Brooklyn Residential Development

[krulltime]

Larger Brooklyn residential developments belong here. Smaller Brooklyn developments belong in there appropriate neighborhood thread, respectively.

Brighton Beach / Sheepshead Bay (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3343)

Brooklyn Navy Yard (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5133&highlight=Brooklyn)

Clinton Hill (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5736)

Coney Island (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3257) (Commercial and Residential Development)

Downtown Brooklyn (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5840)

DUMBO (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2906)

Fort Greene (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5808)

Homecrest (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?p=42488#post42488)

Prospect Park & Vicinity (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?p=42320)

Williamsburg and Greenpoint (http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4123)

[krulltime]

"She was tired of the city — Manhattan's pretty pricey, even for a celebrity," said a Sciorra friend.

Oh...poor Annabella Sciorra.... :(

What she doesn't realize is that Brooklyn is getting 'pretty pricey' for regular folks in her neighborhood.

[billyblancoNYC]

Yeah, but you can get a brownstone in a great area for, um, $1.5 million or so. In Manhattan, good luck with that (maybe Harlem).

[elb25]

some sell for as much as 2 million

[krulltime]

Bushwick conversion

June 30, 2004

An old Brooklyn industrial property is getting a new lease on life - as apartments.

Local developers bought the two-story brick building at 1610 DeKalb Ave. for $2.25 million, or $67 per square foot.

They'll remodel the graffiti-covered Bushwick building for residential use - and add extra floors, because zoning allows a taller structure. The site includes a parking lot.

Bushwick is fast becoming a hot residential market. But the building would probably have drawn buyers regardless of its location.

"The bottom line is there's a lack of housing in New York City," said sale broker Michael Rothstein of Marcus & Millichap.


All contents © 2004 Daily News, L.P.

[Schadenfrau]

Thanks for the understatement of the year, Mr. Rothstein.

[billyblancoNYC]

Thanks for the understatement of the year, Mr. Rothstein.

Really...I wonder, in a perfect world, how many housing units could be built in NYC and be bought or rented? It has to be, at least 500K, right?

[krulltime]

Foes of planned high-rise:
Don't abridge view


BY HUGH SON
July 12, 2004

It's hard to think of a more symbolic Brooklyn landmark than the Brooklyn Bridge - the span known across the world.

Borough President Marty Markowitz wants to keep it that way, which may explain why he recommended last week that the city reject a bid from developer David Walentas to build a 16-story apartment building in Brooklyn's waterfront DUMBO neighborhood.

Walentas' structure would obscure local views of the famed bridge, the borough president said.

"The Brooklyn Bridge defines the elegance, grace and boldness of our borough for the rest of the world," Markowitz said, adding that he felt responsible to preserve the "marvelous" vistas of the span.

But because Markowitz has only an advisory role in the city review process for real estate projects, the true test for Walentas' bid will come at a City Planning Commission hearing on Wednesday.

And Jed Walentas - David Walentas' son and vice president of their Two Trees Management corporation - seemed confident that the plan to construct a 200-unit rental building at 38 Water St., within spitting distance of the bridge, would get the city's blessing.

"I can't speak for the City Planning Commission, but this is a project that came through the Office of City Planning, and they wouldn't certify it to ULURP [Uniform Land Use Review Procedure] if they didn't feel comfortable with it," Jed Walentas said.

"They're concerned with citywide interests, not just parochial, local interests," he added, in a jab at the civic organizations that vehemently oppose the building.

According to several area community groups, the Walentas building will block bridge views from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and from Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park on the East River waterfront.

"The height of the development will forever diminish the bridge's visual impact," said Katrin Adam, vice president of the Fulton Ferry Landing Association, who noted the bridge is mostly surrounded by low-rise buildings.

"I'm absolutely certain that this is not a good project for this location," added Judy Stanton, executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association.

The proposed structure - construction of which could begin in 2006 - also would include a 327-car public parking garage, 8,000 square feet of retail space and a performance area for a nonprofit group not yet selected, Jed Walentas said.

Markowitz and the civic groups have asked the Walentases - whose developments have helped transform DUMBO from a gloomy warehouse district into a chic residential enclave - to reduce the height of their project by 100 feet to put it in line with the Brooklyn Bridge's 80-foot-high roadway.

Jed Walentas replied that constructing the building at half the proposed height would not be economically viable.

As for the views of the Brooklyn Bridge that critics fear will be obstructed, he retorted: "Not everybody is entitled to their view forever. Views get blocked in the city every day."


All contents © 2004 Daily News, L.P.

[krulltime]

Report shows big gains in apt. prices in 2004
BROOKLYN


July 13, 2004

In the first half of 2004, Brooklyn continued to attract buyers and new development, driving average sale prices further north, the report said. Market-wide, Brooklyn saw a 16 percent increase in average sale prices. On average, New York's largest borough saw single-family homes surpass the $1.5 million mark, up 18 percent over the same period in 2003.

Average sale prices were especially significant in Boreum Hill and Fort Greene in the first half of 2004, where average sale prices grew by 30 percent over the first half of 2003.


Copyright 2003-2004 The Real Deal.


NYPOST: Real Estate

The Corcoran report also showed that Brooklyn sales and prices continue to surge.

In the first half of 2004, the average price of all residences went up 16 percent. Sales of single-family homes were up 18 percent over the same period last year.

Sales were especially good in Fort Greene and Boerum Hill, where prices increased 30 percent from a year ago.

One of the fastest growing Brooklyn neighborhoods is DUMBO, where the average price of condos jumped a startling 42 percent to $1.1 million.


Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[krulltime]

Clinton Hill: From Undergarments to Apartments

July 22, 2004


http://www.therealdeal.net/breaking_news/July/images/1090512375.jpg
Rendering of The Kent, a new development in Brooklyn


A Clinton Hill building which once produced underwear is set to become a high-end condo. The former Kaiser Underwear factory at 970 Kent Ave. will be transformed into The Kent.

One of the few condo conversions in Clinton Hill – a landmarked district - the project will be finished toward the end of the year, though apartments are for sale now. The loft-style units range from 941 to 1,327 square feet, and will sell for between $350,00 and $500,000. The 103-unit building will feature a wall of large windows in each apartment, and other amenities include a gym, private courtyard with a running track and a full-time doorman.


Copyright 2003-2004 The Real Deal.

Fancy-pants real estate
Ex-undie factory goes condo

http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/82-kent_bldg.JPG
Artist's rendering shows condominium building on Kent Ave. in Clinton Hill that housed the former Kaiser Underwear factory.

BY HUGH SON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Work is underway to turn a Clinton Hill building where workers once made underwear into a tony condominium with views of Manhattan.

Some observers believe the conversion of the former Kaiser Underwear factory at 970 Kent Ave. marks the arrival of the neighborhood as a coveted residential area.

Each of the loft-style apartments will boast a wall of large windows - some of which have city views - and will sell for between $350,000 and $500,000, said Highlyann Krasnow of the Developers Group, which is handling sales for the project.

"You'll have amazing windows that run throughout the full length of the room," Krasnow said.

