Haussmann Development has paid $21 million for two parcels in Crown Heights, 566 Grand Ave. and 836 Dean St., extending the Midtown-based firm's footprint in a Brooklyn neighborhood already crowded with new housing proposals. The acquisition sets the stage for a 12-story, 99-unit mixed-use building the company has been advancing on the Grand Avenue site for months.
The $21 million price tag for the two sites was reported by Crain's New York, which confirmed that Haussmann Development has acquired both properties in Crown Heights. The deal follows permit filings this past summer that laid out the scope of what's planned for 566 Grand Avenue, even as the company's plans for the 836 Dean Street parcel remain unspecified.
A 12-Story Tower Takes Shape on Grand Avenue
Permits filed for the 566 Grand Avenue site describe a 12-story mixed-use building, with Josef Goodman of Haussmann Development LLC listed as the owner behind the applications, according to New York YIMBY. The filings call for a 123-foot-tall structure totaling 85,651 square feet, split between 79,886 square feet of residential space and 5,764 square feet reserved for commercial use. The plans also include a cellar, a 30-foot-long rear yard and seven open parking spaces, the outlet reported.
Haussmann's own project page, which refers to the development as Medici Court, states the nearly full-block site will become a 99-unit mixed-use building delivered in partnership with The Carlyle Group. The company says the project is in the design and planning phase and is intended to deliver permanently affordable housing.
Pet Spas and Playrooms Among Planned Amenities
Commercial Observer reported that the planned amenities at 566 Grand Avenue would include a pet spa, a tenant theater, a game room, a children's playroom, coworking space, a gym and an outdoor lounge. The same outlet noted that Crown Heights has been awash with residential building plans as of late, a trend that places Haussmann's project among several large-scale proposals moving through the neighborhood at once.
No estimated completion date has been announced for the Grand Avenue development, per New York YIMBY's reporting on the filed permits. The site sits within the Atlantic Avenue Mixed Use Plan, a recently rezoned section of Brooklyn near Prospect Park and the Barclays Center, according to Haussmann's own description of the property.
Rezoning Fuels a Wave of Crown Heights Projects
That rezoning, known as the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan, is intended to enable new housing, including affordable units, and promote mixed-use development along the Atlantic Avenue corridor, according to a report from YIELDPro. The same policy framework underpins other projects now moving through the neighborhood, including Avery Hall's planned 18-story, 250-unit development at 1550 Bedford Avenue and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's effort to build 300 housing units at 1119 Pacific Street, both detailed by Commercial Observer.
Elsewhere in Crown Heights, JLL Capital Markets arranged the $25.15 million sale of two other residential development sites at 1029 Dean St. and 1104 Pacific St., per YIELDPro's reporting. Those transactions, completed as separate off-market deals, went to Brooklyn-based Castell Group and Montgomery Street Partners, who plan to build two large-scale residential projects on properties that together total more than 129,000 zoning floor area and are currently occupied by commercial buildings.
For now, Haussmann's plans for its newly acquired 836 Dean Street parcel remain undisclosed, and the full scope of affordability commitments at 566 Grand Avenue has not been detailed beyond the company's stated intent to deliver permanently affordable units. The $21 million acquisition nonetheless signals that the firm, working alongside The Carlyle Group, is moving ahead on a project that would add nearly 100 residences to one of Brooklyn's most actively developing corridors.
