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Downtown Brooklyn

Central business districts in New York CityDowntown BrooklynNeighborhoods in BrooklynUse mdy dates from January 2017
Downtown Brooklyn skyline from One World Observatory
Downtown Brooklyn skyline from One World Observatory

Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City, United States (following Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is known for its office and residential buildings, such as the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower and the MetroTech Center office complex. Since the rezoning of Downtown Brooklyn in 2004, the area has been undergoing a transformation, with $9 billion of private investment and $300 million in public improvements underway. The area is a growing hub for education. In 2017, New York University announced that it would invest over $500 million to renovate and expand the NYU Tandon School of Engineering and its surrounding Downtown Brooklyn-based campus.Downtown Brooklyn is part of Brooklyn Community District 2 and its primary ZIP Codes are 11201 and 11217. It is patrolled by the 84th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Downtown Brooklyn (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Downtown Brooklyn
MetroTech Commons, New York Brooklyn

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Wikipedia: Downtown BrooklynContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 40.694 ° E -73.986 °
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Address

New York University - Brooklyn campus

MetroTech Commons
11201 New York, Brooklyn
New York, United States
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Downtown Brooklyn skyline from One World Observatory
Downtown Brooklyn skyline from One World Observatory
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81 Willoughby Street
81 Willoughby Street

81 Willoughby Street (formerly the New York and New Jersey Telephone and Telegraph Building) is a commercial building in the Downtown Brooklyn neighborhood of New York City. Built from 1896 to 1898 as the headquarters for the New York and New Jersey Telephone and Telegraph Company (later the New York Telephone Company), it is located at the northeast corner of Willoughby and Lawrence Streets. The building is eight stories tall and was designed by Rudolphe L. Daus in a mixture of the Beaux-Arts and Renaissance Revival styles. The facade is largely clad with limestone on its bottom four stories, as well as brick and terracotta on its top four stories. The Willoughby and Lawrence Street elevations of the facade are each divided vertically into three bays and are highly similar in design. The main entrance is through an ornamental arch on Willoughby Street, at the southeast corner of the building. The remainder of the building contains ornamental details such as a curved corner with an oculus window, as well as a deep cornice on the upper stories. The building measures eight stories high with a basement and was largely constructed with a steel frame. When the building was constructed, the entire structure contained various departments, with a telephone exchange on the top floor. The New York and New Jersey Telephone Company decided to construct 81 Willoughby Street in 1896 in response to increases in its business. Plans for the new structure were filed in May 1896, and the building was occupied by early 1898. The company's business grew so rapidly that it moved some operations to another building in 1904 and constructed a six-story annex at 360 Bridge Street between 1922 and 1923. New York Telephone acquired 81 Willoughby Street in 1929 and retained central office equipment there after a new telephone building opened at 101 Willoughby Street in 1931. The company sold off the building in 1943, and the building has remained a commercial structure ever since, accommodating offices, laboratories, and educational institutions. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a city landmark in 2004.

BellTel Lofts
BellTel Lofts

The BellTel Lofts (formerly the New York Telephone Company Building, 101 Willoughby Street, and 7 MetroTech Center) is a mostly residential building at 101 Willoughby Street and 365 Bridge Street in the Downtown Brooklyn neighborhood of New York City. Constructed from 1929 to 1931 as the headquarters for the New York Telephone Company, it is located at the northeast corner of Willoughby and Bridge Streets. It was one of several Art Deco-style telecommunications buildings designed by Ralph Thomas Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker in the early 20th century. The building was renovated into a residential complex in the mid-2000s. The BellTel Lofts measures 348 ft (106 m) tall, with 27 above-ground stories and three basements. Its design is influenced by German Expressionism, with Art Deco detailing, and derives much of its decoration from the arrangement of the bricks. The building's shape features a largely symmetrical massing and numerous setbacks with decorative parapets. At ground level, the main entrance is recessed at the center of the western facade on Bridge Street, while most of the remaining ground-story openings are metal-and-glass storefronts. On the upper stories, the facade is divided vertically into multiple bays and taper to a tower on the top nine stories. When 101 Willoughby Street was constructed, the ground story contained a lobby and auditorium, while the upper stories were used as offices. Since the 2000s, the building has contained 250 residential units, designed by Beyer Blinder Belle. The New York Telephone Company decided to construct 101 Willoughby Street in 1929, consolidating operations from several other buildings, including the company's old headquarters at 81 Willoughby Street. Plans for the new structure were filed in November 1929, and the building formally opened on October 28, 1931, as New York Telephone's second-largest building. The New York Telephone Company continued to occupy the building through the late 20th century, with thousands of employees there. Part of the building was renovated into a training center in the late 1980s, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a city landmark in 2004. The building was sold in February 2005 to David Bistricer for $68 million, and his company Clipper Equities converted the structure to a residential condominium complex. Although sales of the condo units began in October 2006, many of the apartments remained unsold for several years.

370 Jay Street
370 Jay Street

370 Jay Street, also called the Transportation Building or Transit Building, is a building located at the northwest corner of Jay Street and Willoughby Street within the MetroTech Center complex in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. The site is bounded by Pearl Street to the west, and was formerly bound by Myrtle Avenue at its north end; this portion of the street has since been de-mapped.The site has historically served as the headquarters for the operating agency of the New York City Transit System, built by the New York City Board of Transportation (BOT). After 1953, it housed the New York City Transit Authority and Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which succeeded the BOT. The building is notable for housing the revenue-collecting operations of the New York City Subway, performed by money trains on nearby subway lines, which were connected to the lower levels of the building via passageways. The building is one of the earliest modernist buildings in the city. When it opened in the 1950s Lewis Mumford praised it for its design, and architect Robert A. M. Stern in the 1990s considered it a historic building and potential landmark. In recent times, however, the building has been viewed as an "eyesore" within the Downtown Brooklyn landscape, and has fallen into disrepair as the MTA has gradually vacated the building since 1990. In 2012, New York University (NYU) reached an agreement with the MTA to take over the building and renovate and restore it to become part of its Brooklyn Campus. NYU started moving into 370 Jay Street in 2017.