Nifty buildings near the Sunset Park ferry dock

Eye on Real Estate

May 17, 2017 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

This Brooklyn Army Terminal building is one of many eye-catching industrial properties near the new Sunset Park ferry dock. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan

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People with jobs at the Brooklyn Army Terminal know their way around this terrain. For the rest of us, it’s uncharted territory.

We know Sunset Park’s landmark-worthy brownstone blocks well, and we go to Industry City to shop for Li-Lac Chocolates. Even so, we were unfamiliar with the streets near the new Sunset Park ferry dock until we walked around the area the other day.

We saw lots of interesting properties. Here are some of them:

* The Brooklyn Army Terminal is a 55-acre industrial complex at First Avenue and 58th Street. It was designed by Cass Gilbert, the Woolworth Building’s architect.

BAT is operated by the EDC (namely the New York City Economic Development Corporation). Twice a month, public tours are offered.

* From Pier 4, where the Sunset Park ferry dock is located, you can see a former industrial building with a whale’s tail painted on it. This is the Brooklyn Whale Building, whose address is 14 53rd St.

Hunt Slonem, one of the coolest artists on the planet, has a studio in the building. He keeps 30 to 100 birds of various species — including parrots — in an aviary in his studio, and often paints with a bird or two perched on his shoulder.

The Brooklyn Whale Building’s owner, Madison Realty Capital, bought the property for $82.5 million in 2015, city Finance Department records indicate.

* Nearby, East of Hollywood New York is located in an old-fashioned warehouse building at 140 53rd St. There are sound stages used for feature films, commercials and photo shoots as well as parties, weddings and events.

* An old-fashioned warehouse that’s at 5112 Second Ave. is rented out to the New York City Board of Elections — meaning the entire 167,000-square-foot building.

The building belongs to an LLC and two corporations; Selim Rusi is the managing member of the LLC and the president of both corporations, Finance Departments indicate.

This investment trio purchased the building for $15 million in 2006, Finance Department records show.

* Across the street at 5121 Second Ave., there’s a classic red-brick building with horizontal bands of yellow brick and a green cornice — with a ground-floor restaurant named the Lutheran Halal Café. The concept behind the café is not a melding of religions. Zabihah.com, a guide to Halal restaurants and markets, says a hospital located nearby inspired the inclusion of the word “Lutheran” in the café’s name.

The eye-catching residential building where the restaurant is located has belonged for the past two decades to Spencer Operating Corp., whose secretary is Bukurije Marke, Finance Department records indicate.

* The hospital that inspired Lutheran Halal Café’s name is NYU Lutheran Medical Center at 150 55th St. It takes up an entire block between 55th and 56th streets and First and Second avenues.