A 52-story tower planned for Flatbush Avenue, near BAM and just north of the Williamsburgh bank building, extends skyline south toward AY site

Yesterday, the Wall Street journal reported, in Brooklyn's Shifting Center:

New York's Steiner family is planning a 52-story rental apartment tower on a gritty block in downtown Brooklyn in what would be the latest expansion of residential development in the borough beyond its traditional boundaries.

The family, which is best known for developing a Hollywood-scale studio in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, is moving forward with a building that would include about 720 units and 50,000 square feet of store space. The Steiners acquired the bulk of the site, at the intersection of Schermerhorn and Flatbush avenues, for $30 million in November, and plan to break ground early next year at the latest.

The boxy building, called the Hub, would benefit from subsidies to include 20% low-income housing, under the state's 80/20 program.

(Graphics via Wall Street Journal)

Location 

As the headline and rendering indicate, this represents another example of the march of towers down Flatbush Avenue from the Manhattan Bridge, where Avalon Fort Greene and Toren, among others, are already established.

And, joining 80 DeKalb and 230 Ashland Place in nearby  Fort Greene, this would fill in the march of skyline toward the bank building and then the Atlantic Yards development.

So, from one angle, the north, tall buildings at the northwest and northeast borders of the arena block, bordering broad Atlantic and Flatbush avenues, may seem less jarring.

However, the other two buildings, facing low-rise Dean Street, would still represent a discontinuity. The first tower, not yet started, is slated for the corner of Flatbush and Dean.

The cost

The Wall Street Journal reported:

Mr. Steiner said he plans to rent his market-rate units in the range of $40 to $50 a square foot. Under those rates, a 1,000-square-foot apartment would rent for $3,333 to $4,166 a month.

According to an 8/31/09 market study conducted by KPMG for the Empire State Development Corporation, Forest City Ratner was expecting $45/sf for the market-rate rentals in the first two buildings, which were supposed to be completed in September 2011.

Whatever the expectation, Forest City is now trying to control costs through either modular construction or union concessions gained via the threat of modular.