A new boutique condo building is on the rise in Crown Heights at 669 Saint Marks Avenue between Rogers and Nostrand Avenues.

The five-story, 16,000-square-foot project officially broke ground last week and will bring 10 new units to the neighborhood, each afforded an outdoor terrace.

Cycle Architecture + Planning

The design of the building is a contemporary interpretation of its neighbors, clad in a light brick and distinctive for its casement windows. While the renderings don't reveal much of a standout structure (it echos the style of Robert A.M. Stern in some ways), the building's environmental cred certainly gives it a boost.

Designed by Cycle Architecture + Planning, the architects employed Passive House guidelines to reduce the building's carbon footprint to "low- to net-zero" with the help of a "16 KW PV array, along with efficient equipment, layouts, and enclosure details," they write on their site (which shows an earlier, perhaps more attractive, rendition of the design).

The developer, Milan, Italy-based Masmark LLC, was awarded $238,920 via the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Buildings of Excellence competition for the project.

In a press statement, Masmark founder, Massimo Cocco, said: “I’m very proud of this important achievement for our first project in New York. Bringing our expertise and experience developing Net-Zero Energy buildings to New York is our mission. We strongly believe that this is the only way to build new buildings and with this project we want to inspire others to follow this path. And It’s not just about having very low energy consumption, it’s also about improving the quality of life inside our homes that makes them a better place to live.”

A completion date has not yet been announced.