Another Con Ed site may soon be reinvented with a glassy construction. Plans are in the works to construct a 350-foot tall commercial tower designed by Marvel Architects at 500 Kent Avenue in South Williamsburg.

At a Department of City Planning public scoping meeting held last Thursday, Marvel revealed their design for a new 23-story tower, a proposal that includes a mix of office (593,400 square feet), retail (20,480 square feet), park space, and an underground parking garage for about 300 cars.

View from Division Avenue | Marvel Architects

The proposed building is a glass and masonry tower defined by pivoting volumes set atop a podium of columns and retail. The ground floor opens up on the site's central axis to offer a public pathway to the waterfront. As part of the development, roughly 37,200 square feet of the site will be turned into a community green space stretching along the Wallabout Channel and around the property.


Proposed site plan | Marvel Architects

From as early as the late 19th century, 500 Kent Avenue was occupied by power plants. Con Edison, which acquired the property in the late 1950s from the city, shuttered the plants in 1999 and razed the buildings in 2009. While the site underwent environmental remediation in 2014, the land has since remained undeveloped.

Currently, the 500 Kent is zoned for industrial use (with a variance for residential that was received in 2010) and it will need to be rezoned to commercial. In step, a Draft Environmental Impact Statement is required of the developer for public review. The document will investigate the potential effects the proposed project will have on local infrastructure, the community, and the waterfront. It will also address any comments received during the scoping meeting (which were few). If all goes as planned, the project will then enter the city’s formal Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). 

The current owner of the property is Kent Member LLC, a partnership that includes Tomas Rosenthal’s Hampshire Properties, according to The Real Deal.