Here’s how Brooklyn’s Watchtower building will be fixed up for its transformation to swank offices

New details have emerged on the conversion of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower building complex in Brooklyn Heights. A development consortium known as Columbia Heights Associates, picked up the five-building complex in August 2016 for $340 million, and they’re now planning to spend $80 million to convert the complex into offices, retail, and public space, the New York Post reports.

As plans stand right now, the two buildings connected by a skybridge at 25 and 30 Columbia Heights will feature 600,000 square feet of office space. Tenants in the building will have ceilings heights that range from 11.6 feet to 18 feet, floor plates that run from 20,000 square feet to 38,000 square feet, and many of the tenants will also have access to terraces.

The building at 25 Columbia Heights will have 1,000 square feet of retail, while the one at 30 Columbia Heights will have 23,000 square feet, and an outdoor staircase that leads to the retail area.

The smaller buildings in the complex at 50 and 58 Columbia Heights and 55 Furman Street will get 63,000 square feet of offices and 10,000 square feet of retail, though the developers are considering turning 58 Columbia Heights into a boutique hotel.

The development group, which is comprised of LIVWRK Holdings, the CIM Group, and Kushner Companies, said they chose not to demolish the existing structures because of their potential as spacious office buildings.

With the iconic Watchtower sign having been taken down in December last year, work to transform the complex into swank offices is now underway.

• Five-building complex in Brooklyn to get $80M makeover [NYP]
• Brooklyn’s Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower complex gets renderings for its future as Panorama [Curbed]
• Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Watchtower building in Brooklyn sells for $340M [Curbed]