Google Earth aerial showing DUMBO with Fortis' site at 60 Front Street labeled (CityRealty)
Last month, Fortis Property Group quietly filed plans to build a sizeable project in DUMBO next to the ever-majestic Brooklyn Bridge. The trophy lot measures over 52,000 square feet in area and is the largest undeveloped tract in the neighborhood since work on the condo-rental 85 Jay Street began. Like 85 Jay, Fortis acquired the site at 30-60 Front Street from the fleeing Jehovah’s Witnesses’ who used the triangular site as a parking lot. Fortis closed on the lot in December 2018 for $91 million and filed permits a month later to build a 26-floor, 76-unit mixed-use tower brimming with amenities.
DUMBO locals may find some concern with this project due to its proximity to the Brooklyn Bridge and its near 400-foot height. However, plans show a rather slender tower will sit some distance from the bridge to quell concerns. In 2003, locals protested Two Trees' plan to build a 17-floor residential and commercial tower nearby at 60 Water Street saying its height was disrespectful to the Brooklyn Bridge and would obstruct views. Not known to shy away from the controversy, Fortis is behind the sweeping River Park plan, a redevelopment of Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill.
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Excerpt from ZD-1 diagram showing the proposed massing of the project (via NYC DOB)
Project site plan shows that much of the lot will remain low in scale with a slender tower positioned away from the bridge
The firm Hill|West is listed as the architects of record but judging from the approved zoning diagrams, a partnering avant-garde designer may also be onboard. Drawings show much of the lot will be covered by a five-floor podium packed with residential bells and whistles such as a gym, yoga room, sauna, swimming pool bowling alley, storage, sixth-floor terrace, and a lounge. There will also be 220 parking spaces (overkill) and a three-story school.
Above the base is a dramatically receding tower housing no more than six units per floor and climaxing with a full-floor 26th-floor penthouse and terrace. To crest more 370 feet above the mid-rise neighborhood, many apartments will have postcard views of the East River bridges and the Manhattan skyline. The diagram drawing shows no facade details but implies a thoroughly modern affair. The only New York projects resembling the unique form may be the Standard East Village at 25 Cooper Square and a never-built proposal for a 23rd Street condo nicknamed the Pope Hat.
Standard East Village and never-built proposal for 41 West 23 Street; both designs by Carlos Zapata
The project's modicum unit count and abundance of amenities suggest condos. DUMBO maintains one of Brooklyn's highest sales medians coming in just above $1,300 a foot. The 33 condos currently for sale in the neighborhood pencil out to a median of $1,408 per square foot. One-bedrooms have a median ask of $996,500, two-bedrooms at $2.149M, and three-bedrooms at $4.92 million.
DUMBO's Main Street (CityRealty)
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