In the two years since The Hamilton opened its doors, more than 70 percent of the original residents are still in place and it is consistently 93- to 95-percent leased. The sprawling mid-rise, mixed-use development at 968 60th Street, with 92 apartments and 14,000 square feet of retail, has an established residential community with predominantly millennial renters. Bolstering its unique status in the neighborhood will be Shokunin BBQ, an upscale Japanese barbeque and sushi restaurant opening on the Fort Hamilton side of the building in early 2019.

“The Hamilton was initially an unusual development for Sunset Park, but today echoes the diversity and family orientation of the neighborhood,” says Yoel Sabel of Halcyon Management. “Our goal was to develop a distinctly lifestyle-driven building with rents consistent with area rates, which we accomplished.” Among The Hamilton’s free communal lifestyle amenities are a business center/library, 1,500-square-foot, fully-equipped gym, screening room, furnished roof-deck with multiple barbeque grills and unobstructed views of Brooklyn and Manhattan skylines, PGA golf-simulator room, and a safety-padded children’s playroom with toys and height-consistent furnishings. Located across the street from the N train and a short walk from the D train, The Hamilton’s proximity to transportation has attracted many residents working at nearby Industry City, who are also able to bike to work, as well as healthcare professionals from such local hospitals as Maimonides Medical Center and NYU Lutheran Medical Center. Another product of its value-driven rents and ease of travel to and from Manhattan, the building has also become home to Wall Street workers and a host of creative professionals, such as fashion designers, independent filmmakers and television writers.

Built by Halcyon Management, the same group responsible for 101 Bedford in Williamsburg and The Plex in Crown Heights, The Hamilton has spacious layouts and on-site, residents only parking. As in other Halcyon buildings the stylish interiors and amenity spaces were created by international interior designer Hadas Metzler and feature open kitchens with stainless steel appliances, blond-wood cabinetry, ceramic tile backsplashes and Caesarstone counters. The porcelain-tiled bathrooms have fashionable black matt-finish faucets and hardware, and deep soaking tubs or separate showers. Other apartment extras include exceptional closet-space, in-unit storage, high ceilings, oversized windows, and hardwood floors.

Stretching along Fort Hamilton Parkway, between 60th and 61st Streets, The Hamilton is also close to schools, parks and abundant retail. The retail and restaurants on the strip comprise a culturally eclectic mix of Russian, Hispanic, Japanese and Korean-owned businesses, among others. Another area retail corridor, only two blocks from the building, is “Lucky 8th Avenue,” also known as Little Fuzhou Chinatown with myriad multi-cultural shops, massive groceries, and blocks and blocks of restaurants. More information about The Hamilton may be found at www.Thehamiltonbrooklyn.com or by calling 718-633-1033.

Nikki Grossman had her eye on Sunset Park for some time.

Formerly a resident of the Lower East Side, Grossman moved to area rental building The Hamilton in June. She says she was drawn to the 98-unit development, which opened two years ago at 968 60th St., by its amenities (which include a fitness center, landscaped roof deck and screening room) and reasonable rents (studios from $2,200, one-bedrooms from $2,350).

Though less hyped than other, more celebrated Brooklyn nabes, Sunset Park’s affordable prices and low-key vibe have been luring residents from other city spots and even other counties in the state. Take Christina Poletto, 42, and her 5-year-old son Theodore, who recently relocated to the neighborhood from Rockland County.

For Grossman, who grew up in nearby Gravesend, it was also a repatriation of sorts.

“I had been living in Manhattan just for proximity to work, but I had been wanting to come home,” says Grossman, 40, a nurse at New York University’s main hospital. “When I learned about [The Hamilton] and all its amenities, I was very interested.”

Little wonder — despite a wave of commercial development and a steadily rising profile, newly built, amenity-rich apartment buildings are still a rarity in Sunset Park. That could be changing, though, as a number of new residential projects are poised to transform the south Brooklyn neighborhood in coming years.

