Hills & Gardens: Townhouse Plans Win Praise
By Trudy Whitman
Another set of Cobble Hill triplets is gestating! (We’re writing here about the real estate variety of multiples.) Readers will recall the saga of 110 Amity Street — the former Lamm Institute — and its contiguous parcels on Amity and Henry. Developer Simko Aranbayev is currently excavating for the construction of 357-361 Henry Street, where three 4,000 square-foot townhouses will be built, ending one chapter in the 110 Amity story.
Three new townhouses will also rise on the empty lot at the corner of Strong Place and Kane Street. That property, along with two abutting houses on Henry Street, was purchased in December 2010 by Strong Place residents Frances Varron and Edward Slatwinski. Varron told me at the time that the ink was barely dry on the purchase documents before she and her husband were approached by developers interested in the vacant lot, long a neighborhood parking area. Donald Brennan, who heads Brennan Realty Services, a firm headquartered in DUMBO, is the new owner. Brennan retained Brendan Coburn of CWB Architects to help envision three residences for the parcel.
2 Strong Place is planned as a one-family, 4,127 square-foot, 4 ½ story, 5-bedroom custom home with a 800 square-foot detached carriage house suitable for a garage and studio. The design for 4 Strong Place also shows a one-family home. This one measures 3,877 square feet and has 4½ stories with five bedrooms. The outdoor space features multiple terraces and a large rear garden. 4A Strong is approximately the same square footage as number 4, but is designed as a two-family dwelling with a garden-level, one-bedroom rental unit.