SHoP Architects’ 9 DeKalb Avenue Becomes Tallest Building in Brooklyn

Designed by SHoP Architects, 9 DeKalb Avenue becomes Brooklyn’s new record holder for the tallest building. The supertall structure is currently under construction–it reached 721 feet last week, as announced by the JDS Development Group on their Instagram.

Once topped out, DeKalb Avenue will reach 1,066 feet tall, overtaking the current tallest building in Brooklyn: Brooklyn Point at 720 feet, designed by the American architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox. The tower is expected to be complete by 2022.

SHoP Architects’ tower will also become New York’s first supertall building that is not in Manhattan; supertall skyscrapers are those ranging from 984 feet and 1,969 feet tall.

Located adjacent to the Brooklyn Dime Savings Bank, 9 DeKalb Avenue respects the architectural features of the context–this appears in the tower’s facade that comprises bronze, steel, and stone as its main elements, and the vertical features mirroring the Bank’s columns.

The 73-story tower also incorporates the historic landmark into its base. The Brooklyn Dime Savings Bank was built in 1906 by architects Mowbray and Uffinger, and is being restored and transformed into a shopping center and might as well function as the entrance to the under-construction tower. Moreover, the bank plays an important urban role as it circulates pedestrians between Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street; two of Brooklyn’s significant roadways.

Parallel to respecting history, SHoP Architects are making the best of modern-day’s technologies, they stated that “Augmented Reality (AR) is being used in the field, both to more clearly visualize the future building and to more efficiently make it real by supplementing traditional project documents.”

JDS Development is an American real-estate development group based in Manhattan. They are collaborating with Ackerman Development, which specializes in residential and mixed-use projects in the US market. 9 DeKalb will mainly function as a residential tower, with properties for both sale or rental. 

With a total area of 762,000 square feet, the tower includes almost 150 condos and 425 apartments over 466,000 square feet and 140,000 square feet of commercial space. 

9 DeKalb Avenue is not SHoP Architects and JDS Development Group’s only collaboration; another supertall skyscraper of their work is currently under construction in New York. Designed to be “the world’s skinniest skyscraper”, 111 West 75th Street topped at 1,412 feet with a height-to-width ratio of 24:1. The structure is expected to complete this year.

SHoP Architects are a US architecture firm whose partners introduce themselves as “architects and innovators, craftspeople and problem solvers, highly-trained specialists and proud generalists who share global expertise in anticipating and designing for what’s ahead.”