One of the largest is Raymond Chan Architects’ proposed mixed-use development at 6208 Eighth Ave. In the works since 2014, the project has undergone significant revisions in response to community feedback. According to Chan, the most recent version of the complex has been adjusted to include more outdoor space and shrink the height from 17 to 12 stories.

Slated to begin construction in 2023, the development will consist of 250 residential units along with a school, a library, medical offices, retail, an 11-story hotel and a 1,900-plus-space parking garage spread across three buildings. The Department of City Planning held a hearing to glean feedback on the project last month and the period open to public comment closed on Sept. 17.

Chan says he envisions the complex serving the area’s thriving Chinese community, in particular.

“Sunset Park has become a major hub for a lot of Chinese” New Yorkers, he says, adding the neighborhood doesn’t have sufficient parking or public space to serve this growing population.

“Hopefully this [project] will help address that situation,” says Chan.

A major new development has also been proposed for 6205 Eighth Ave., just across the street. In August, real estate website New York YIMBY published renderings of a multi-use three-building project from developer New Empire Corp. by DXA Studio for the two blocks between Eighth Avenue and Fort Hamilton Parkway between 61st and 62nd streets. The land is owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which in December 2017 put out a request for proposals for a mixed-use development on the site. New Empire and DXA did not respond to requests for comment.

Somewhat smaller, but closer to fruition, is a joint project by the Brooklyn Public Library and Fifth Avenue Committee to build a new, expanded Sunset Park branch at 5108 Fourth Ave. that includes 49 affordable rental units.

Construction on the project is slated to begin shortly, says Christine Hunter, a principal at Magnusson Architecture and Planning, which designed the building’s residential component.

The development “represented an opportunity to enlarge the library and at the same time provide affordable housing,” Hunter says. “It’s a creative mixed-use approach to two things the neighborhood needs.”

And, she adds, given the pressures in Sunset Park and across the city for new housing, “we anticipate this will probably be just the first of what is to come.”

A 25-unit condo development, 4907 Fourth Ave., launched sales this summer with one-bedrooms from $480,000. It’s repped by Sunset Park native Daniel Chen of the brokerage KeyWorthy.

That said, most activity in the area remains focused on its stock of townhomes, where buyers priced out of ritzier spots like Park Slope are seeking bargains, says Andrew Barrocas, CEO of brokerage MNS Real Estate.

Prices are on the rise, though, adds Drew Fabrikant, CEO of real estate analytics firm Scout. Over the last six years, the average price per square foot in the neighborhood has more than doubled from $311 to $634. Average closing price in that time has gone from $554,000 to $1.1 million.

That average closing price is equivalent to more established Brooklyn neighborhoods like Prospect Heights, which also posted an average closing price of $1.1 million, Fabrikant notes. However, Prospect Heights is twice as expensive on a price-per-square-foot basis ($1,238), which is a result of the larger sizes of the properties available in Sunset Park.

Driving this rise are recent arrivals from more established Brooklyn neighborhoods, says Frank Cullen of Parkview Terrace Realty.

“People who, say, own a condo in Brooklyn Heights and want to buy a townhome,” he says. “They’re coming in, exposing the brick, bringing up the ceilings, repairing the fireplaces — all the things people have been doing in the other brownstone neighborhoods.”

Sunset Park brownstones in good condition can run in the $1.4 million to $1.7 million range, with prices slightly higher in blocks near its namesake park, Cullen says. A four-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse with prewar details at 451 37th St. is asking $1.59 million with Michele Silverman of Corcoran.

He adds that he has also seen an uptick in inquiries from people living along the L train who are looking to flee before the line’s shutdown.

And while large-scale residential development has lagged in Sunset Park, the area has seen a commercial boom in recent years, kicked off by Belvedere Capital and Jamestown’s 2013 redevelopment of Industry City, the 6.5 million-square foot commercial complex along the neighborhood’s waterfront at 274 36th St. In addition to commercial tenants like Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment (parent company of the Brooklyn Nets, which has built a practice facility at the complex), the development features dining spots like Burger Joint and Filament and retailers including ABC Carpet & Home and Design Within Reach.

