Construction has started at the future Red Hook warehouse that will soon be home to an Amazon distribution center.
Located at the former site of the Revere Sugar Factory at 280 Richards St., on a pier sandwiched between IKEA and the former location of Fairway, it was long planned to be the home of a Norman Foster-designed waterfront office complex. The developer, Thor Equities, scrapped those plans in 2019.
Permits filed in September 2019 call for a one-story manufacturing facility covering 310,967 square feet. Renderings show a standard warehouse with a mix of white and olive on the facade. A long vehicle ramp at the side of the building leads to parking on the roof. More parking will exist along the sides and back of the building.
From what Brooklyn Paper’s sister publication Brownstoner could see during a recent visit to the site, it appeared that ground had been broken and construction had begun. A foundation appears to be in place and walls are starting to rise at the site.
Ware Malcomb, who is also behind the design of a warehouse down the street, is listed as the applicant of record.
It’s been a long wait for something to arrive on the waterfront property, which has long been various piles of dirt. Thor Equities purchased the site in 2005 for $40.52 million. It was previously home to the Revere Sugar Factory, which Thor demolished in 2009. At one time, he intended to build a mall on the site.
In February 2018, local residents voiced concerns at a community board meeting about possible hazards of the dirt piles on the site and the possibility that Thor would flip the property, according to Bklyner. Fox Rothschild land-use attorney Eric Knowles, who was present at the meeting, denied it.
Amazon, which signed a lease agreement in November 2020, is planning a “last-mile distribution center” on the site, which comes at the same time local residents are pushing to have fewer delivery trucks on the neighborhood’s streets.
This story first appeared on Brownstoner.com.
