A nine-story mixed-use building is headed for 862 Kent Avenue in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, where a one-story commercial building has stood since 1956. The site sits between Park Avenue and Myrtle Avenue, just steps from the Myrtle-Willoughby Avenues subway station on the G line, and it has housed Lights on Kent, a 3,500-square-foot, 200-capacity event and wedding venue.
According to New York YIMBY, the proposed building will rise 95 feet and include 49,338 square feet of residential space across 48 residences, which the outlet notes are most likely condominiums based on their average unit scope of roughly 1,027 square feet apiece. The filing also calls for 527 square feet of community facility space, a cellar, and a concrete-based structure. Joel Weiss is listed as the owner behind the applications, with his firm, Heartfelt Townhouse Build, tied to the project and JFA Architects & Engineers named as architect of record. No estimated completion date has been announced.
Demolition permits for the existing one-story building were filed in August 2026, clearing the way for the new construction. Separately, Department of Buildings job filings submitted around September 1, 2026, under Job Number B01427798, list the total physical construction area for the nine-story building at 84,916 square feet, a figure that captures structural and mechanical space beyond the dedicated residential footprint reported by New York YIMBY.
A Developer With a Growing Brooklyn and Queens Footprint
Joel Weiss has been busy elsewhere in the city, too. In August 2026, he filed building plans for nine residential structures totaling 863 units across three zoning lots in Jamaica, Queens, according to PincusCo. The outlet also reported that Weiss secured a $33.2 million construction loan from OakNorth Bank in June 2026 for a 99-unit project in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, after acquiring the site at 229 Shepherd Avenue for $8.5 million — a project that replaced a former White Castle location.
Architect Joseph Frankl of JFA Architects & Engineers, the firm listed on the Kent Avenue filing, ranked among the city's most active architects in 2025, filing 17 project applications totaling 1.3 million square feet, per The Real Deal. That level of activity reflects a broader industry shift toward sub-100-unit developments following the 2024 rollout of the 485-x tax abatement, which imposes higher wage requirements on projects exceeding 99 units, as detailed by The Real Deal.
Why This Stretch of Bed-Stuy Is Drawing Developers
862 Kent Avenue sits within the Myrtle-Willoughby development corridor, a northern Bed-Stuy pocket experiencing mid-rise residential growth thanks to its proximity to Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, and G train access, according to the Brooklyn Real Estate Guide. The sub-market offers transit convenience at lower price points than neighboring Clinton Hill, making it an attractive target for builders looking to add density near subway lines.
Market data through July 2026 shows median home sale prices in Bedford-Stuyvesant at $1,274,565, a 13.8 percent decrease year-over-year, with 100 homes sold that month and properties spending a median of 66 days on the market, per Redfin figures. Those numbers suggest a market that has cooled on price but still moves steadily, the backdrop against which new condo units on Kent Avenue would eventually be priced. The NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, working with Brooklyn Community Board 3, operates the Bedford-Stuyvesant Housing Plan to guide local housing growth and preserve affordability amid the neighborhood's ongoing demographic and market shifts.
Part of a Wider Pattern Across Bed-Stuy
The Kent Avenue filing follows a familiar script for the neighborhood. Hoodline reported in May that permit filings revealed plans for an 77-unit mixed-use building on Myrtle Avenue, another case of mid-rise residential density replacing a single-story commercial parcel near subway transit. Taken together with Weiss's other active projects, the 862 Kent Avenue plan fits a pattern of developers converting aging, low-slung commercial buildings into multi-unit residential structures across northern Bed-Stuy. At 48 units, the Kent Avenue project remains below the 100-unit threshold associated with stricter wage rules under 485-x.
