When Greg Katz of Sterling Equities found out about a sizable development site in prime Brownstone Brooklyn towards the end of 2012, he knew it was out of the ordinary.
“This site is special,” Katz told Broker’s Weekly. “There aren’t a lot of significantly-sized development opportunities and we recognized it as an opportunity.”
Katz, a partner at Sterling Equities, and his team began talks with the property owner at the time and closed on the land sale in the spring of 2013. Tucked away on a quiet block in family-centric Carroll Gardens, the team saw the site as the perfect space for a new development building that would pair Brooklyn charm with modern elegance.
They spent the next year and a half planning the luxury condo building 345 Carroll Street in all aspects — design, target audience, and demographic most likely to buy there.
Now, construction is moving right along, and the firm is expecting the building to be finished by early next year.
“There were a couple things that dictated the design,” said Katz. “To a certain extent, we wanted to be contextual, but also wanted a more contemporary feel to the property — a more contemporary take on the local environment.”
That idea led the team, with architectural firm Gluck + Architects, to incorporate large bay windows into the building’s 32 units — common among the neighboring brownstones and townhomes in the community.
The team also spend significant time learning about the Carroll Gardens area.
“There’s been a shift, and people are looking to have an alternative to Manhattan,” said Katz. “While Manhattan’s great, people want other things. Brooklyn is an area where there’s certainly a big movement there – there’s restaurants and nightlife and cultural activities that are all really exploding in Brooklyn and we want to take advantage of that shift as Brooklyn becomes more and more desirable.”
One important factor the team discovered in their research was the demand for larger apartments, and the lack of them in the area.
“Three and four bedrooms are very in demand, and in the existing stock there’s definitely a shortage of that,” said Katz. “If you’re a family and you need a lot of space for any reason, and this is the neighborhood you’re looking to live in, historically they don’t have a lot of space if you can’t buy a whole townhome.”
Most of the units at 345 Carroll Street are three and four bedrooms, with a handful of two bedrooms. Sizes of the units range from 1,215 s/f to 2,899 s/f, while prices range from $1.5 million to $3.625 million.
Interiors in the units include oversized windows with operable casements, stained rift and quartered white oak floors, solid core interior doors, and approximately 9 foot ceilings.
Kitchens feature custom cabinets with wood panel doors, high-end appliances, and Pietra Cardosa stone countertops paired with Italian marble backsplashes. Master bathrooms in the units feature marble countertops and walls, double vanities, separate oversized showers and radiant heated, herringbone-patterned stone floors.
And in addition to the larger-sized apartments, the team designed a wealth of outdoor space to the building.
“The Brooklyn buyer is looking for outdoor space, and more than half of our units have dedicated outdoor space and significant common outdoor space,” said Katz.
The building will also have onsite parking, in the form of an underground garage. Sales at the building began at the end of September last year, and it is now 70 percent sold.
Millie Perry of Stribling & Associates, the firm heading up leasing at the building, said sales had a burst at the beginning of the year, and have been “pretty steady” ever since.
“We’re seeing a nice amount of interest across the board between two bedrooms and four bedrooms, and a lot of interest in penthouses,” said Perry.
“I think they have really resonated with the bluestone façade, the exterior of the buildings, and the full-service amenity package we’re offering.”
Those amenities include a residents‘ rooftop sundeck, a 5,300 s/f private, landscaped garden including a vegetable garden and bocce court, doorman, superintendent and porter services, private parking available for purchase, fitness center, children’s playroom, pet grooming station, bicycle storage, and private storage units available for purchase.
