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Jim Austin - 715-323-3588
Managing Director, Targeted Content Inc.
Mike Schweiss - 507-426-8273
Owner, Schweiss Doors
Ten designer bifold doors from Schweiss Doors go on elaborate Brooklyn project
FAIRFAX, Minn., June 13, 2023 – Work is completed on an elaborate project to transform the former home of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower district into a sleek office/retail and high-tech campus complex renamed Dumbo Heights. Anchored at the nexus of the Brooklyn Tech Triangle and a thriving art district, Dumbo Heights is poised to become the area’s most sought after destination.
Dumbo Heights is a five-building campus along the East River waterfront in Dumbo, Brooklyn, that comprises more than 1.2 million square feet of exceptional office, retail and high-tech space. The complex is in the heart of a flourishing population of tech start-ups, galleries and performance spaces. With an efficient floor plate, high ceilings, options for private roof decks and ample natural light, the buildings on the Dumbo Heights campus are primed for any tenant.
(Dumbo is short for the Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.)
“We do see this as a campus, not just a bunch of interconnected buildings,” says Asher Abehsera of LIVWRK Holdings. The Kushner Companies-owned buildings will cater to creative-class tenants.
Amenities include a gourmet market, roof deck, pet friendly spaces, daycare facilities and bicycle storage on the $100 million overhaul which is being rebuilt from top to bottom on buildings ranging from nine to 12 stories tall in an area nearly out of room for businesses to generate. Besides the sky bridges, what binds the complex together is the 90,000 square feet of ground-floor retailing.
It's on the ground floor level where 10 Schweiss Doors glass designer bifold doors were installed on two of the buildings; eight on one building and two on another. The bifold liftstrap doors range from 20-feet, 5 inches wide to 8 feet, 7 inches wide, and heights ranging from 13 feet, 5 inches to 9 feet, 4 inches. They are all equipped with top overrides, side latch jiggle switches, electric photo eye sensors and door base safety edges. Each of the 10 doors have top-drive Leeson motors and exterior-keyed entry switches.
The Schweiss factory-built doors were purchased through and installed by AC Window and Door Inc. of Brooklyn, N.Y. One of the architectural firms assigned to the extensive project was Zyscovich Architects, an integrated urban design, architecture and interior design firm, headquartered in New York, Orlando, West Palm Beach and Colombia. The firm has been widely recognized as a leader in the design of urban projects.
Joe Breuer, project manager for AC Window and Door, says his company did all the door and window installation work for all five renovated buildings.
“The steel door structure is nice,” Breuer says. “Schweiss had great installation instructions and great customer service whenever we needed answers for anything. There were a lot of details to work out.”
Dumbo Heights is just steps from the F, A/C and 2/3 trains. Surrounded by 10 colleges and universities, 80 arts and cultural institutions and thousands of new residential units, Dumbo Heights is central to the thriving community.
“We really wanted to create a product you won’t find anywhere else in Brooklyn or most of the city, for that matter,” says Jared Kushner of The Kushner Companies. “This is really Class A space, the dark fiber, the new elevators, restaurants and roof decks, all inside the classic industrial spaces these firms love.”
About Schweiss Doors
Schweiss Doors is the premier manufacturer of hydraulic and bifold liftstrap doors. Doors are custom made to any size for any type of new or existing building for architects and builders determined to do amazing things with their buildings, including the doors. Schweiss also offers a cable to liftstrap conversion package. For more information, visit www.bifold.com.
Photo Captions:
Dumbo1: The bifold liftstrap doors range from 20-feet, 5 inches to 8 feet, 7 inches wide and heights of 13 feet, 5 inches to 9 feet, 4 inches were installed on the five-building Dumbo Heights campus along the East River. They comprise more than 1.2 million square feet of exceptional office, retail and high-tech space. All doors are equipped with top overrides, side latch jiggle switches electric photo eye sensors and door base safety edges. Each of the 10 doors have top-drive Leeson motors and exterior keyed entry switches.
Dumbo2: Buildings 1 & 2 and the sky bridge that leads to Building 5. One of the bifold doors, in the open position, can be seen just above the red motorcycle. All of the glass designer doors were equipped with photo eye sensors and door base safety edges.
Dumbo3: One of the Dumbo Heights buildings, located at Pearl Street in Brooklyn, shows four Schweiss bifold glass doors in the up position as they were being installed. Dumbo Heights is located close to 10 colleges, 80 arts and cultural organizations and draws in 500,000 visitors annually.
Dumbo4: A side view of the Schweiss bifold glass doors shows the canopy effect that the commercial businesses or restaurants moved into the building will appreciate.
Dumbo5: There are over 400 stores in three business improvements districts in this area bringing in 150,000 daily shoppers and 100,000 office workers and people living in 5,200 residential units or staying in 1,000 hotel rooms.
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Images (from left): Dumbo1.jpg; Dumbo2.jpg; Dumbo3.jpg; Dumbo4.jpg; Dumbo5.jpg (Photo captions are available at the end of the release.)