façade encloses the building and provides a measure of the apartments inside. There will 120 units in all and 20 percent will be reserved for those earning no more than 60 percent of the area's median income. Earlier this month, 6sqft announced the building lottery for the affordable units where rents range from $845/month studios to $1,022 two-bedrooms.
Resident amenities will include a fitness center, rooftop terrace, a 56-car parking garage on the cellar and ground floors, and bicycle storage. To serve as a continuation to Franklin Avenue's vibrant retail and dining scene, 19,000 square feet of shops will be positioned on the ground-floor retail.