Also eye-catching, a seven-story mural by artist Camille Walala that covers the façade of one of the complex’s buildings.

Last year, Industry City’s developers applied for a rezoning that would add another 1.3 million square feet to the site while expanding its retail offerings and adding a pair of hotels.

Others have followed. For instance, Madison Realty Capital purchased a former warehouse at 14 53rd St. for $82.5 million in 2015 and converted it to a 500,000-square-foot commercial property called the Whale Building. Tenants include recreational facility Socceroof and event production business Satis&fy. The firm also owns Sunset Yards, a 200,000-square-foot office building under construction at 341 39th St. near the waterfront. Space will be available for occupancy by the end of the year.

Ultimately, this commercial boom will likely translate to a residential one, predicts Barrocas: “I anticipate more work, more jobs being created in the area, and that job creation is really the number one driver of residential growth in an area.”

Those working outside the neighborhood can catch the N and R trains along Fourth Avenue. “You can jump on the [express] at 59th Street [and Fourth Avenue] and you’re in Midtown Manhattan in five stops, which is pretty awesome,” Grossman says.

NYC Ferry opened a stop last year at the Brooklyn Army Terminal at 58th Street. The boat carries passengers from Sunset Park to Wall Street in a roughly 30-minute trip that stops at Red Hook, Atlantic Avenue and Dumbo along the way.

But while Sunset Park has the look of an area on the cusp, it’s in some ways still a sleepy Brooklyn hamlet.

Poletto and her son moved from upstate to what Poletto says is “a super-spacious two-bedroom” in a prewar multifamily building on Ninth Avenue and 46th Street.

A writer and home stylist, Poletto lived in Brooklyn for years before taking a four-year sojurn upstate to live with family. Her work and a longing for “the energy of urban life,” drew her back to the city, she says. Upon returning to Brooklyn, she looked first in Kensington, Flatbush and Ditmas Park, but ultimately settled on Sunset Park, drawn by the spaciousness and character of her apartment as well as the area’s proximity to spots like Sunset and Prospect parks, Industry City and Theodore’s school in Red Hook.

The neighborhood isn’t without its downsides (Poletto cites the lack of a good grocery store nearby and a 24-hour pharmacy as two main gripes), but it comes with perks like cultural diversity and “a truly real distinct feel and vibe” that Poletto says she feels have disappeared from many other New York neighborhoods.

“In some ways, this area feels a little bit stuck in the past,” she says. “But I think that’s something to embrace and celebrate.”

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Halcyon Management Group rang in the 2017 with a residents’ party at The Hamilton, its newest amenity-laden building at 968 60th Street. Having leased over 65 percent of the 92 studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units in the span of just a few months, the gathering was well-attended by singles, couples, and families alike. They shared refreshments and toasted the building’s success with white sangria while enjoying a great playlist from DJ G.C. Morales.

“The Hamilton is a new community as opposed to yet another building,” says co-developer Yoel Sabel of Halcyon Management Group. “Our tenants have bonded over the excitement of the building and the thrill of living in a neighborhood that is rising as fast as this one.”

In addition to building-sponsored events, residents regularly make the most of the chance to get together in the building’s amenities. The library and meeting room on the first level is a natural work-from-home space; across the dramatic double-height lobby, residents can unwind in the game room with regulation-size billiard and pool tables or in the adjacent media room. One level down is a 1,500-square-foot, fully equipped fitness room, brightly hued children’s playroom, PGA golf simulator, and separate, state-of-the-art laundry area. A large landscaped roof deck with cabanas and gas grills will open this spring, and residents also have an on-site parking garage.

Beyond the communal spaces, the distinct design of the apartments lends itself to stylish living and entertaining opportunities. Each unit has high ceilings, large windows, hardwood floors, and generous closet and storage space. The kitchens, which are laid out in a way that allow residents to cook and entertain while facing their families and guests, feature stainless-steel appliances, gas ranges, blond-wood cabinetry, glass-tile backsplashes, and Ceasarstone countertops. The serene, porcelaintiled bathrooms offer deep soaking tubs or rain shower heads, and all include stylish black mattefinish faucets and hardware.