"This building is interesting because there aren't very many condo conversions in Clinton Hill at all - because it's a landmarked district, there's not very much new construction," she added.

Ground-floor apartments in the Kent building will have private patios, and penthouse units will have terraces, said architect and developer Elissa Winzelberg.

"They're fabulous apartments with really high ceilings," said Winzelberg, who explained that she designed the apartments to be especially well-lit because she felt some loft apartments tended to have poor natural lighting. The developers added a duplex penthouse level to the seven-story building, which was built in 1915 and used by the underwear manufacturers until the 1970s, said Winzelberg.

She expects The Kent - which will have apartments ranging from 941 to 1,327 square feet - to be finished toward the end of the year, though apartments are for sale now.

Other amenities in the 103-unit building will include a private courtyard with a running track and a full-time doorman.

The Kent conversion comes amidst a boom in real estate values in Clinton Hill, said Suzanne DeBrango, a real estate agent at Brooklyn Properties' Fort Greene office.

"Prices are a bit lower compared to Park Slope, which is a long-established residential neighborhood," DeBrango said, "but they are coming up so fast that the difference is almost negligible."
The average brownstone in the neighborhood now costs about $1.1 million, and a one-bedroom costs between $220,000 and $350,000, DeBrango said.

Originally published on July 22, 2004


All contents © 2004 Daily News, L.P.

[Gulcrapek]

TDG has a bunch of cool projects. I thought Clinton Hill was already coveted. The parts I've been to, while not more than a third of the neighborhood, are either beautiful or being beautified.

[NewYorkYankee]

when are all the skyscrapers in downtown brooklyn going to start rising? The REALLY tall ones.

[Gulcrapek]

http://forums.wirednewyork.com/viewtopic.php?t=1012

http://forums.wirednewyork.com/viewtopic.php?t=2127

[Gulcrapek]

I'm not sure if it's going to be all residential, but a site is cleared on Avenue P at East 3rd Street and three renderings are actually posted on the fence. It's neo-Italian or something, if done right it could be pretty nice. 6 floors.

[krulltime]

APT. COMPLEX A 'BRIG' DEAL: MIKE


July 30, 2004

The mammoth Navy Yard Brig in Brooklyn — which housed prisoners and detainees from the 1940s until the 1990s — will be turned into a sprawling 400-unit apartment complex with a commercial space corridor and strips for community use, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday.
"There's been a lot of misery on this site over the years and now there's going to be a lot of joy," Bloomberg said before a tour of the former naval prison in Fort Greene.

City officials hope that the revitalization of the Navy Yard will create up to 800 new jobs in the area. Frankie Edozien


Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[Gulcrapek]

I'd rather a renovation and redesign of the existing building. But whatever.

[NewYorkYankee]

As we were on our way to the beach on the train, i noticed that Brooklyn has ALOT of high rise buildings.. are these all Projects? or are some apartments/condos... are the huge buildings that give a nice backdrop for the beach projects? or luxary beachfront condominiums?

[Gulcrapek]

It depends on where you're talking about. There are a lot of buildings on that miles long stretch of beach. Did you go to Coney Island beach or Brighton beach (they're one continuous beach, just named for the neighborhoods they're they shore of)?

[NewYorkYankee]

We went to both, first we rode to Brighton Beach and walked over to Coney Island.

[Gulcrapek]

The buildings on Brighton are mostly high-end apartments, though some are still "affordable." In Coney Island it's about half projects, half other residences. I doubt you went to Manhattan Beach but the residences over there are hot stuff.

[NewYorkYankee]

what about all the high rises I seen throughout BK? Projects? Condos? Mix? It seems if BK has so many high rises all of it would look like this... kind of like Manhattan... ?

[Gulcrapek]

All sorts of buildings...

[Derek2k3]

1 Prospect Park
16/18 stories
Richard Meier & Partners
Dev-Seventeen Development LLC
Proposed 2006


By Deborah Schoeneman

August 9, 2004
http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/9584/index.html

Richard Meier’s expanding his celebrity-friendly condo brand to Brooklyn. The architect has been drafting plans for a new residential building on Prospect Park for developer Mario Procida of Seventeen Development LLC. “It’s sixteen or eighteen stories, varying from one- to three-bedroom units,” says Meier, adding that the project “will not be luxury” like his three West Side glass towers, where art dealer Barbara Gladstone recently bought a loft (hers is in the new Charles Street building). The development, which should be ready in about two years, is on Eastern Parkway and will probably be called 1 Prospect Park.




http://www.curbed.com/archives/categories/real_estate_development.php
Richard Meier Comes to Park Slope
Hey, cuz everything has gone so well in Manhattan, right? Architect Richard Meier is said to be developing a new residential building in Park Slope for developer Mario Procida. "It’s sixteen or eighteen stories, varying from one- to three-bedroom units," he tells NYMag's Deborah Schoeneman. Apparently, the new building "will not be luxury," yet will carry the tony address 1 Prospect Park. Completion is set for 2006; chaos for 2007-2009.
· Park Commission [Intelligencer]

[Gulcrapek]

Thanky. Gonna be interesting how he does a non-"luxury" building.

[krulltime]

Jehovah's Witnesses Seek To Expand Presence In Brooklyn


http://www.ny1.com/Content/images/live/66/130920.JPG (http://real.ny1.com:8080/ramgen/real3/000C4931_040804_185259hi.rm)
CLICK ON PIC FOR VIDEO

AUGUST 05TH, 2004

They're known for their Watchtower literature and their towering buildings at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. Now, Jehovah's Witnesses want to expand their religious headquarters beyond the Manhattan Bridge, transforming a three-acre parking lot into a large residential complex that would house nearly 2,000 members.

“Our current plans call for buildings of 20, 18, 16 and 14 stories with the dining hall and assembly hall and being about three stories,” said Richard Devine of the Watchtower Society, an organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Their dream is to build this on property. But the Watchtower Society still has to go through the city's land-use review process to get the proper approvals and a zoning change that would turn a manufacturing district into a residential one. There are already about 2,000 people living in the area, which is on the edge of DUMBO and Vinegar Hill.

“This project would double the population of DUMBO-Vinegar Hill, which is a huge impact on a neighborhood,” said City Councilman David Yassky. “My concern is whether the infrastructure of the neighborhood can handle that.”

Yassky and the local community board have asked the Watchtower Society to make improvements to the neighborhood, like fixing up a public park. The organization says that although that is a reasonable request, it is not interested in Yassky's recommendation to upgrade the York Street train station as well.

Some residents say Jehovah’s Witnesses should be doing more to accommodate the community, like adding retail space and scaling down the project.

“The height is an issue, because it's out of the context with the neighborhood,” said Christy Nyberg of the DUMBO Neighborhood Association. “This is a really large project to put down in a relatively small neighborhood.”

The Watchtower Society says that it's considering reducing the height of one of its buildings but that retail is out of the question because it conflicts with its standing as a religious non-profit. However, the society says the main building would have a well-lit, large, open lobby to add to the vibrancy of the community, as well as green open space. Plans also call for underground parking for more than 1,000 cars.

