Jared Kushner and LIVWRK Make Plans to Buy a Gowanus Property, Possibly for Luxury Condos
Jared Kushner and LIVWRK could soon be making their way to Gowanus. According to The Real Deal, the pair are in contract to buy a 133,000-square-foot development site at 175-225 3rd Street, located right across the new 3rd and 3rd Whole Foods market and just around the corner from Lightstone Group’s 700-unit rental project at 363 Bond Street. Currently, the land has 600 feet of frontage and allows for commercial development of up to 300,000-square-feet, but sources say that one-million square feet of residential could be constructed if rezoned.
Of course there are no guarantees, and if the team does decide to pursue rezoning, the will be met by a roadblock in the form of Councilman Brad Lander. In response to the approved demolition of the Kentile sign (which has since been saved and will be relocated), Lander publicly expressed his strong disdain for developers who swoop into neighborhoods, buying up property thinking they will be able to destroy historic structures and rezone.
“Let me be clear: those who are paying big price tags for industrial buildings in Gowanus and demolishing historic structures on the assumption that they will be able to build market-rate condo buildings like those on Fourth Avenue are making a big mistake,” he said.
Whether fully commercial or mixed-use, this is another notch in Kushner and LIVWRK’s Brooklyn belt. Their other high profile project is the conversion of the former Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower printing properties into a 1.2-million-square-foot Vinegar Hill office campus called Dumbo Heights.
[Via The Real Deal]
