A New Building Aims to Be a Good Neighbor in Low-Rise Brooklyn

To fit into Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, known for its brownstones and low-key style, new buildings must follow a pattern: Be stately but not flashy, and above all honor the integrity of the neighborhood.

Buildings in Boerum Hill are much lower-profile than the skyscrapers in nearby Downtown Brooklyn and parts of Prospect Heights. One of the newest arrivals, still under construction, is named Bergen. And while the project doesn’t stand out too much in the neighborhood, it doesn’t blend in entirely, either.

The seven-story Bergen is a bit taller than most of its neighbors and occupies much of the block of Bergen Street between Third and Fourth Avenues. In renderings, the exterior, made of precast concrete brick, appears fairly muted — except for its gently pleated, zigzag pattern. The building doesn’t look too ostentatious on a block of brick townhouses, brownstones and some newer apartment complexes.

Bergen’s interiors, however, will be much grander in scale. Residences at Bergen range from studios to five-bedrooms and start at $700,000. (Prices haven’t been set for the larger apartments.) The building will include 12,000 square feet of amenities, including a cold plunge pool, a podcast studio and a steam room, across four floors in the center of the building, with two conjoined rooftops. Bergen will also have a garden area, with terraces for residents and public outdoor space for the community, that will double as the building’s storm water management system.