“Ten years ago you couldn't have imagined it as a place to live, and so we never bought it with the idea that that would be a future use,” Devine said. “But obviously the area has changed quite a bit. We've seen a real resurgence there.”

The next step for the Watchtower Society is a public hearing held by the Brooklyn borough president, expected to happen early next month. Then, the plan goes before the city Planning Commission and the City Council.

- Jeanine Ramirez


Copyright © 2004 NY1 News.

[krulltime]

Ground Broken On New Housing On Brooklyn Military Base


http://www.ny1.com/Content/images/live/66/131650.JPG (http://real.ny1.com:8080/ramgen/real3/000C653C_040811_215940hi.rm)
CLICK ON PIC FOR VIDEO

AUGUST 12TH, 2004

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Hillary Clinton helped break ground Wednesday on some new housing on the city’s only active military base.

The $52 million project at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn will include 185 new homes and renovations for 43.

Clinton and Bloomberg said local servicemen and women deserve the new housing.

“We have such strong support for the military throughout our state, and New York City provides so many of the young men and women who make up the most professional, well-equipped, well-trained, committed force in the history of any country,” Clinton said. “So, we're going to do anything possible to support this installation.”

“Democracy is very fragile, and a lot of people want to take it away,” said the mayor. “So when we can do something to say thank you and make the lives of people who live here in New York better, we want to do it.”

The new homes are set to be complete by next summer.


Copyright © 2004 NY1 News.

[Gulcrapek]

Website for 53 Boerum Place, now officially Boulevard East:

http://www.boulevardeast.com

[BrooklynRider]

Website for 53 Boerum Place, now officially Boulevard East:

http://www.boulevardeast.com

I thought it was going to be another dumpy Brooklyn design, but I think it looks great.

[ryan]

Any idea what's going in at Manhattan and Driggs?

[Gulcrapek]

204 Huntington St. is being converted from rentals into condos.

http://www.metropolitanhousing.com/main.asp?pID=projectsDetail&proj=67

[Gulcrapek]

Park Slope Gardens

http://www.corcoran.com/property/nd/index.asp?BDD=Y

"Overview
Park Slope Gardens is an exciting 30 unit new construction condominium building. The building offers two and three bedroom units in both simplex and duplex designs that range from 1,000 to 1,900 square feet. Some of the features include state of the art kitchens and bathrooms, individual washer and dryer units and private outdoor garden spaces. Park Slope Gardens is located steps away from the trendy 5th Avenue restaurants and boutiques in the heart of Park Slope. "

[microserf]

APT. COMPLEX A 'BRIG' DEAL: MIKE


July 30, 2004

The mammoth Navy Yard Brig in Brooklyn — which housed prisoners and detainees from the 1940s until the 1990s — will be turned into a sprawling 400-unit apartment complex with a commercial space corridor and strips for community use, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday.
"There's been a lot of misery on this site over the years and now there's going to be a lot of joy," Bloomberg said before a tour of the former naval prison in Fort Greene.

City officials hope that the revitalization of the Navy Yard will create up to 800 new jobs in the area. Frankie Edozien


Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc.

Sounds like the seeds of a great supernatural horror flick... tenants, trapped in their costly mortgages, desperately fighting for their homes, as the restless ghosts of prisoners past attempt to force them from the building... hehehehe...

[Derek2k3]

Article about Brooklyn development
http://www.therealdeal.net/issues/November_2004/1099358113.php

Check out this development map also.

http://www.therealdeal.net/pdf/NovemberDevelopmentMap.pdf

[ZippyTheChimp]

Nice map

[Gulcrapek]

...that's a lot of development.

Thank you verrrry much for the find.

[muscle1313]

Report: 35,000 new condos here by 2007

By Jotham Sederstrom
The Brooklyn Papers
The already white-hot
real estate market in Brooklyn
will see the addition of
35,000 new condominium
units over the next three
years, according to a report
released by the Corcoran
Group company of real
estate brokers.
“Brooklyn is where everyone
wants to be right now,”
said Jay Schippers, head of
Corcoran’s Brooklyn development
division, speaking to a
gathering of agents, developers,
lenders and architects at
Borough Hall last week. “Assuming
we don’t have a huge
spike in interest rates, we believe
the market is perfect.”
Schippers, who before
coming to Corcoran this year
was a longtime developer in
Brooklyn, and Eric Brody, director
of development sales
for the Corcoran Group, revealed
the results of the company’s
nine-month study at
the Oct. 26 event hosted by
Borough President Marty
Markowitz.
Leading the charge, according
to the report, is a wave of
19,770 condo units planned
for Greenpoint and Williamsburg,
a formerly manufacturing-
dominated Polish and Hispanic
neighborhood along the
northern Brooklyn waterfront
that over the past decade has
become an enclave of artists
and musicians. Now, hipsters
are giving way to young professionals.
The remaining 15,000 or so
units are destined for neighborhoods
bordering Downtown
Brooklyn, including Fort
Greene, DUMBO, Cobble
Hill, Park Slope and Red
Hook. The spike, which authorities
say was sparked several
years ago, is predicted to
grow as neighborhoods across
the borough are rezoned to allow
for taller buildings.
Right behind Williamsburg,
said Brody, is Park Slope,
which due to up-zoning along a
25-block stretch of Fourth Avenue
— between Warren and
15th streets — is poised for its
second metamorphosis since
being discovered by young professionals
in the 1980s. By the
end of this year, the neighborhood,
especially along Fourth
Avenue where 12-story buildings
can now be built, will see
202 new units, the report details,
followed by two more
years of comparable growth.
As in the other neighborhoods
documented in the study,
the most significant spike for
Park Slope is slated for 2007,
when the brownstone neighborhood
is expected to gain 3,000
new condo units.
“Was it a surprise to me? No.
I’m the guy in the street —
that’s my job,” Brody said of the
condo boom. “And you wouldn’t
believe how many projects
are coming on the market.”
Downtown Brooklyn and
the Atlantic Avenue corridor
will also experience growth,
according to the Corcoran report,
especially in 2007, when
developers expect 1,805 new
units there due to the combination
of the Downtown
Brooklyn rezoning; the future
development of Brooklyn
Bridge Park at the end of Atlantic
Avenue; the sale of the
Watchtower Bible and Tract
Society building at 360 Furman
St.; which is expected to
be developed into condominiums,
and the Atlantic Yards
Project at Flatbush Avenue.
The area, according to the report,
is expected to add 127
units this year, 721 in 2005
and then level off, adding only
63 in 2006 before the big
boom in 2007.
Brody said that tumultuousness
stems from the new Downtown
Brooklyn Plan, which rezoned
much of the area,
excluding Atlantic Avenue, to
allow for high-rise office and
residential development, and the
nature of the Corcoran study itself,
which relied on a detailed
accounting of city Department
of Buildings records.
“Atlantic Avenue will be a
place to walk down on a Sunday
afternoon, maybe get
some lunch and then go to a
Nets game,” said Brody.
“We’ve been talking to developers
about how they’re going
to maximize their retail and
there’s a huge demand for national
tenants, chain stores.”
Calling on the crowd to develop
housing geared toward
seniors, singles and artists,
Markowitz, a former tenants
rights activist, warned that developers
not lose sight of maintaining
ample affordable housing.
But throughout the
evening, developers and agents
again and again described plans
to build luxury condominiums.
John Mui, of New Jersey,
said that he was on a fact-finding
mission for his brother,
who he said owns a development
group called Pride Development
on Staten Island. Since
earlier this year, he said, the
group has focused on Red
Hook with the intention of
building condos. The waterfront
neighborhood, which will
be getting an Ikea megastore
and Fairway supermarket in the
next year’s slated for 624 new
units in 2005 and an addition
464 new units through 2007.
“We’re just looking right
now,” said Mui. “But so is
everyone else. Everyone wants
a piece of Brooklyn.”
Vinegar Hill and DUMBO
will get 1,410 new units by
2007, with the biggest influx
of new condos coming in
2005, when 432 are scheduled
for the twin neighborhoods.
“By far, in all five boroughs
[Brooklyn’s] the place to be
and the place to develop,” said
Brody.

