Bronx developer Steven Westreich proposes 96-unit Greenpoint building

Steven Westreich, a developer whose building permits have concentrated in the Bronx, is proposing a 9-story, 96-unit building at 488 Leonard Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The proposal comes from a new-building job filed with the Department of Buildings on October 22 under Westreich’s Westorchard Management. The application sat in plan examiner review as of October 23 and has not been approved.

Why it matters

Westreich’s filing history runs almost entirely through Bronx addresses: alteration and demolition jobs on Clifford Place, Weeks Avenue, Lorillard Place and East 194th Street among them. A 96-unit new building would be his largest project on record and his first push into Brooklyn’s Greenpoint market, a neighborhood that has drawn steady new-building activity on its northern blocks near McGuinness Boulevard. For brokers and lenders tracking who is active in the submarket, this filing adds a new name to watch, not yet a confirmed project.

The numbers

The job filing lists 96 proposed dwelling units across 9 stories, with 80,885.5 square feet of total construction floor area on a lot recorded as block 2698, lot 7 (BIN 3067529). That floor area works out to roughly 842 square feet per unit before any lobby, corridor or amenity space is netted out, consistent with a market-rate rental or condo layout rather than a micro-unit building. A related standpipe sub-filing tied to the same job number was logged in the Department’s system on October 23.

What’s next

The filing remains in plan examiner review, the Department of Buildings stage where staff check the application against the zoning and building code before any permit issues. No permit has been granted and no demolition or construction activity has been filed at the address. Brooklyn’s Community Board 3 has not scheduled a public hearing tied to this filing as of this writing. The next milestone to watch is whether the Department approves the application and issues a new-building permit, which would let Westreich begin site work.

Read more New York development coverage.