Located on the border of Sunset Park and Borough Park, The Hamilton is close to schools, parks, and two main retail corridors bustling with multicultural shops and a diverse range of restaurants. The building is conveniently located near bus stops and the N and D subway lines, from which it is approximately a 40-minute ride to midtown Manhattan.

More information about The Hamilton may be found at http://www.TheHamilton.com or by calling 718-633-1033.

968 60th Street, rendering by Karl Fischer

An abandoned factory on the southern edge of Borough Park was demolished last year, and now new rental apartments are rising in its place. YIMBY has a look at the design for the new building at 968 60th Street, near the border with Sunset Park and Dyker Heights.

The five-story development, called the Hamilton, will wrap around a full block on Fort Hamilton Parkway between 60th and 61st streets. Retail will occupy the ground floor along 61st Street and Fort Hamilton Parkway, and residents will be able to enter through a lobby on 60th Street.

The building will offer 92 apartments, ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. PR reps for the project tell us that rents will start at $1800 for studios and go up to $4,000 for a three-bedroom. The rents seem a bit ambitious for the area, especially since the subways and the freight trains rattle beneath a concrete bridge along an open cut across the street. Still, the Hamilton will provide new housing for the neighborhood’s growing Orthodox Jewish, Chinese, and Mexican communities.

The apartments will span 85,688 square feet of residential space, creating nicely sized average units measuring 930 square feet. The ground floor will host 13,900 square feet of retail, which may include restaurants or small shops.

The cellars will have a 63-car parking garage and 4,500 square feet of amenities for tenants. There will also be a shared roof deck on the top floor.

The developer is Lipa Friedman’s Halcyon Management, and the ubiquitous Karl Fischer designed the project. Halcyon has also developed two other pricey rental buildings in Brooklyn—101 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg and The Plex in southern Crown Heights.

This property sits inside the industrial area that stretches between Sunset Park and Borough Park, and it was originally zoned for heavy manufacturing. But the developers secured a variance to convert the factory to apartments back in 2005. The measure allowed them to demolish most of the factory and build a new structure on the foundations of the old building.

The former factory at 6002 Fort Hamilton Parkway, aka 968 60th Street

Gearing up for its projected summer opening, construction at The Hamilton is right on schedule, including build-outs of the model apartments in the new mixed-use rental development at 968 60th Street.

The five-story building, which spans the entire block between 60th and 61st Streets along Fort Hamilton Parkway on the border of Sunset Park and Borough Park, will have 92 studio-, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

There will be 14,000 s/f of commercial retail and/or restaurant space, with all glass frontage along Fort Hamilton Parkway.

Co-developer Yoel Sabel of Halcyon Management, said, “The apartments have features in line with new developments in Williamsburg or Greenpoint, including modern layouts and top-of-the-line finishes.”

Some 4,500 s/f of amenity space includes a fitness center, game room, children’s playroom, business center, residents’ library, PGA golf simulator and massive landscaped roof deck.

An industrial section of Borough Park, Brooklyn, and a rough-edged corner of Williamsburg may not be the most obvious places to put up luxury housing. But high-end rental buildings are rising in both places, as developers continue to push into untested markets.

The two projects are the 92-unit Hamilton from the Halcyon Management Group, at 968 60th Street in Borough Park, and the 82-unit Williams fromMidwood Investment and Development, at 282 South Fifth Street in Williamsburg, right near the bridge entrance.

“The types of tenants we expect to come, the type we are looking for, are willing to be the first ones to come to this kind of neighborhood,” said Mehul Patel, Midwood’s chief operating officer.

To attract those tenants, developers seem to be going all out with designs, materials and amenities to win them over.

At the five-story, full-block Hamilton, the architect Karl Fischer and the interior designer Hadas Metzler have channeled the spirit of a condominium into a former roller-skating rink. The building’s studios to three-bedrooms will feature bathrooms with Italian porcelain tiles and built-in stereo speakers that can be hooked up to flat-screen televisions or play tunes from an iPod.

