Brooklyn Mixed-Use Spec Project Scores Key Approvals

A rendering of the 25 Kent mixed-use project in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Credit: Steelblue

NEW YORK CITY— The mixed-use 25 Kent project in Brooklyn to be developed by the partnership of Heritage Equity Partners and Rubenstein Partners garnered the necessary approvals from the New York City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and the Committee on Land Use earlier this week. The full City Council is scheduled to review and possibly vote on the eight-story Williamsburg project tomorrow. Globest.com reported earlier this year that the proposal had entered the city’s Uniform Land Use Procedure process and that Heritage and Rubenstein had already undertaken some site preparation work on the venture. The City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and the Committee on Land Use granted their approvals for the project on Tuesday. The 25 Kent development is proposed as a ground-up 480,000-square-foot commercial office and light industrial building that, if approved, would be Brooklyn’s first ground-up speculative commercial building in 40 years. It would also mark the first time in generations that the private sector developed light industrial space in Brooklyn without public investment. “We are excited that the Committee on Land Use has voted in support of our project and look forward to Thursday’s full City Council vote on 25 Kent—Brooklyn’s first truly mixed-use building for manufacturing, creative and tech-based sectors,” says Toby Moskovits, CEO of Heritage Equity Partners. The 25 Kent building is conceived by Heritage and Rubenstein as a property that will serve the intense market demand for new office and light industrial space in Brooklyn. The Gensler- and HWKN-designed building will be marketed as a hub for the creative arts, makers, and technology firms.