REVEALED: 141 Willoughby, 30-Story Mixed-Use Tower to Replace Site Once Slated for Eminent Domain Takeover
A Downtown Brooklyn school once planned to be seized through eminent domain will sprout a 30-story mixed-use tower by Savanna Partners. Renderings posted on Savanna’s website reveal a glass tower at 141 Willoughby Street with a retail base, student housing, and commercial or residential space above. The project will replace the three-story building that’s home to the Institute of Design and Construction, a 77-year-old technical college.
Current site of 141 Willoughby Street
Back in 2004, during the approval process for the massive Downtown Brooklyn Rezoning, the city planned to exercise the power of eminent domain to demolish the structure to create better sight lines from Flatbush Avenue to the planned 1.5-acre Willoughby Plaza across the street. With outcry from the school and public officials like then-councilwoman Leticia James and former Borough President Marty Markowitz, city planners removed the building from the chopping block.
Last year, the Brooklyn Eagle reported that the college had sold their building to Savanna Partners for a hefty $28 million. The site sits just across the street from the CityPoint superblock development that will bring three residential towers and 500,000 square feet of retail to the neighborhood and diagonally across from the planned Willoughby Square Park, a street-level public space that will sit atop an underground parking garage. According to Crain’s, Savanna can construct a 120,000-square-foot residential building as of right at the site, but will seek a special permit to double the tower’s size.
See listings for 141 Willoughby Street first at CityRealty
Renderings via Savanna Partners; Aerial renderings via CityRealty
