852 St. Johns Place will get a 2-story addition

I walked by this building the other day and noticed the DOB permits with a dumpster out front. A construction fence will likely be going up shortly. I've been wondering what would happen to this building as it's been vacant for at least 3 years. 

duplicate post

The former site of Glenda's restaurant:  http://www.brooklynian.com/discussion/45581/goodbye-glendas-on-st-johns-off-nostrand

Actually, Glenda's is next door (to the left) at 854 St. Johns Place. They are essentially gutting that space and it has it's own set of DOB permits. 

The ground floor of this building use to be a day care once upon a time. They were trying to rent it, unsuccessfully, as such for several years but gave up, I guess. 

Ah, I saw the covered up Glenda's sign in your post. and reached the wrong conclusion.  

This will be the site of that Passive House project:

http://newyorkyimby.com/2014/12/permits-filed-passive-house-project-at-852-st-johns-place-crown-heights.html

Seems like whoever bought the building to do construction is aware of how ugly it is and wants to redo the facade. That's a welcome change as it is in pretty poor shape. I'm not sure who thought it would be a good idea to mix brick, concrete, and vinyl siding but I'd venture to guess that they weren't thinking at all.

As per YIMBY article:

"The current building totals around 3,100 square feet of net floor area, to which nearly 3,000 square feet will be added, for a new total of 5,800 square feet of net residential space (the rest taken up by mechanicals and common space that doesn’t count towards zoning).

The property has traded hands five times over the past decade, with the first sale in 2005 for just $390,000. The latest sale came earlier this year for $1.23 million, or more than $210 per buildable square foot, putting 852 St. John’s Place in the hands of the current developer."

We have reached the building-hat stage of gentrification.

This building has led many different lives. I'm guessing each time the tenant changed, they had just enough money to accomplish what they needed, hence the patchwork of cheap materials. Now it sounds to me like the entire front and rear facades will be stripped off with only the structure remaining. Based on this architect's previous projects, I'm guessing they'll go the modern route. 

The scaffolding was going up this morning. They've been gutting it for a while. Exterior work must be getting started soon. 

In order to make this into a passive house, they are going to have to seal every crack.  

Each building Reno lately mentioned appears to house a unique story

There seems to be a lot of competition among the $2M row houses, so some differentiation might help.

renderings and details: https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/market-insight/features/the-new-skyline/first-look-zakrzewski-hyde-architects-passive-house-being-built-crown-heights/5746#.V9GcR9Sk1NI.twitter