The 34-story DKLB BKLY N rental complex is a first of its kind for Fort Greene, and capitalizes on the neighborhood’s stunning financial ascendance

Fort Greene officially has the most rapidly accelerating rents in the borough, and has undergone one of its most dramatic reinterpretations over just the last five years. The first wave of young urban professionals and freshly-minted college grads that occupied the often gorgeous Italianate and Eastlake brownstones found cheap rents—if occasionally spotty grocery store and other amenity infrastructure–just ten years ago, along with a stubborn propensity towards crime. In the years since, the streets have turned into boulevards, Ashland Place and Lafayette Street have turned into retail and cultural hubs, and early buyers have found bliss.

Still, construct ion height was something of a rarity here (the iconic Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower aside), at least until architects Costas Kondylis & Partners developed the design for this 34-story rental complex on 80 Dekalb, dubbed DKLB BKLN. The firm, which was principal architect for Trump International Hotel and Tower, Silver Towers, and Riverside South (a.k.a. Trump Place) certainly has its altitude bona fides in place, and it shows. The building soars, but isn’t a hulking monolith, owing mostly to a novel, tiered, half-ziggurat façade, which cleverly allows for outdoor deck components for a number of the 292 market rate and 73 affordable units. (It was the first development in the borough, incidentally, to be financed with bonds from the New York State Housing Finance Agency.) Developed by Forest City Ratner Companies, is also among the borough’s first high-rise developments that was designed for LEED certification, an environmental sustainability distinction that was awarded in part due to the community’s forward thinking recycling program, comparatively low energy consumption, low VOC paints, and recycled and/or recyclable building materials.

Appointments are plentiful, and generous–they include washers and dryers in every unit, expansive 9- to 11-foot ceilings, stainless steel appliances, maple wood flooring throughout, with the currently available three penthouse units offering a great deal more, including significantly additional living space, including terraces. All tenants share a lobby attended 24 hours, a fitness center, valet parking, and a common landscaped terrace—and the separate lounge sports communal Wi-Fi, a fireplace, library, and even a common kitchen.

DKLB BKLN
80 Dekalb Ave. / 718.222.3552 / dklb.com