Loft Conversions

Loft Conversions

LOFTS ONE

Project Manager/Designer: Tamar Kisilevitz, Stephen Conte

Completion Date: August 2007

Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn

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This project is an adaptive reuse and gut renovation of an existing abandoned cheesecake factory in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. It is situated among two and three story buildings. The mustard yellow cast stone and concrete framed structure is in excellent shape, and lends itself to a simple residential conversion with large windows and 11 foot ceilings. The scope of work includes relocating the existing stair core and adding a public stair, and opening up previously closed in masonry openings. A new glass and steel penthouse floor shall be added on the roof to create top-floor duplex apartments, and will provide access to large private terraces and magnificent views of Brooklyn. Our design retains the building’s original industrial character, dating back to 1911, but gives it a residential edge with transparent glass railings on new discrete balconies, and the substitution of the existing loading docks with an access ramp at street level. The building shall remain in its existing color, and the caste iron cornice and first floor façade shall be dark grey. The alteration of the building in compliance with Article 7B of the New York Multiple Dwelling Law permits a new penthouse addition on the roof, which redefines the base and main portion of the building as a three-part façade and completes the building visually by creating a new addition that echoes the classical first floor façade in color and massing but uses glass and steel as a modern expression.

99 Gold Street Condominium

Project Manager/Designer: David Blaustein

Completion Date: June 2007

Location: Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn

Visit: http://www.99goldstreet.com

Vinegar Hill is a historic Brooklyn neighborhood adjacent to D.U.M.B.O (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). It is the only neighborhood in northwest Brooklyn that maintains its early 1900’s old world style in a charming five block square, just east of the Manhattan Bridge anchorage. 99Gold is a renewal pioneer in the area’s industrial landscape. The upscale 88-unit loft conversion offers the latest trend in stylish city living, redefining the 19th-century concrete and block building, originally designed to house and supply New York’s souvenir market. The floor plan for this rectangular concrete structure was rotated on a carefully calculated angle, which allows for Manhattan views from each and every apartment, without creating awkward unusable spaces within. All apartments, ranging from 600 square foot studios to 2,000 square foot penthouses, enjoy high ceilings, floor to ceiling and wall-to-wall windows and balconies. When viewed from across the East River, the building seems like a cruise ship floating on the water. A penthouse addition and recreational roof deck, along with extensive glazing and bright white exteriors, complete the building’s nautical atmosphere. As a result of this project and others that are following in its footsteps, the district has been transformed into the ideal neighborhood for successful artists and professionals with a taste for sophisticated urban living; it provides another link in connecting Brooklyn’s downtown neighborhoods.