[Gulcrapek]

Oh gawd. I thought they'd made a mistake and meant 35,000 new residents. That's freakin' incredible.

[1213]

does the Athena Group have a web site ?

[Derek2k3]

http://www.theathenagroup.com/

[Gulcrapek]

2118 Mermaid Avenue, Coney Island
6 floors
10 units
Architect: Felix Pustylnik
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?bin=3821306&request id=2&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A

[Gulcrapek]

Scarano updated their site again to include, among other things, the conversion of 99 Gold Street into a cool modern building of 88 lofts, a modernist "icon" at 354 Franklin Ave, and an entire block development around Clinton Hill that features a two buildings with a shared pair of top curving floors.

[Kolbster]

Whats thier site...ive been looking but cant find it

[Gulcrapek]

http://www.scaranoarchitects.com (http://www.scaranoarchitects.com)

[Kolbster]

Thanks Gulcrapek;

you know what is annoying me a lot recently, all of these developments in DT brooklyn which incorporate town houses; i just think it is stupid to develope town houses in the Downtown area :(

[alex ballard]

Thanks Gulcrapek;

you know what is annoying me a lot recently, all of these developments in DT brooklyn which incorporate town houses; i just think it is stupid to develope town houses in the Downtown area :(

Could you give me an example of these "Townhouses"? Philly has lots of rowhomes in Center City and that area is taking off like a rocket. Maybe they're going for an old-time feel, the brownstone was the orignal "house of the rich and famous".

[billyblancoNYC]

Could you give me an example of these "Townhouses"? Philly has lots of rowhomes in Center City and that area is taking off like a rocket. Maybe they're going for an old-time feel, the brownstone was the orignal "house of the rich and famous".

I think he just means that DT should go tall and more dense, since all the surrounding areas are chock full of brownstones.

[Kris]

February 6, 2005

BIG DEAL

$8.5 Million Brownstone Deal Raises the Bar in Brooklyn

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

http://graphics10.nytimes.com/images/2005/02/04/realestate/06deal.jpg

http://graphics10.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/t.gifHE Manhattanization of Brooklyn took a great leap past the point of no return recently when a brownstone on the promenade in Brooklyn Heights went into contract for $8.5 million. Real estate brokers said it was by far the highest price ever paid for a town house in the borough.

The deal for the home at 212 Columbia Heights has quickened the pulses of owners in the neighborhood, and already another brownstone, at 8 Montague Terrace, has gone on the market for $12 million (although it is divided into several apartments); a brick town house at 82 Remsen Street is being offered for $10 million.

The previous top sale for a Brooklyn Heights town house was $4.25 million, for a home on Henry Street that sold last year, according to Frank Percesepe, the managing director of the Corcoran Group office in the neighborhood.

Christopher Thomas, an executive vice president at Brown Harris Stevens and the company's Brooklyn sales director, said the Columbia Heights deal has prompted several other owners to consider selling.

"This is a number consistent with Manhattan Upper East or Upper West Side," Mr. Thomas said. "But if you buy a house in those locations, you're not going to have views of the Statue of Liberty and the sun setting behind it. It's established a high water mark that has transcended values that are typically associated with a particular neighborhood."

The brownstone at 212 Columbia Heights is being bought by Nina Collins and Marek Fludzinski, who agreed in December to pay the $8.5 million asking price. Ms. Collins is co-owner of the Collins McCormick Literary Agency, and Mr. Fludzinski is a founder of Thales Fund Management, a hedge fund.

"It's a spectacular house," said their broker, Merele Williams-Adkins of the Corcoran Group. "Incredible high ceilings, extraordinary detail. The views are unbelievable."

The 25-foot -wide, five-story brownstone, which is between Pierrepont and Clark Streets, needs a new kitchen and other renovations. It is owned by Calvert Douglas Crary and Kinga P. Crary, who paid $55,000 when they bought it in 1972, according to a deed filed with the city. A broker for the Crarys, Yolanda Johnson Vogelzang at the Corcoran Group, did not return calls.

The "A.I.A. Guide to New York City" says the town house is one of four in a row on Columbia Heights that it calls "the best remaining examples of group mansions in brownstone."

The even-numbered houses on Columbia Heights back up against the Brooklyn Heights promenade, which offers some of the borough's best views of the Manhattan skyline. Ms. Collins and Mr. Fludzinski are moving to Brooklyn from Manhattan, where they are selling their current town house for $8 million.

The seven-floor Manhattan home, built by the architect John L. Petrarca, uses geothermal heat and has seven bedrooms. It is at 152 Reade Street, in TriBeCa, and is listed with Ms. Williams-Adkins.

Among the homes at the top of the Heights market, one of the more interesting is 82 Remsen, which is owned by the sculptor Neil Estern. It is 37½ feet wide and sits on a 150-foot lot with a carriage house at the back end, on Grace Court Alley. Its real estate broker, Kevin J. Carberry, said the four-story main house, which was built in 1837, contains about 10,000 square feet, divided between two apartments. Among other works, Mr. Estern is known for his bronze sculpture of the seated President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Roosevelt Memorial in Washington.

A Home With a View

Leni May and her husband, Peter W. May, who has made a fortune buying and selling companies like Snapple, moved late last year from a duplex apartment with lots of space and not much of a view, at 895 Park Avenue, to a much smaller apartment with a wonderful view in the San Remo, on Central Park West.

The couple had lived happily for some two decades on the Upper East Side and had never seriously contemplated leaving, according to Mrs. May. The story of how they came to live on the Upper West Side begins in an unlikely place: the cafe in the Fairway Market, on Broadway and West 74th Street, where the Mays had gone one morning in November 2002 to have brunch with some old friends. After brunch, their friends mentioned that they were going to the San Remo, between 74th and 75th Streets, to look at an apartment that had belonged to an uncle of theirs who had died, and that they were arranging to sell for his estate. It was a beautiful fall day, Mrs. May recalled recently, and she and her husband went along for the walk. The view from the 15th-floor apartment, Mrs. May said, was breathtaking, and on the spot her husband said that they should buy the place.

