Newswalk Condo

1997 - Brooklyn plant of the Daily News closes and relocates in NJ due to inability to print 4 color

1999 - Shaya B. Developers (Shaya Boymelgreen) buys 535 Dean Street with hope to have city pass a zoning revision to have a theater on the ground floor with residential space above.

2002- Condos at 535 Dean Street starts selling. NYTimes art :" To renovate the Newswalk building, Boymelgreen Developers had to convince the city to rezone the site from manufacturing to mixed use, a process that took more than two years.

The 88 apartments in the first offering range from $315,000 for the smallest loft (690 square feet) to $1.3 million for the larger of two penthouses (2,500 square feet, with a 2,500 square foot terrace). Two bedrooms with dens (1,700 square feet) go for $699,000 and duplexes, (1,420 square feet) available only in loftlike one-bedroom configurations, are $499,000 to $519,000. In addition, nine apartments with 30-foot ceilings will be carved out of the first floor.

Community Board 8 granted its approval for the project with some reluctance. ''The problem in the area goes far beyond that building,'' said Dennis Drucker, the board's housing chairman. ''We have a horrendous number of factories there that no longer provide employment. Meanwhile, the residential market is insane. Things that couldn't be given away five years ago are now worth half a million.

''The problem is that very few people who grew up in or now live in the district can afford that, and it means the end of possible manufacturing jobs. Unfortunately, though, we don't have a choice, and that is why our committee with some reservations and requests supported Newswalk. We decided that a live residential building is better than a dead factory.''