One Willoughby Square
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One Willoughby Square (originally 420 Albee Square), styled as 1WSQ, is an office building under construction in the
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
borough of
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. The building is being developed by JEMB Realty, and current plans have been drafted by
FXCollaborative FXCollaborative is an American architecture, planning, and interior design firm founded in 1978 by Robert F. Fox Jr. and Bruce S. Fowle as Fox & Fowle Architects. The firm merged with Jambhekar Strauss in 2000 and was renamed to FXFOWLE Architec ...
.


History

The developer purchased the main site at 420 Albee Square for $38.5 million in 2014 and bought the rest of the development area from the New York City government for $18.3 million in 2017. The Girard family had owned it for years and operated the site as a parking lot. The developers also purchased of development rights from the neighboring 217 Duffield Street, in exchange for financing a park on the site. In September 2014, the developers filed plans for a 65-story, tall mixed-use tower named 420 Albee Square, designed by
SLCE Architects SLCE Architects is an American architecture firm which provides architectural services in both the public and private sector. Between 2010 and 2015, the firm received the most commissions for residential developments in New York City. The firm is ...
. The planned tower would have been one of the tallest in Brooklyn and featured of space with devoted to office and the rest spread among 620 apartments. However, by November 2015 these plans had been scrapped in favor of a shorter 35-story tower featuring of office space.
Kohn Pedersen Fox Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) is an American architecture firm that provides architecture, interior, programming and master planning services for clients in both the public and private sectors. KPF is one of the largest architecture firms in ...
was brought on as design architect and their design featuring a glass and masonry facade was revealed in June 2017. However, FXFOWLE later replaced Kohn Pedersen Fox and redesigned the building entirely. One Willoughby Square will be the first major ground-up office project to rise since
Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City after Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is known for its office and ...
was rezoned in 2004 and will also become the tallest office tower in Brooklyn. Permits for the office development were filed in September 2017. Construction at the site began in early 2018. The building topped out in October 2019. Otera Capital, a Canadian real estate lending company, provided a $235 million construction loan for the project in July 2018.


Architecture and design

Because of an existing hotel and apartment tower built around the perimeter of the site, One Willoughby Square will have an irregular T-shaped floor plan. Current plans for the building include blue glazed bricks and a pleated pattern in two shades. The building features factory-style windows to maximize light. Additionally, the mechanicals, elevators and bathrooms of the building will be offset to the side of the tower (rather than its center) to reduce the amount of interior walls and maximize open floor space. Every other floor in the building will have an outdoor balcony. In addition, there are three “super floors” that will have 18-foot ceilings heights and terraces and loggias. In front of the building, originally developers were planning to construct a 700-car underground parking garage, but this was cancelled.


Usage

The second through sixth floors of the building will be used for a new school for the
New York City School Construction Authority The New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) manages the design, construction and renovation of school facilities in New York City. The Authority is overseen by a three-member Board of Trustees appointed by the Mayor. Two of the current ...
.


References


External links


Official website
{{coord, 40.691227, -73.983589, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title Skyscrapers in Brooklyn Skyscraper office buildings in New York City