Crown Heights Lots In Contract, Don't Expect Rentals, Brokers Say

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Tall grass and half-hearted attempts by previous owners to build have defined the five empty lots at 701 Prospect Place in Crown Heights for the last six years, but today could mark an end to the wild weeds.

And without a recently-expired tax break, brokers say, the buildings will most likely end up being condos rather than rentals.

According to city records, the soon-to-be previous owners began demolition on the lots in August 2017. Since then, a series of fits and starts left the lots vacant and seemingly abandoned.

“The owners were not developers,” said architect Arnold Montag, who was hired to draw up plans for a five-story mixed-use building on the site. Plans that never came to fruition.

And that inexperience led to delays, said Montag, who himself has built hundreds of buildings all over Brooklyn.

“It was their first shot at development,” he said, and problems were constant. And then came the pandemic, compounding any issues the owners may have had.

“It was just a special circumstance,” Montag said.

Now the lot has a new lease on life, but there won’t be many leases signed once the building is built.

Because of all the developmental delays, the lot “did not have a footing for 421-A,” said Daniel Lebor, partner at TerraCRG, the brokerage handling the property.

Because the controversial tax-abatement expired earlier this year and was not replaced, Lebor claims that most developments in Brooklyn moving forward will not be rentals.

“Just between the cost of construction and interest rates and the rents that you're able to achieve without that abatement, it becomes increasingly harder to build sites for rental,” Lebor said.

Most likely, Lebor said, the new developer will be constructing condos as a result.

Since the sale is still only in contract, Lebor couldn’t divulge details about who bought it or for how much, but he did note that the lot went through multiple rounds of bidding and was sold for above the asking price.

Zoning for the site currently allows for mixed-use buildings up to eight stories in height.

And if the new owners are looking for some ready to go plans for the lot, Montag says he’s got them covered.

“If they wanted to take [the plans] over, they'd go fast,” he said, “but maybe they have their own ideas.”