A plant—or at least its image

475 Clermont is a 12-story building with 363 residences that opened last April at the intersection of two Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhoods, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

Designed by Aufgang Architects, with interiors by Durukan Design, and built by Broadway Construction Group, 475 is the first residential development in New York City for RXR Realty. To help call attention to the building, the developer commissioned a 90-foot-tall, 5,800-sf exterior mural painted by Mona Caron, a Swiss-born and San Francisco-based artist who is known for her community-specific and multistory artworks that highlight urban flora.

To select a wildflower for the mural that was indigenous to Fort Greene’s landscape, Caron worked with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s curator of native plants and the NYC Greenbelt Native Plant Center on Staten Island. Her choice—the Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa)—is a medicinal plant used by Native Americans.

Caron completed the mural in 10 days working with assistance from the firm No Entry Design; and Anne-Laure Lemaitre, an independent curator. (A time lapse video of their work can be viewed here.)

The 12-story 475 Clermont Building is RXR Realty's first residential project in New York City. Image: Courtesy of RXR

The mural is painted onto the side of an adjacent building that overlooks 475 Clermont’s courtyard, and is visible exclusively to its residents. RXR also worked with horticulturalists from Blue Plant NYC that picked up the mural’s theme within the building’s landscaping so that residents could touch and smell the plant as well.

The cost of the mural, which was unveiled last May, was not disclosed.

Mona Caron - Brooklyn Weeds from RXR Realty on Vimeo.

Despite a disruptive pandemic, investor demand for multifamily real estate was strong in 2020, according to a newly released Yardi Matrix Bulletin. Around 252,000 apartment units were absorbed last year. That’s about 1.7% of total market stock and down 12% from the 286,300 apartments purchased in 2019.