Mirror, Mirror: The new Dock Street Project reflects surroundings

July 8, 2014 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Gaze into the glass façade of the DUMBO developer family's Dock Street project

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Old Walentas, new Walentas.

Gaze into the glass façade of the DUMBO developer family’s Dock Street project, on the left side of this new Brooklyn Eagle photo. That’s the famed Clocktower Building you see reflected there.

It’s only fitting that the project in progress should serve as a mirror for its century-old neighbor.

Two Trees Management, the Walentas’ family company, converted the magnificent industrial building at 1 Main St. to condos in 1998.

The 1914-vintage property, located in a landmarked portion of the neighborhood, is known far and wide for its crown with four clock faces on it.

The Dock Street project is a Two Trees residential building, too — with 290 apartments planned, 58 of them affordable for low-income residents.

The new rental-apartment complex is starting to take shape after construction crews labored during the almost endless winter. Now they’re slogging through steamy summer.

The new building, whose address is 60 Water St. in city Buildings Department filings, is tall enough now that it can be seen from the Brooklyn Bridge. Really seen — as our photo taken from the walkway of the world-famous span shows. It’s the structure covered in orange netting.

The development’s proximity to the bridge was a reason for years of hard-fought opposition to the project. In response, Two Trees changed the design so that the tallest part of it — which will top out at 17 stories — is the farthest away. The portion closest to the bridge is seven stories high.

It would be wrong to leave the Brooklyn Bridge without snapping a shot of that other span which gave DUMBO its name (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass).