The World’s Tallest “Passive House” Building is Coming to Downtown Brooklyn

By Michael Gonik

Downtown Brooklyn is about to welcome another glossy (and energy-efficient) behemoth to its crowding skyline.

According to YIMBY, scaffolding will soon go up at One Third Avenue, where Alloy Development and The Vistria Group plan to put up a new “Passive House” construction that would be the world’s tallest to date. The 62-story mixed-use building will stretch a whopping 730 feet into the air, housing 30,000 square feet of retail and 60,000 square feet of office space on the first ten floors. Above that, the building will hold 583 residential units on floors 11 through 60, 153 (or roughly 26%) of which will be affordable, starting as low as $1,023 per month.

If you’re brushing up on your eco-friendly developer speak, a “Passive House” refers to a pretty rigid set of design standards that lower carbon emissions and increase energy conservation. To meet them, the Alloy will reportedly utilize big operable windows, an exceedingly well-insulated building envelope, and filtered air in the construction of One Third Avenue. Additionally, the structure will repurpose two 19th-century buildings at State and Schermerhorn Streets at its base for retail, public spaces, and an auditorium. The building marks the beginning of phase two for what the developers call the “Alloy Block,” a triangular city block with Flatbush Avenue to the north and east, Third Avenue to the west, and State Street to the south, which already holds both the city’s first passive house school, the Khalil Gibran International Academy, at 489 State Street, and its first all-electric skyscraper at 505 State Street.

Though it may be Kings County’s cleanest new construction of its size, Brooklyn Tower, in all its ominous and lurching glory, is still the borough’s tallest. And a new high-rise from Rabina and Park Tower Group, around the corner from Brooklyn Tower, will be a close second upon completion.