The 11-story development includes 123 apartments, of which 40% will be affordable to families earning between 80% and 130% of area median income, 2,800 square feet of retail space for a flagship 'wichcraft restaurant and 21,400 square feet for cultural use. The Center for Fiction will occupy 17,696 square feet and the Mark Morris Dance Group will occupy 3,757 square feet. The project is located at the corner of Lafayette Avenue and Ashland Place—near the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Barclays Center.

The Center for Fiction—the only literary center in the country solely devoted to the creation and celebration of the art of fiction in all forms—will be larger than the Mercantile Building, its current Manhattan location at 17 E. 47th St. The group owned the facility but sold it several years ago, allowing it to fund a build-out of its larger Brooklyn space, Rose says.

The Mark Morris Dance Center, which debuted in 2001, will open two new studios in its new space at the building. In addition to traditional dance studio offerings, the Center provides free classes for families and people with Parkinson's disease.

The development also will house Brooklyn's first 'wichcraft restaurant, the fast-casual chain owned by chef Tom Colicchio. The location will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and incorporate unique offerings compared to other sites, including outdoor seating. “Being called 'Arts Plaza' by the city, the outdoor plaza at 'wichcraft will provide an outdoor seating area in the heart of the cultural district,” Rose tells GlobeSt.com.

In addition to the restaurant and cultural uses, BCD:A also will feature an environmentally responsible design to promote healthy living, resource conservation and energy efficiency, to meet or exceed LEED Silver standard.

Other building amenities include a resident lounge, and a top-floor fitness center and double-height conservatory. The property also will include a “Product Lending Library” (or “virtual closet”) that will include a collection of thoughtfully selected items that residents may need once in a while, but not every day. Examples of such items include a video projector, large stock pot, pasta maker and bocce set. These will be rented to residents for a modest fee, with the goal of creating a new model of collaborative consumption.