STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Plans are filed to transform the privately owned 2-story warehouse at 139 Bay St. in St. George into a 6-story, 70-foot-tall mixed-use building, with commercial space on the ground floor and 18 apartments above, including penthouses offering spectacular waterfront views.

That's a big jump from this historic, triangular-shaped building's current 9,500-square-feet -- to 28,500-square-feet if the plan gets a green light from city authorities.

The developers' proposed plan for this site imagines 3,300-square-feet of commercial space on the building's street level, with the balance for residential use, according to plans filed with the city.

This Bay Street building, constructed in the late 1800s -- as the still-intact cornerstone documents -- is the former location of Fishs Eddy, the idiosyncratic plateware emporium that vacated this now-prime location in 2005.

As everyone knows, times have dramatically changed since then.

With the 630-foot-tall New York Wheel in the works, along with the huge Empire Outlets mall, investors and developers have big dreams for underutilized sites in St. George and adjacent neighborhoods, including Stapleton.

The 139 Bay Street project is one example of investors' creative vision.

'SUSTAINABLE' FEATURES



Planning for the adaptive re-use of 139 Bay Street has been "very purposeful," said architect Glen Cutrona, whose Grant City firm is doing the work.

"My clients are all Staten Islanders and they care very deeply about this project," he said, speaking to the Advance on behalf of the owners.

Rendering of proposal for 139 Bay St. in St. George. (Courtesy of Glen V. Cutrona Associates.)

The building's existing facade will be removed, replaced with a terra cotta skin, and the old red brick will be "re-purposed," used in the proposed new building's lobby, hallways and on the roof, as well as for accents in some of the apartments, Cutrona explained.

Apartments will feature large windows for capturing daylight -- "a sustainable feature," Cutrona noted -- and portions of the roof will also include "green" elements.

In addition to a passenger elevator, two vehicular elevators will be installed to accommodate off-street parking for 28 cars, "providing spaces in excess of what is required," he said.

'LOVE THIS PROJECT'

"I really love this project," Borough President James Oddo said Thursday.

"Aesthetically, this will be a really cool, beautiful building and use of the property, and it fits perfectly with the rest of the transformation of the Bay Street Corridor," he continued. "It's taking a building that's now off-line and (transforming) it to attract people to the area and invest their lives there.

"We should welcome an increase in the number of residents," said Oddo, expressing hope that the proposed mixed-use building will generate "more foot traffic at night" on streets now largely devoid of pedestrians after dark.

ZONING WAVERS NEEDED

The proposed enlargement of 139 Bay St. will require zoning waivers from the city Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) to exempt the developers from the following:

Mandatory floor-area regulations.

Lot coverage requirements.

Legal window and lot-lines rules.

Side-yard regulations.

The owners of the building -- 139 Bay Pointe Properties LLC, with an address at 15 Page Ave. on the Island's South Shore in Richmond Valley, according to information on the city Department of Finance website -- are also seeking permission from the BSA to allow balconies to be constructed below the third-story level of the proposed building.

Because current zoning regulations for the site do not permit this proposed redevelopment, the city Department of Buildings turned down the application, pro forma, and the proposal is now before the BSA.

VOTES OF SUPPORT

As is the case with BSA applications such as this one, a local Community Board public hearing is required.

That hearing was held at the May 4 meeting of the land use committee of Community Board 1, in the board's office at 1 Edgewater St. in Rosebank.

The committee voted 5-1-0 in support of the requested variances, with two conditions recommended: That eight of the building's 28 off-street parking spaces be allocated strictly for use of the commercial tenants, and that adequate internal space be provided for trash compaction and sorting of recyclables.

"It's a good project, and a very nice use of this building's footprint," said Vincent Accornero, chair of the land use committee of Community Board 1, who cast one of the affirmative votes.

"We're looking to bring more quality residential units to St. George, especially if we can have consumers not so car-dependent, who will not only live in the neighborhood but also support local businesses," he said.

The proposed project also "works in concert with the other developments taking place in St. George," he commented Thursday.

The full Community Board 1 will vote on the land use committee's recommendation at its 8 p.m. meeting on May 12 at All Saints Episcopal Church in Willowbrook, a meeting open to the public.

The city Department of Finance assessed the 2015-2016 market value of 139 Bay St. at $1.192 million, according to information on the agency's website.