Local studio Commoncraft has used a cantilevered volume to curve 545 Metropolitan over its neighbours, navigating the narrow Brooklyn site in order to provide more floor space. Located on Williamsburg's busy Metropolitan Avenue just across from the Lorimer L subway station, 545 Metropolitan is a six-storey mixed-use building that contains apartments, ground-level commercial space and terraces on its backside and roof. The building is wrapped in a black stucco finish, which contains a mica chip to give it a subtle glimmer, and features rows of slim rectangular windows on its front side, punctuated by a single "inverted arch" window.
SF-based developer Align Real Estate does, in fact, have a larger strategy to redevelop Safeway properties in the city and turn them into multi-story residential complexes with retail on the ground floor, including replacement Safeway stores. With Tuesday's announcement that Align, the same developer behind the project to redevelop the Fillmore Safeway property, was working to potentially redevelop the Ocean Beach Safeway in similar fashion, we surmised there could be a larger strategy at play.
Text description provided by the architects. 3dor office symbolizes the harmonious integration of a mixed-use building situated in a semi-urban locality surrounded by lush greenery on one side. The project strives to have a complete public character to the office and to have maximum privacy for the residential spaces, as well as to have a connection for both the functions, which would symbolize the work-life balance of a person.
City staff recommended against the zoning change, arguing that the proposed LI-PDA zoning wasn't merited by the site's needs and would be inappropriate. They suggested using the controversial DB90 district instead.
