The desertification of Williamsburg may be over, with another vacant, fenced-in lot coming back to life. Just last week the sprawling emptiness at 250 North 10th Street became a money-seeded construction field for a huge rental project by LCOR. And now it looks like 502 Metropolitan—the "Gateway to Williamsburg" between Union Avenue and the BQE—is also showing signs of life. Brownstoner uncovered building permits filed by the Chetrit Group to develop 500 Metropolitan Avenue with a 242-unit, 14-story residential and retail complex, as well as a hotel. Back in 2008, this was christened the Gateway to Williamsburg, a mega-development eager to embrace the Kellogg Diner and welcome "a million shoppers hungry for big-box convenience." At the time it looked like the anchor retail tenant would be a Duane Reade or a large grocery store.
This 2008 cartoonized rendering of Williamsburg's future—the hipster mecca transformed into a big box shopping center populated by stroller-pushing, tiny dog-walking gentrificants (end-stage occupants of a rapidly gentrified neighborhood)—turned out to be startlingly accurate.
The hotel could provide an opportunity for hotel operator King & Grove to strengthen its position in Williamsburg. K&G purchased Hotel Williamsburg earlier this year for a (Brooklyn per-room) record $33 million and renamed it the King & Grove Williamsburg. The hotel operator will also run the Chetrit Group's Hotel Chelsea when it re-opens post-renovation. Will the Chetrit Group attempt a little cross-East River synergy and offer King & Grove the opportunity to run two hotels in one neighborhood?
· Long-Stalled, Huge ‘Burg Project Showing Signs of Life ['Stoner]
· 502 Metropolitan Avenue [Winnick]
· Williamsburg's Latest Luxury Rental Finally Gets Underway [CurbedNY]
· 502 Metropolitan coverage [CurbedNY]
· King & Grove coverage [CurbedNY]
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