269-289 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Over the past 20 years, many of the former warehouses and manufacturing spaces in Williamsburg have been transformed into artists’ lofts, gallery spaces, and hubs for independent designers- with or without formal approval from the city. We were retained by a client interested in attracting investment and obtaining a zoning change from heavy manufacturing (M3-1) to mixed-use or residential. In doing so, we studied the conversion of an existing warehouse into street-level retail with an elevated outdoor courtyard with various housing densities (R6, R7, R7A) and typologies (lofts, duplexes, penthouse terraces, walk-ups with garden apartments) above it.