The owners of a warehouse visible to hundreds of drivers entering The Heights every day have officially applied to the city with hopes of revamping their property into a residential project.
Development speculation at a three-story brick building spanning an entire block at 107 New York Avenue has heated up quite a bit in 2019.
An initial proposal from earlier this year called for an 18-story project containing 128 residential units, but a second version was scaled back significantly to rise nine stories and include 96 apartments plus three separate retail spaces.
A community meeting held in March left little doubt that those in attendance still opposed the project despite the changes.
While nothing has been announced since then, ownership behind 107 New York Avenue has quietly submitted an application to the city’s planning department for a development that’s even more scaled-back but is nonetheless still taller than what’s allowed per zoning regulations.
The third version of the project would adaptively reuse and expand the existing warehouse into a six-story development set to rise 67 feet at the highest point. 75 residences total would be included, breaking down as five studios, 56 units designated as either one- bedroom or one-bedroom plus den, 20 two-bedroom units or two-bedroom plus den, and four four-bedroom apartments.
A 17,000-square-foot parking garage with 76 spaces is built into the plan, but the latest proposal completely eliminates all the retail space that was included in previous versions.
The developer’s property falls within an R-1 Zone, which caps building height at three stories. As a result, the application is requesting variances for use and height from the city’s zoning board.
The latest proposal is designed by Hoboken-based MVMK Architecture, who also worked on the earlier plans. The firm says the design of the latest version isn’t finalized yet despite the application being submitted to the city, so new renderings have not been made available.
107 New York Avenue is owned by a company called MJSM LLC, which is registered out of the same address. Jersey Digs has traced ownership of the company to Brooklyn residents Moshe and Dalia Scaba. The pair don’t seem to have any previous involvement in other real estate development projects.
While plans for 107 New York Avenue were submitted on August 2, no date has been set for the zoning board to hear the application. Jersey Digs will continue to monitor any new information that may emerge about the project.