The idea, she recalled, was an unsettling one for someone with roots as deep as theirs on the other side of the park and she didn't take it too seriously, figuring that her husband would soon forget about it.

But it turned out that she was the one who couldn't get the view off her mind. After a walk across the park, they were back in their Park Avenue apartment, when suddenly Mrs. May found herself announcing, "I could do this!"

"Do what?" asked her husband.

Move to the San Remo, she said.

A few days later, the Mays called their friends and arranged to buy the apartment. Mrs. May would not say how much they paid.

Bonnie Chajet, a senior vice president at Warburg Realty, who had been contracted to sell the unit, said it was being offered for $6.9 million.

A complete renovation of the apartment was finished late last year and the Mays, who are both 62, moved in.

Mr. May is the president of the Triarc Companies, which bought Snapple from Quaker Oats for $300 million in 1997 and sold it three years later to Cadbury Schweppes for $1.45 billion.

In the end, Mrs. May has adjusted swimmingly to her new environment. "It's like we're almost newlyweds again," she said. "It's new and it's an adventure. We've lived in the city forever. We started out at Peter Cooper Village. We raised our kids here and it's just taking advantage of another part of New York that's so beautiful and vibrant and fun. I'm just loving it."

As their move approached, the Mays put their Park Avenue apartment on the market, listing it for $12.65 million with Ms. Chajet and her partner, Ronnie Lane, who is also a senior vice president for Warburg.

That apartment was sold in the first week of January, to Arthur B. Newman, 61, a senior managing director of the Blackstone Group, and his wife, Eileen.

While the Mays traded space for views, the Newmans did the opposite. They will be moving, once renovations are done, from a smaller co-op apartment with Central Park views at 860 Fifth Avenue, which is now on the market for $5.9 million, listed with Ms. Chajet and Ms. Lane.

Copyright 2005 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[Kolbster]

DAMN! you beat me to the post. Anyway, i walked by that house last night when i was reading the article....that is the most any house in my neighborhood has gone for. Before it was around like 1-4 million, but 8.5!!! I mean i have heard of million dollar views, but 8.5 mil?

[Schadenfrau]

There is an AP report out today suggesting that the average price of a single-family home in Brooklyn has dropped 29% since 2002. What do you think the reasoning behind this is?

[ASchwarz]

There is an AP report out today suggesting that the average price of a single-family home in Brooklyn has dropped 29% since 2002. What do you think the reasoning behind this is?

I saw the same report. The AP is reporting MLS numbers which means within NYC only Staten Island has a high enough proportion of homes sampled to have the numbers mean anything. Manhattan is almost 100% private brokerage or informal market, and Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens are about 95% private brokerage or informal market.

MLS numbers work for almost anywhere in the nation outside of NYC.

[Schadenfrau]

Thanks for explaining that. It didn't sound right to me.

[billyblancoNYC]

I saw the same report. The AP is reporting MLS numbers which means within NYC only Staten Island has a high enough proportion of homes sampled to have the numbers mean anything. Manhattan is almost 100% private brokerage or informal market, and Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens are about 95% private brokerage or informal market.

MLS numbers work for almost anywhere in the nation outside of NYC.

Much of Queens is actually part of the Long Island/Queens MLS.

http://www.mlsli.com/

[Kolbster]

Hey guys, just read an article about the Nexus, in dumbo right near the BQE entrance, supposedly it is to rise 12 storeys and is being developed by Boyleemegreen (sorry forgot how to spell his name) and Isreal--Afrika company. For more info, check the New York times website, or read saturday's times

[Gulcrapek]

Formerly 84 Front Street, old design was better.

[Kolbster]

Yea, i agree, the new one seems too......blockish; too much like a square. But it could be worse tho

[Kris]

Originally posted by billyblanco.


February 2005

Where Brooklyn Beats Manhattan

By Alison Gregor

A history of the rivalry between shining, moneyed Manhattan and scrappy, working-class Brooklyn is peppered with one-sided results through the last century: Manhattan got skyscrapers, high finance and nightlife – Brooklyn got low-rises, factories and grit.

The comparison no longer holds up, particularly in real estate. In a 2004 year-end report released by The Corcoran Group, the only brokerage in Manhattan and Brooklyn that keeps sales and rental statistics for both boroughs, it appears prices in a handful of Brooklyn locations are surging ahead of comparable Manhattan neighborhoods.

Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope and Dumbo are among the areas outpacing Manhattan neighborhoods, notably the far East Side, Murray Hill, parts of the Financial District and Midtown West.

"Brooklyn no longer takes a backseat to Manhattan when it comes to hip, well-serviced, desirable neighborhoods people want to live in," said Pamela Liebman, Corcoran chief executive officer. "Priced per square foot, parts of Brooklyn are starting to rival Manhattan more and more."

A quick glance at average sales price in the latest Corcoran data shows that marketwide, prices in Brooklyn don’t come close to Manhattan, though Brooklyn condominium prices grew by 33 percent from 2003 while Manhattan prices grew by only 9 percent.

Part of that huge increase might have to do with the average sales price of a condo in Dumbo, which at $968,000 crowned Brooklyn prices for condo sales and surpassed average prices in Downtown Manhattan, at $924,000, as well as Midtown West at $802,000. It also rivals Midtown East at $970,000.

Taking second in Brooklyn for average sales price of a condo was Williamsburg, but at $746,000, it didn’t come close to Dumbo or the lowest priced Manhattan neighborhood, Midtown West. Corcoran didn’t have 2003 data from either Brooklyn neighborhood to help gauge how quickly prices are rising.

Brokers with Douglas Elliman, which has a handful of agents who work in both Manhattan and Brooklyn, said their anecdotal experiences back up these numbers.

"Williamsburg and Dumbo certainly are competing price point to price point with the new developments down on the Lower East Side, which I think represents an area of great opportunity in Manhattan," said Tribeca-based broker Doug Bowen, who lives in a Brooklyn townhouse and also invests in them. "We’re talking Chinatown, the Lower East Side from Houston down to Delancey – that’s a very happening neighborhood."

Bowen also targeted Clinton/Midtown West, also known as Hell’s Kitchen, as a Manhattan neighborhood that is outpriced by these Brooklyn neighborhoods.

"There is no doubt about that," he said. "At $805 to $900 a square foot, with the chic of Williamsburg and the chic of Dumbo, there are a lot of people who are gravitating to that take-it-down-a-notch Brooklyn lifestyle in lieu of being in Hell’s Kitchen."

In another independent analysis, Jonathan Miller, president of real estate appraisal company Miller Samuel, used Corcoran’s Brooklyn numbers to show that the average sales price for a Dumbo condo is surging past Midtown West and Battery Park City, at $859,000 and $720,000; and Williamsburg is surpassing Battery Park City.

Bowen was so rosy on Dumbo and Williamsburg that he predicted they are only slightly more than a year from catching Tribeca.

