In October 2013, New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) designated Jonathan Rose Companies (JRCo) as the winner of a competition to develop a 12,423 square foot city-owned site at the corner of Lafayette Avenue and Ashland Place in the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District. JRCo proposed to develop a dynamic mixed-income, mixed-use building featuring cutting edge design, an innovative residential program, and spaces for a much-needed restaurant and cultural uses.

Caesura consists of 123 units in 106,000 square feet, comprised of micro-units and conventional apartments. The building also adds approximately 24,600 square feet of cultural space and will include a 2,900 square foot restaurant.

On a constrained urban site Caesura maximizes shared communal areas by offering a fitness center and bike room, a common goods lending library, a community lounge for social gatherings, and a double-height conservatory for yoga and quiet contemplation. A landscaped roof terrace animates the “fifth façade,” providing a natural connection for residents in the heart of the city.

The building sits at the nexus of the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District, offering an exciting opportunity for building residents to live among and engage with some of New York’s most exciting and esteemed cultural institutions. Nearby neighborhoods are some of the most vibrant, including Park Slope, Fort Greene, Boerum Hill and Downtown Brooklyn. The shopping, dining, nightlife and parks in these communities are some of New York’s most buzzed about, attracting residents from all over New York, and visitors from around the world.

Additionally, the site is one block from the Atlantic Avenue – Barclays MTA station, which is served by six subway lines and the Long Island Railroad, providing an easy 20-minute commute to midtown Manhattan.

The project involved a public-private partnership between the city agency which owned the land and the private developer. Two architectural firms collaborated on the design – a firm with an urban housing practice and an emerging firm based in Brooklyn.

Location: Brooklyn, NY
Developer & Owner: BCD:A LLC
Partners: Jonathan Rose Companies; Dattner Architects; Bernheimer Architecture; SCAPE; Bozzuto