The kitchens were designed with entertaining in mind. In most apartments, stoves do not sit against walls, but are tucked into the islands in the kitchens. The idea, Ms. Metzler said, is that during a dinner party, hosts can face their guests and cook at the same time.

Other entertainment options include a first-floor game room, with pool and Ping-Pong tables and a nearby 1,000-square-foot lounge that can serve as a shared home office for self-employed residents, said Yoel Sabel, the senior project manager of Halcyon, which previously developed the 98-unit Plex Brooklyn in Crown Heights.

A rendering of the Williams, a new rental in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. CreditMorris Adjmi

Offering in-house attractions may be a smart move. Located near auto-repair shops on a lot that had to be rezoned for residential use before the $25 million project could proceed, the Hamilton might be considered remote for anybody who works in Manhattan. The N train, which has a stop at Fort Hamilton Parkway a block away, normally takes around 40 minutes to get to Midtown. (The commute will be even longer at least until next year: The Fort Hamilton station is being renovated, which requires Manhattan-bound commuters to head deeper into Brooklyn before switching to Manhattan-bound trains.

The building’s rental rates are lower than the borough’s median, which was $2,378 a month for a studio in June, according to Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Monthly rents at the Hamilton, which plans to begin leasing this month and open in September, start at $1,800 for studios and $2,300 for one-bedrooms.

The Williams, too, is a departure for its neighborhood. Its charcoal-colored facade, from the architect Morris Adjmi, soars 13 stories above low-slung red brick apartment buildings near Marcy Avenue on a site that extends to Broadway.

Inside, the studios to two-bedrooms will have glass-paneled oak cabinets, quartz counters and Grohe fixtures. Many of the units will offer views of the Williamsburg Bridge and the Manhattan skyline beyond it. Rows of metal panels in the lobby were salvaged from the canopy of Spilkes Bakery, which formerly stood on the site.

Studios at the Williams will start at $2,660 a month when leasing begins this month, and no concessions will be offered, said Mr. Patel of Midwood. The building is set to open by August.

But renters will get many extras. A landscaped roof features a fire pit, recliners and an outdoor shower. And on the third floor is a 26,000-square-foot wraparound terrace with lawns, a vegetable garden and a dog run, even though some of the grassy areas practically touch the platform at the Marcy Avenue stop of the elevated J, M and Z subway trains.

Broadway, which runs under those tracks, is lined with a hodgepodge of fast-food restaurants, nail salons and discount apparel stores.

For his part, Mr. Patel of Midwood said he hopes to bring in new retail along Broadway with the commercial tenants he will install in the Williams’s six retail berths. One of them has already been leased to Blink Fitness, he added.

The building’s setbacks insulate it from much of the noise from the subway and traffic coming over the bridge, though Mr. Patel said that, in a way, the Williams embraces the din. “There are many New Yorkers,” he said, “who appreciate the hustle and bustle of the city.”

You might not be able to see Broadway’s “Hamilton” anytime soon, but if you’re looking to rent in Brooklyn, at least you can snag a nice unit at The Hamilton in Sunset Park. This five-story, 92-unit, mixed-use development — located at 968 60th St. — debuts this summer with estimated rents to begin at $1,800. The property, for which Karl Fischer handled architecture, will cater to those in need of anything from a studio to a three-bedroom. Homes come with built-in speakers, wide-plank wooden floors, Caesarstone counters and stainless steel appliances. Amenity spaces include a gym, game room, business center, library and, if you’re looking to whack some balls, a golf simulator. For prime summertime enjoyment, there’s also a landscaped roof deck.

