New renderings are offering a first real look at what could replace the old Vice Media headquarters at 289 Kent Avenue in South Williamsburg. The proposal calls for a mid-rise residential tower at the southeast corner of Kent Avenue and South 1st Street, taking down the low-rise industrial building in favor of roughly 280 apartments, including about 70 income-restricted units, plus ground-floor retail, commercial space and a community facility.
The images, prepared by FXCollaborative for developer Web Holdings LLC, show a 17-story, roughly 301,000-square-foot building with an L-shaped footprint, an eighth-floor setback and a landscaped amenity deck. The facade is rendered in earth-toned brick wrapped around a grid of floor-to-ceiling windows and recessed glass sections, topped by a canopy at the flat roofline, as reported by New York YIMBY.
Rezoning and public review
To move forward, the project needs a zoning map amendment and is already in the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure as application C 260087 ZMK. Department of City Planning documents list the proposal for certification and public review, with the official notice and Community Board 1 hearing recorded in the City Record and the agency’s review materials. For the ULURP numbers and hearing dates, see the DCP's review packet and the City Record notice.
Design, size and affordability
State environmental filings spell out a total building size of about 301,499 gross square feet and list approximately 278 dwelling units. Between 20 and 30 percent of those apartments are proposed under the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program, which the application frames in the roughly 40 to 80 percent Area Median Income band, depending on the option selected. The filing also details the split among residential, retail and commercial square footage along with other technical data. According to the New York State DEC Environmental Notice, these documents lay out the expected unit counts and MIH ranges.
Money trouble and the site's recent history
The site is not just a blank slate. Court records show CTBC Bank filed a pre-foreclosure action in late 2025, alleging a default on a roughly $25 million loan tied to the property. On top of the financial drama, the parcel comes with a recent cultural footprint: it most recently housed Vice Media, which left after its 2023 bankruptcy and shift away from the Williamsburg office. For details on the loan filings and the building’s lease history, see reporting from PincusCo and Commercial Observer.
What's next
Brooklyn Community Board 1 has already taken its first look, reviewing the application at a land use committee meeting. The board’s advisory recommendation now heads to the City Planning Commission as the ULURP process moves along. Ultimately, the rezoning decision and any responses to the project’s City Environmental Quality Review findings will determine whether these glossy renderings turn into building permits and concrete. The board’s meeting notice and agenda outline the public meetings and procedural steps; see Brooklyn Community Board 1.
As South Williamsburg’s waterfront keeps evolving along the Domino Sugar corridor, 289 Kent Avenue is lining up as the next possible chapter in the area’s long-running transformation. For now, the renderings offer a clear sense of the developer’s vision, even as rezoning debates, community review and unresolved legal issues keep the project’s timeline up in the air.
