60 Water Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 60 Water Street by Carter Horsley

This 17-story, glass-clad, apartment tower opened in 2015 at 60 Water Street next to the Brooklyn Bridge in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn.

It has 232 market-rate apartments and 58 affordable units whose residents were selected from more than 10,000 applicants.

It was erected on a cobblestone street by Two Trees Management Company, which is also redeveloping the former riverfront site of the Domino Sugar Company nearby.

60 Water Street was designed by Lesser Architecture, and Ismael Leyva Architects.

The development will eventually include a 300-seat middle school on Dock Street, retail space on Water Street and a garage of Front Street.

Bottom Line

This modern, mid-rise tower is 85 feet away from the Brooklyn Bridge and also very close to the dramatic riverfront site of Jane’s Carousel, which was designed by Jean Nouvel for the wife of David Walentas, the principal of Two Trees – all this and not too shabby views of Lower Manhattan.

Description

The light-colored building has angled, thin, glass mullions that give the L-shaped tower considerable texture and glitter.

The building has a thin, angled entrance marquee with underside, angled pipe lighting.

The building has a three-level underground public parking garage, 10,000-square feet of ground floor retail space, and a 45,000-square-foot public middle school for 300 students.

According to the Lesser Architecture website the design “uses pattern at two scales to enliven the surface of the residential tower project,” adding that “at the large scale, a branching two-story line cuts an iconic void pattern into the field of glass fins that wrap the building.”  “At the small scale,” it continued, “a pattern of opposing triangles on each fin creates the illusion that the façade is undulating.”

Amenities

The building has a gym and a roof deck designed by the landscaped firm of James Corner Field Operations, which was a designer of the High Line Elevated Park in Chelsea.

Apartments

Apartments have wide-plank oak flooring and white Caesarstone kitchen countertops.

Apartment 412 is a 1,045-square-foot, one-bedroom unit with a 19-foot-long living room with a slightly angled wall and a pass-through kitchen.

Apartment 824 is a 1,007-square-foot, two-bedroom unit with a 15-foot-long living room with a pass-through kitchen and large terrace.

Apartment 823 is a one-bedroom unit with 808 square feet and an entry foyer that leads to a 20-foot-long living room with a pass-through kitchen and a large terrace.

Apartment 409 is a 796-square-foot, one-bedroom unit with a 15-foot-long living room with a pass-through kitchen and an 11-foot-wide dinette.

Apartment 325 is a 631-square-foot, one-bedroom unit with a 15-foot-long living room with a pass-through kitchen and a large private terrace.

Apartment 817 is a 455-square-foot studio unit with a 17-foot-long living room with an open kitchen.

History

According to a January 16, 2015 article by Ronda Kaysen in The New York Times, opponents of the project “tried in vain to block it when the site went through a lengthy land-use approval process in 2009.”

“The roster of notable critics,” the article continued, “included the actors Helen Hunt and Gabriel Bryne, along with the documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and the writer David McCullough” who wrote “The Great Bridge, The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge” in 1972.

Rents started at $2,964 for a 452-square-foot studio and $3,498 for a 621-square-foot one bedroom unit.