Contact: Halcyon Management Group, 718-633-1033

With easy accessibility to five area hospitals and healthcare facilities, The Hamilton, a luxurious 92-unit rental development opening later this summer at 968 60th Street, in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, is likely to become home to dozens of local doctors, nurses, students, and other healthcare staff. Within walking distance to Maimonides Medical Center and Boro Park Center and a short trip by car or public transportation to NYU Lutheran Medical Center; Lutheran Augustana Center for Extended Care and Rehabilitation, an affiliate of NYU Langone; or slightly further to Brooklyn Hospital Center, residents will welcome the convenience of living and working closer to home.

“Beyond the reasonable travel times,” points out co-developer Yoel Sabel of Halcyon Management, residents will also be heading home to beautiful new apartments with layouts and details comparable to luxury developments in Williamsburg, but at more accessible rents.”

Located between 60th and 61st streets on Fort Hamilton Parkway at the border of Sunset and Borough Parks, The Hamilton offers studios through three-bedroom apartments with oversized windows, hardwood floors and open kitchens with stainless- steel appliances, Euro-style cabi-

netry and center islands with woodblock overhangs for counter seating. The bathrooms have deep soaking tubs or showers with rain-forest showerheads and full-mirror, multishelf medicine cabinets. Other features include double closets in all the bedrooms and additional in-unit stor-
age. Moreover, many of the apartments have private terraces.

For residents winding down after a long day, The Hamilton has a fully equipped fitness center, game room, children’s playroom, business center, library, PGA golf simulator room and a huge landscaped roof deck. When completed, the building will have on-site, below-grade parking. In addition, it is in the heart of two vibrant neighborhoods with abundant services, international supermarkets and restaurants, and approximately 40 minutes from Midtown Manhattan by the N and D trains. The leasing office is scheduled to open in July 2016.

Model Apartments Being Completed at The Hamilton in Sunset Park
Gearing up for its projected summer opening, construction at The Hamilton is right on schedule, including build-outs of the model apartments in the new mixed use rental development at 968 60th Street. Already framed out with the façade skin and wiring completed, the five-story building, which spans the entire block between 60th and 61st Streets along Fort Hamilton Parkway on the border of Sunset Park and Borough Park, will have 92 studio-, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with high-quality finishes, oversized windows and a host of exciting details. In addition, The Hamilton will have 14,000 square feet of commercial retail and/or restaurant space, with all glass frontage along Fort Hamilton Parkway.

“The architectural design, including the masonry façade, are contextual, while the building’s clean lines bring a contemporary accent to the streetscape,” points out co-
Developer Yoel Sabel of Halcyon Management. “The apartments have features in line with new developments in Williamsburg or Greenpoint, including modern layouts and top of-the-line finishes.”

The apartments at The Hamilton have light-stained hardwood floors throughout and open kitchens with stainless steel appliances, most with double-door refrigerators, and all with deep zero-radius undermounted single-basin sinks, blond wood-finish Euro-
style cabinetry, Ceasarstone counters, tiled back splashes, and center islands with wood block overhangs for high-top counter seating. The porcelain-tile bathrooms have deep soaking tubs or showers with rain-forest showerheads, black matte-finish Brizo faucets and hardware (black matte-finish Grohe faucets in the master bathrooms), and full-mirror, multi-shelf medicine cabinets. Other exceptional features include double closets in the bedrooms and generous additional in-unit storage.

The Hamilton will also feature 4,500 square feet of amenity space, with a fully-
equipped fitness center, game room, children’s playroom, business center, residents’ library, PGA golf simulator and massive landscaped roof deck. In addition, the building will have on-site, below-grade parking.

Adds Mr. Sabel, “We’ve raised the bar for new construction in this area and improved the streetscape. But this also a secure, well-established neighborhood close to great transportation and other conveniences, which is already a significant draw for prospective residents.”

The Hamilton is approximately 40 minutes from Midtown Manhattan on the N train, which stops less than a block away. Public transportation going into Manhattan is two blocks away and includes the N, B and D subway lines. In terms of neighborhood conveniences, there are groceries throughout the area, including an international supermarket with fresh produce across the street and other services within close radius.

The leasing office is scheduled to open in early summer. More information may be found at www.Thehamiltonbrooklyn.com or by calling 718-633-1033.