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Con-Ed con-dos?

By Ben Muessig
The Brooklyn Paper
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The Brooklyn Paper / Jeff Bachner
An old Con Ed power plant on the hot Williamsburg waterfront may be demolished.

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Sudden construction activity at a long-dormant Con Ed power plant on Kent Avenue set off immediate alarms in a neighborhood antsy about the arrival of more luxury condo towers.

The Gothic-styled Division Street plant has been dormant since the late 1990s, but it’s been buzzing in recent weeks, as workers have covered it in scaffolding and ripped several large holes in the walls.

Con Ed maintains that it is performing routine cleaning, but many in the neighborhood believe that the energy giant is preparing to demolish the 102-year-old building so it can put the waterfront development site on the market.

“We’re just cleaning up the site,” said Con Ed spokesman Bob McGee. “There’s a lot of speculation, but we’re just cleaning up. There are no plans for development at this site.”

Brooklyn Bridge Realty

But that hasn’t dispelled rumors, which were also fueled by recollections of a similar Con Ed plant on the East Side of Manhattan that was sold in 2000.

In that case, Con Edison did not level the nine-acre tract before the sale to developer Sheldon Solow, who was able to purchase it for $630 million.

He’s now building a $4-billion project on the site.

The Kent Avenue plant rests on a lot that is slightly larger than a city block, and its waterfront location could make it equally desirable for developers.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

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