When it comes to co-ops, other Brooklyn neighborhoods steal the spotlight. According to Corcoran data, Cobble Hill, with an average co-op sales price of $520,000 pulled ahead of Manhattan’s Midtown West at $480,000 and may soon overtake Downtown at $557,000.

Cobble Hill also saw a greater price hike since 2003 at 27 percent than those two competing Manhattan neighborhoods, which both saw an increase of about 20 percent.

At $290,000, the average price for a studio co-op in Cobble Hill topped every Manhattan neighborhood except Downtown at $299,000. In Brooklyn Heights, the $1.3 million average price for a three-bedroom-plus co-op outpaced Midtown West’s $1.1 million average.

Miller’s independent analysis concluded that the average price of a co-op in Cobble Hill outprices Union Square, Gramercy Park, Kips Bay and Murray Hill, which averaged $503,000, as well as the Yorkville average of $485,000.

Brooklyn townhouses may be a few years from achieving parity with Manhattan, say townhouse specialists, whose analysis is supported by the Corcoran data.

While the gap between Manhattan and Brooklyn in the average sales price of condos and co-ops has narrowed significantly in the last year-and-a-half, "in the townhouse market, the gap is still much wider, so I would say the townhouse market in Brooklyn represents a great opportunity, because there’s a lot of it," Bowen said.

David Grossman, director of Brooklyn sales for townhouse broker Leslie J. Garfield & Co. and a Brooklyn resident, agreed.

"In Brooklyn, if you are maybe picking a prime property on the best street in Brooklyn Heights, that may be the one comparison you can make to Manhattan, or maybe snapshot comparisons here and there," he said. "But in general, it’s not there yet."

Grossman said the only Manhattan neighborhoods where townhouses might be eclipsed by Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope would be Harlem and the Lower East Side.

"I think if things keep moving along as they are now, we could be talking a three- to five-year period that the better neighborhoods in Brooklyn will start matching up with the good neighborhoods in Manhattan," he said.

Brooklyn apartment rentals in places like Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill are beginning to exceed rental prices in some Manhattan neighborhoods, such as the Upper West and Upper East sides.

Though the Corcoran data does not bear this out, a comparison of Corcoran’s Brooklyn rental prices with the Manhattan prices of Citi Habitats, a branch of Corcoran, shows that Brooklyn areas are becoming competitive in certain apartment sizes, such as Boerum Hill for studios and Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill for two- and three-bedroom apartments.

"Neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope and parts of Williamsburg and Dumbo can fetch higher rents than areas in Manhattan proper, like the high 90s on the East Side, and Peter Cooper Village, and the lower, lower East Side," said Andrew Heiberger, president of Citi Habitats.

The Real Deal

[Gulcrapek]

20 Bayard Street
16 floors
201 ft
Architect: Karl Fischer

Here http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?requestid=4&allisn=0000861275&allboroughname=&allnumbhous=20&allstrt=BAYARD+STREET&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A


This on KF's website matches the description:

http://www.kfarchitect.com/portfolio/residential/multifamily/multi-38.jpg

http://www.kfarchitect.com/portfolio/residential/multifamily/multi-38b.jpg

[Stern]

Tacky, yes. A bad building and detrimental, not necessarily.

[Gulcrapek]

It actually reminds me of a building in Kensington, on Ocean Parkway not too far from the Prospect Expwy. Big curving windows are usually nice wherever.

[ryan]

I just walked by 20 Bayard this morning; nothing to see but a big hole. Next door their building what looks to be very stylish lofts (you can see a mezzanine level in the back of a two story space, and nice multi-pane windows). That rendering of 20 Bayard is dissappointing, though - the bottom could be ok, depending on materials (please no tawny brick or pipe railings!) but the top half is a mess. Is that a clock in the center, or a bullseye? The apts will have spectacular views though...

I wish the design was more modern - like 297 Driggs across the park. That building looks topped out, and though it looks like it will have surface parking, it will be the most stlyish thing for blocks and blocks. (rendings below)

[Gulcrapek]

297 Driggs looked so pure today - a concrete skeleton, but in a certain light and an aura of something to render it beautiful..

[Gulcrapek]

2805 Ocean Parkway
11 floors
127 ft
Rybak Architects

Taking the place of a small white house. Something gives me the feeling that this will end up a pile of crap.

http://www.skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=35599

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?requestid=2&allisn=0001070515&allboroughname=&allnumbhous=2805&allstrt=OCEAN+PARKWAY&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A

[Gulcrapek]

26 Broadway
7 floors, 30 units
Architect: Kutnicki Bernstein

http://www.kbanyc.com/26Broadway.htm

http://www.kbanyc.com/images/26broadway.jpg

[Gulcrapek]

"Shell Road Feasibility Study"
7 floors
Architect: Kutnicki Bernstein


http://www.kbanyc.com/shellresidence.htm

http://www.kbanyc.com/images/shellcourt.jpg

http://www.kbanyc.com/images/gate.jpg

[Kolbster]

Where is this going to be built?

[Gulcrapek]

Shell Road is McDonald Avenue south, the rendering looks like it's in upper Coney Island.

[Archit_K]

Interesting Gulcrapek. I like the 20 Bayard St. Design.

[Gulcrapek]

Ocean Avenue between Ave V and Ave R is having one hell of a transformation.

2222 Ocean Avenue
5 floors, 56 ft
8 units
Architect: Just Architect or Gamill Engineering?

2381 Ocean Avenue
7 floors
19 units
Architect: Felix Pustylnik

2384 Ocean Avenue (just finished)
6 floors
Architect: Corporate Design of America

2417 Ocean Avenue
7 floors
10 units
Architect: Felix Pustylnik

2421 Ocean Avenue
7 floors

2449 Ocean Avenue (not residential, just in the area)
5 floors
Renovation architect: Anno Mundi 2928

2590 Ocean Avenue
7 floors
14 units
Architect: Gee2000 (Peter Gee)


Also on Ocean Ave is 2002 Jerome Avenue, a 7-floor building by Bricolage Designs that pisses me off every time I see it (it's near my allergist). Bland design, and the side facing Ocean Ave is almost a blank wall. Completely direspectful.

[Derek2k3]

geez..so much new construction...unfortunately so much crap.

[Stern]

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
Build boom puts new life into old 'hoods
BY MELISSA GRACE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, February 21st, 2005

Brooklyn's home building boom is exploding - in some of the borough's once-blighted neighborhoods.

East New York, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick are now Brooklyn's busiest house and condo construction zones.

"Do you know of any bad neighborhoods, so I could buy some real estate there?" quipped Sally Love, a developer working on an Ocean-Hill/Brownsville government-subsidized project that boasts 23 new homes.

While home construction is nothing new in the borough, more than 6,800 residential building permits were issued by the city in 2004, Housing Preservation and Development Department figures show - the highest in 32 years.

Ten years ago, there were only 911 permits issued. All of that has changed.

"Because of the housing shortage, residential development is sky rocketing," said Susan Hinkson, a Buildings Department Brooklyn official.

A surge in immigration, low mortgage rates and tumbling crime in what were marginal neighborhoods have all played a role in the boom.

