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Eliot Spitzer's New Williamsburg Development Is A Futuristic Nightmare Ripped From <em>Blade Runner</em>


By

Rebecca Fishbein

Published Mar 29, 2016

Modified Mar 29, 2016


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Courtesy ODA Architects

 


By

Rebecca Fishbein

Published Mar 29, 2016

Modified Mar 29, 2016


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One of the least realistic things in the movie Blade Runner is that people are permitted to smoke in office buildings in Los Angeles in the year 2019. One of the most realistic things, aside from the fact that we're all going to be murdered by androids, is that architecture is hideous in the future. Such will be the legacy bestowed upon us by former Governor Eliot Spitzer, whose inaugural development along the Williamsburg waterfront promises to look something like an upside-down ice cube tray.

The Love Gov took charge of his family's real estate business last year, heralding the arrival of a $700 million luxury residential development at 416-430 Kent Avenue. The development will feature three 22-story towers boasting a total of 857 rental apartments, along with a park and esplanade. There will also be rooftop pools, terraces, recreation rooms, and all sorts of other things a person totally needs in New York City.

The architectural style is apparently based on "a molded iceberg," which sounds like it will be a very comfortable place to live if you are a penguin. And you'll have to be a rich penguin, since a mere 20 percent of the units will be designated "affordable" housing, though apparently non-rich Antarctic creatures and humans alike will be able to set foot on the park and esplanade, which will be accessible to the public.

Note that these piles of ice cubes will be just a few blocks from the development going up at the Domino Sugar Factory site, and that there will potentially be no L train in 2017, so it looks like everyone's going to have a grand old time on the J train in the future.

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eliot spitzer

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Rebecca Fishbein

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