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How tall is 461 Dean? 37 feet above what they say (and it's allowed)

Also see coverage regarding 535 Carlton and 550 Vanderbilt.

So, is 461 Dean Street (aka B2) really 322 feet tall, as stated in the developer's public presentation (excerpt at right), in Department of Buildings filings, and as listed in the Maximum Heights document prepared by Empire State Development, the state authority overseeing/shepherding the project?

Not quite.

The height is defined--as is typical--as the "maximum height of the last occupiable floor." So the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat lists the building height as 359 feet, which is 37 feet taller than the official height. That's 11.5% taller.

Document filed with DOB shows
top floor is 322'; click to enlarge
Indeed, the DOB says the last residential floor is Floor 32, while Floors 33 and 34 include a fire pump room and a generator room. Plus mechanical equipment on the roof.

According to the project's Design Guidelines, "Rooftop mechanical equipment and elevator and stair bulkheads may exceed the maximum building heights" as long as they're set back from the street at least ten feet, do not exceed 20% of the building's lot coverage, and add more than 40 feet of height.

That may be typical in the city, but it also further challenges the developer's claim that the buildings are somehow "nestled" into the neighborhood.

After all, as shown in this Instagram view from September, excerpted below, 461 Dean represents an abrupt change from the streetscape to the southeast in Prospect Heights.


What it means

Because 461 Dean is some 360 feet in height, the 360-degree view produced by the developer in the photo below, from the building web site, is rather misleading.

First, views from 461 Dean will vary according to floor. And no one is going to get a view from the top of the mechanicals, which makes Atlantic Terminal 4B, the 310-foot public housing tower at left, look tiny.

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