In 2004, the city's Buildings Department issued 748 building permits in East New York, up by more than 100 in 2003.

In Bushwick, where 432 construction licenses were issued, residents see dramatic changes to the neighborhood landscape.

"The number of empty lots has shrunk by the thousands in the last five years," said Anna Gonzalez, chairwoman of Bushwick's community board.

Not only have newcomers found affordable housing, but longtime residents have gained from the real estate rush.

"The value of my property has gone up by $56,000 this year alone," said Ernestine Jones, who moved into the city-sponsored Nehemiah Homes in East New York in 1990.

After 21 years in an East Flatbush rental, Winnifred Adams moved into her new three-story townhouse on nearby Chester last spring.

"Being a homeowner is something you work for for so long," said the 63-year-old grandmother.

Developer Philip Schorr, who built Adams' home, said that under a city low-income housing program, he purchased lots for the project for $250 each in 2002.

"Today, they'd be valued at $50,000 a lot," Schorr said.

The vast majority of homes in these neighborhoods are being constructed with city and federal subsidies, HPD officials said.

The neighborhoods are "dramatically more desirable for homebuyers and tenants and [have] drawn in private real estate developers," said HPD Commissioner Shaun Donovan.

While the number of new building permits plummeted in the early 1990s - hitting a low of 51 in 1990 - construction projects picked up significantly three years ago.

And by last year, Brooklyn was second place behind Queens for most permits issued in the city.

[Gulcrapek]

Carroll Gardens two-family
3 floors
Standard Architects

http://www.standardarchitects.com/projects/art/0310-1.jpg

http://www.standardarchitects.com/projects/0310.html#

[Archit_K]

^ Interesting model design.

2000 square foot residence and garden
Carroll Gardens - Brooklyn, NY

Models and Renderings:
Standard Architects

[alex ballard]

What kind of development is going on in Bed-Stuy? and is Sunset Park getting noticed by the Slopers?

[Gulcrapek]

Northern Bed-Stuy is seeing Orthodox spread from Williamsburg, the rest sans the projects are getting a lot of middle-income infill housing. Sunset Park is supposedly being taken by former Park Slope lesbians.

[alex ballard]

Northern Bed-Stuy is seeing Orthodox spread from Williamsburg, the rest sans the projects are getting a lot of middle-income infill housing. Sunset Park is supposedly being taken by former Park Slope lesbians.

Interesting. Speaking of orthodox, anything of note going on in Midwood or in Borough Park?

Also, SE Brooklyn (East Flabush, Canarsie, Flatlands, Mill Basin, Marine Park) gotten hit by the condo wave?

[Gulcrapek]

I don't know about Midwood except for 2 things by Scarano, and I don't know about Boro Park but there's probably a hell of a lot of stuff going on there.

[Gulcrapek]

Meanwhile, yet another one at Guider Avenue (Sheepshead Bay)

1144 Lawn Court
5 floors
70 ft
15 units
Architect: Scarano & Associates

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?bin=3247979&requestid=2&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A


This one just had demolition, something is inevitably coming..

1142 Lawn Court
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?bin=3247992&requestid=2&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A


This one too..

1114 Lawn Court
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?bin=3247983&requestid=2&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A


And I don't know what I've already posted about that block, somewhere in some thread. There are at least 6 new buildings over 5 floors there since 3 years ago.

[Gulcrapek]

Oh, this too..

2799 East 11th Street
7 floors
21 units
Architect: Bricolage Designs

Unusual for them, BD has designed a decent looking building here.
_

3426 Guider Avenue, if it's what I think it is, is kind of funny. It's a house with an ok brick facade on 3 sides, but on the Guider side, it's completely bare cinderblock. It's on the corner at Jenks Court (which I never heard of before).

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?bin=3852410&requestid=2&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A

[alex ballard]

Sorry if this poses a diversion, but since I was informed I couldn't make a thread out of this, I guess I'll ask here:

What do you think the strength of NY's comebacking neighborhoods are? Will all the new development simply slip into decay 20 years from now? Or are these areas here to stay?

[Gulcrapek]

423 Ocean Parkway
8 floors
14 units
Architect: Isaac and Stern Architects

[Gulcrapek]

"McDonald Avenue"
Bricolage Designs

http://www.bricolagedesigns.com/Projects/04-177%20.jpg

[Stern]

Sorry if this poses a diversion, but since I was informed I couldn't make a thread out of this, I guess I'll ask here:

What do you think the strength of NY's comebacking neighborhoods are? Will all the new development simply slip into decay 20 years from now? Or are these areas here to stay?

They are here to stay.

[Derek2k3]

"McDonald Avenue"
Bricolage Designs


The Bricolage web site isn't even fully launched yet and I'm already sick.

[Gulcrapek]

35 Fifth Avenue

5 floors

Architect: Arpad Baksa

http://www.arpad-baksa-architect.com/theboards/36-5TH-b.jpg

[Gulcrapek]

Greenpoint (I think)

654 Kosciusko Street
3 floors, 31 ft
3 units
Architect: Banji Awosika Architect


21 Kossuth Place
3 floors, 32 ft
3 units
Architect: Tergram Engineering Services? No architect listed

17 Kossuth Place: same

15 Kossuth Place: Same

[ASchwarz]

Greenpoint (I think)

654 Kosciusko Street
3 floors, 31 ft
3 units
Architect: Banji Awosika Architect


21 Kossuth Place
3 floors, 32 ft
3 units
Architect: Tergram Engineering Services? No architect listed

17 Kossuth Place: same

15 Kossuth Place: Same

These projects are all in Bushwick, just north of Broadway. This part of Bushwick is thick with loft dwellers and gentrification.

[muscle1313]

Sorry if this poses a diversion, but since I was informed I couldn't make a thread out of this, I guess I'll ask here:

What do you think the strength of NY's comebacking neighborhoods are? Will all the new development simply slip into decay 20 years from now? Or are these areas here to stay?


I think this poses a very interesting question. Real Estate like all investments runs in cycles. It just so happens that we have been in a low interest environment for for the last 5 years or so and Real Estate has been on fire. What happens when interest rates go up? No doubt many neighborhoods especially in Brooklyn have thrived as people got priced out of Manhattan. The demand for housing has been nothing short of incredible. Nothing goes up in a straight line forever though. There will certainly be a drop in real estate some point along the line in the next several years. Interest rates have slowly begun to rise. Mortgage rates will not stay at record lows forever. My belief is that the real estate boom will end in the next couple of years, and then pick up again when rates start to fall again in the next cycle probably at the end of this decade. What that means for 20 years from now? Brooklyn prices will probably be a lot higher as regular folks will still be priced out of Manhattan. But there will be no doubt bumps along the road to prosperity.

