The 9 DeKalb Avenue Tower is a supertall mixed-use skyscraper currently under development in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. It is being constructed by Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group.
The tower is located in Downtown Brooklyn, several blocks within the former tallest buildings, 11 Hoyt and Brooklyn Point. The building is also neighbouring other tall mixed-use structures, including the three towers of City Point. The mixed-use skyscraper will comprise the Dime Savings Bank development, designed by Mowbray and Uffinger, next to its base. The bank design was made in a Classical Revival style. The inner side of the bank building is known for its huge gilded Mercury-head dimes and the rotunda, added in a 1931-32 extension and supported by twelve red marble columns.
The exterior of the building will be clad in stone, stainless steel and bronze. The designer, SHoP Architects, revealed that the firm took inspiration from the Dime Savings Bank Building design, with the development’s vertical features mirroring the bank’s columns.
The 9 DeKalb Avenue tower will accommode around 150 condominiums and 425 apartments surrounding roughly 466,000 square feet (43,300 m2) and 140,000 square feet (13,000 m2) of commercial area. The Dime Savings Bank will be converted to upscale retail and possibly the new building entrance. The fifth floor of the tower will include an outdoor terrace, with residential units mix set as rental properties, the owners applied for tax breaks on the state’s 421-a tax exemption program in 2015, prior to the program’s expiration, which would need dedicating at least twenty percent of the development’s units as affordable housing.
JDS and Joseph Chetrit’s Chetrit Group possessed the site in late 2015. The Dime Savings Bank of New York Originally, developers decided to acquire the development occupied by Junior’s, a cheesecake restaurant, to use its air rights. However, the owner, Alan Rosen, declined a $45 million buyout.
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Timeline.
2014.
In mid 2014, plans for the tower were first filed, calling for a seventy-story, 775 foot structure, also designed by SHoP Architects. The development would mark JDS and SHoP third partnership after 111 West 57th Street and the American Copper Buildings.
2015.
In December, Fortress Investment Group offered a $115 million loan to JDS and Chetrit Group for the site purchase and refinancing of debt related to the Dime Bank property.
2016.
New plans were revealed with a small height extension and space for retail reduced. The existing Dime Savings Bank structure modification proposals were approved by New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in April, showing support for the building’s construction. Changes comprised the removal of non-original additions to the building and repairing damage to the structures’s marble and copper.
2017.
In February, Bank OZK and Melody Finance gave a $135 million bridge and pre-development loan for the 9 DeKalb Avenue tower. The loan replaced Fortress’s debt and earlier funding from the Kushner Companies.
2018.
In August, JDS invested more $60 million in equity to purchase Chetrit’s stake in the property, raising their ownership of the development to 100%. Construction started in mid-year. In November, Silverstein Properties’ debt fund Silverstein Capital was reported to be close to $240 million mezzanine loan for the scheme, in addition to $400 million in added debt from a senior lender. In April 2019, The loan closed along with $424.1 million in construction financing from Otéra Capital.
2020.
As of November 2020, construction was underway, and the concrete core had reached 28 stories.
2021.
As of July, the height of 9 DeKalb Avenue tower had rised above 721 feet, making it Brooklyn’s tallest building in Brooklyn. In October, Brooklyn’s first supertall skyscraper officially reaches its full height. The skyscraper is now tallest structure in New York City outside Manhattan.
