Owners of the Jewish Press building on the Park Slope side of the Gowanus Canal are betting the post-industrial wasteland is ready to burst with new life by putting the massive Third Avenue structure up for sale.
The brokers selling the home of the Jewish weekly newspaper for $10 million are marketing the building for almost every future use under the sun.
“[Its] unique building configuration features a cathedral-like 44-1/2-foot ceiling that opens the possibility for a wide range of uses including industrial, community-facility, recreational facility, self-storage, retail or a future mixed-use residential development,” the real-estate firm, TerraCRG, said in a statement.
Developer Shaya Boymelgreen, the builder of the Novo condos nearby on Fourth Avenue, had tried to acquire the property as part of a proposal for a “Gowanus Village” development of 400 condos. But he failed to acquire the Jewish Press headquarters (pictured) and ultimately abandoned the residential compound.
The area around Third Street, Third Avenue and the polluted waterway is a virtual development graveyard. Across Third Street from Boymelgreen’s failed ambitions is the stillborn Whole Foods supermarket site. The grocery chain now says it needs an outside developer to jumpstart the project.
The city, however, is trying to encourage projects like these in the old industrial and, in some cases, heavily contaminated corridor by launching a sweeping rezoning process that would allow housing and shopping on blocks that are currently restricted to manufacturing use.
