On Friday morning, a small group of area residents met with Kenneth Horn of Alchemy Properties, the development, marketing and consulting firm which just took over the long-stalled project at 340 Court Street after the previous developer, The Clarett Group, pulled out.
The project consist of a 7 story, 32 unit condominium building along Court Street and of 11 adjoining townhouses on Union and Sackett Streets. The goal of the meeting was to establish a dialog between the community and the developer and to address concerns before construction on the project resumes. It was also hoped that the developer would be open to changing the dark, unappealing façade of the Rogers Marvel designed building, which had been widely criticized when presented to the community in 2008.
Kenneth Horn assured everyone present that his firm will be responsive and will make itself available to address some of the issues that will come up during the construction phase, but was quick to point out that the project is being built as-of-right and that the NYC Buildings Department has approved all plans. He was also clear that the project will continue forward with the Rogers Marvel design and that the envelope of the building will not change.
He did, however agree that the façade needed to be improved. "The building will not be black" he stated. "It will be significantly lighter."
Construction will start very soon. The steel has been ordered and cut. It will be delivered in early August. Construction on the townhouses will most probably begin in the fall.
Alchemy has been in business since 1990. The firm has completed 24 projects, mostly in Manhattan.This will be its second Brooklyn project. (The first was at 199 State Street) .
