Toby Moskovits and Rubenstein Partners’ 25 Kent Ave development in Williamsburg will be much bigger than originally envisioned, thanks to the city’s decision to give the project a special permit.

The city had been planning to rezone a 14-block area surrounding the project, which would’ve allowed projects there to increase their BSF without including community spaces, as is normally required, Crain’s reports.

The move was part of an effort to spur office development in the area. Instead, 25 Kent Ave will be able to expand to 400k SF, in exchange for setting aside about 60k SF for light manufacturing.

Without the permit, the project would’ve only been about 160k SF. Even without special permits like this one, Williamsburg has been seeing a revival of office projects over the last year or so.

The city says it will consider granting similar permits to other nearby projects on a case-by-case basis. [Crain’s]