REVEALED: Bland Apartment Tower Replaces Karl Fischer’s Indigo Hotel Design in Downtown Brooklyn

Yesterday, we reported a staggering 22,000 residential units are on their way to the northern end of Brooklyn by 2019, 6,412 (29 percent) of which are slated for the half-square mile neighborhood of Downtown Brooklyn. Now, we have our first look at a small chunk of that count: a 105-unit residential building under construction at 237 Duffield Street, in the heart of the borough’s central hub.

Last year, Brownstoner broke the news that a new set of building applications were filed for the long-stalled site that was once planned to be a 21-floor, Karl Fisher-designed Indigo Hotel that featured an undulated glass skin and lavish roof deck.

The construction site at 237 Duffield Street with the first two buildings of the City Point development looming in the background.

New Jersey-based Castle Rock Equity Group have switched the project’s gears from hotel to residential just as the once lackluster business district reaches a threshold of residents where it can provide adequate shopping and dining amenities. Next year, Arcadia Realty Trust’s City Point development will bring 650,000 square feet of new retail to the area, including a much-anticipated DeKalb Market Hall.

Penned by Jersey-based Urban Tectonics, 237 Duffield will host 105 residential units with retail space on the cellar and ground floors. The 232-foot tall, bland stack of red bricks and gridded windows will gel nicely within Brooklyn’s second canyon of mediocrity that has overcome the short stretch of Duffield between Fulton and Willoughby streets. Since the neighborhood’s 2003 upzoning, a crop of 20 or so story hotels have risen that include Hotel 718, the Sheraton Brooklyn hotel, and an Aloft hotel. Avalon’s 800+ unit mega-rental, Ava DoBro bookends the block, and behind, along Albee Square, two other residential towers are planned: ODA Architecture’s 436 Albee Square and JEMB’s 420 Albee Square.

Is this all we can expect for Downtown Brooklyn’s future

237 Duffield will be swallowed by a forest of upcoming skyscrapers planned for the area. Google Earth images courtesy of CityRealty

Follow updates and see more images of 237 Duffield at CityRealty and have a closer look at CityRealty’s Brooklyn New Development Report here.

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