[alex ballard]

I think this poses a very interesting question. Real Estate like all investments runs in cycles. It just so happens that we have been in a low interest environment for for the last 5 years or so and Real Estate has been on fire. What happens when interest rates go up? No doubt many neighborhoods especially in Brooklyn have thrived as people got priced out of Manhattan. The demand for housing has been nothing short of incredible. Nothing goes up in a straight line forever though. There will certainly be a drop in real estate some point along the line in the next several years. Interest rates have slowly begun to rise. Mortgage rates will not stay at record lows forever. My belief is that the real estate boom will end in the next couple of years, and then pick up again when rates start to fall again in the next cycle probably at the end of this decade. What that means for 20 years from now? Brooklyn prices will probably be a lot higher as regular folks will still be priced out of Manhattan. But there will be no doubt bumps along the road to prosperity.

That's understandable. Even the most sought after suburbs and mansions have up and down times. But here's the meat of the question: 100 years ago when immigrants came and built today's NYC, they laid down very thick roots. But starting in the 1940's, those roots began to get pulled out by a variety of forces. By 1980, the viatlity and strength of NY's neighborhoods we're long gone. Areas once teeming with stores and middle class suddenly became bombed out wastelands and hood after hood seemed to dominio into a almost never-ending spiral of loss and decay.

Here's what I want to know, are all these areas filling up with immigrants and rich folk simply going to slide back into decay 20,30,50,100 years from now? Or, are these areas building strong and healthy foundations of investment and growth that will last? I mean, any area can come back, but it takes true character to come back for good....

[muscle1313]

Wow thats a tough question Alex. I would say in order to have all of Brooklyn come back for good you need a visionary developer who wants to change the perception and leave a mark in history. I think that person for Brooklyn is Bruce Ratner. I see him building Brooklyn into a force to be reckoned with. A competitor to Manhattan.

[alex ballard]

Wow thats a tough question Alex. I would say in order to have all of Brooklyn come back for good you need a visionary developer who wants to change the perception and leave a mark in history. I think that person for Brooklyn is Bruce Ratner. I see him building Brooklyn into a force to be reckoned with. A competitor to Manhattan.

Personally, I would love to be that developer. However, the mistake of the post-war period was the fact that it focused on one man (Robert Moses). When you place you chips in one guy, then you're subject to is biases and interestes. Brooklyn and NYC in general need all different types of developments and developers. However, I do see that happening right now with all this new consturction. As a Brooklynite, do you feel your neighbors precieve Brooklyn in a better light as a place to live than before?

[muscle1313]

As a Brooklynite, do you feel your neighbors precieve Brooklyn in a better light as a place to live than before?

People notice real estate values mostly. But also most people have no vision for the future. They are Nimbys who want to remain in the past. They haven't stopped progress though. Walk down Emmons Avenue in my neighborhood to see how successful the Nimbys have been at stopping luxury condos and keeping their old broken down bungalows. There is construction everwhere you look.

By the way if Ratner builds Atlantic Yards you are going to see a ton more development coming from loads of developers. Big Development spreads.

[BrooklynRider]

There were certain issues that tore at the fabric of the city and particular Brooklyn.

1. The introdiction of the automobile. People wanted to own one and wanted open road to drive on. Robert Moses gave them a bee-line to Long Island and Suburbia.

2. Co-ops and condos were not the norm in the 40's & 50's. Suburbs and veterans homeowner loans made the prospect of home ownership appealing for veteransr eturning from WWII and the Korean Conflict.

3. Black migration toward urban areas stoked the worst of people's predjudice and fear and the cities experience great "white flight" from previously strong, solid white ethnic neighborhood.

5. Anti-urban policies. The Federal Government had notoriously anti-urban policies best exemplified by the 1970's headline "Ford To City: Drop Dead".

The turn around is based on anumber of factors: (1) quality of life - people want to live close to where they work (2) people are growing weary of traffic and long commutes (3) crime is significantly down and their is more of a sense that the shape and crime rate of a community depends as much on community activism and caring as it does on police. (4) the increase in co-ops and condos (5) revitalized and expanded city parks (6) decline of manufacturing in NYC - removing a bit of the "polluted, gritty" aspect of the city (7) improved subway service & maintenance.

New York, somehow, has put the pieces for success in place. If you look at a place like Cleveland, the city attempted to forced a kind of urbanism in the late 90's that ultimately failed. That city is a shell, an empty city center, but Cleveland suburbs are booming and sprawling. I believe the downtown plan for Brooklyn, is Manhattan breaking out of its geographic boundaries. It has very little to do with Ratner.

Some people would say he has not done well by Brooklyn at all with his surburban style corporate parks bereft of life after 5PM. Metrotech is dead zone after 5PM and on weekends. His architecture has been ugly and uninspired. But, to his credit, he did see that Manhattan would have to expand and that NYC would need a third viable business district to compete with Jersey City rising. It's taken 100 years, but the original city of New York is finally, itself, moving into those areas it annexed - Brooklyn and Queens.

[alex ballard]

There were certain issues that tore at the fabric of the city and particular Brooklyn.

1. The introdiction of the automobile. People wanted to own one and wanted open road to drive on. Robert Moses gave them a bee-line to Long Island and Suburbia.

2. Co-ops and condos were not the norm in the 40's & 50's. Suburbs and veterans homeowner loans made the prospect of home ownership appealing for veteransr eturning from WWII and the Korean Conflict.

3. Black migration toward urban areas stoked the worst of people's predjudice and fear and the cities experience great "white flight" from previously strong, solid white ethnic neighborhood.

5. Anti-urban policies. The Federal Government had notoriously anti-urban policies best exemplified by the 1970's headline "Ford To City: Drop Dead".

The turn around is based on anumber of factors: (1) quality of life - people want to live close to where they work (2) people are growing weary of traffic and long commutes (3) crime is significantly down and their is more of a sense that the shape and crime rate of a community depends as much on community activism and caring as it does on police. (4) the increase in co-ops and condos (5) revitalized and expanded city parks (6) decline of manufacturing in NYC - removing a bit of the "polluted, gritty" aspect of the city (7) improved subway service & maintenance.

New York, somehow, has put the pieces for success in place. If you look at a place like Cleveland, the city attempted to forced a kind of urbanism in the late 90's that ultimately failed. That city is a shell, an empty city center, but Cleveland suburbs are booming and sprawling. I believe the downtown plan for Brooklyn, is Manhattan breaking out of its geographic boundaries. It has very little to do with Ratner.

Some people would say he has not done well by Brooklyn at all with his surburban style corporate parks bereft of life after 5PM. Metrotech is dead zone after 5PM and on weekends. His architecture has been ugly and uninspired. But, to his credit, he did see that Manhattan would have to expand and that NYC would need a third viable business district to compete with Jersey City rising. It's taken 100 years, but the original city of New York is finally, itself, moving into those areas it annexed - Brooklyn and Queens.


That was an extremely intelligent and informative piece. With that said, is the current growth of NYC going to stand the test of time? Here's my take on it:

"White Flight": Racism is declineing rapidly in American cutlure and more and more people are mingling with other races

Suburban Boom: amount of space within reasonable distance of cities is dwindling fast

Homeownership: The city is rapidly increasing hoemownership. Most of yesteryears areas that fell we're rental areas, NY is becoming a ownership city.

Quality of life: NYC is like no other, and it's quailty is only getting better as time goes on. To date, murder is already down 15% as of this time last year.

Growth: The south and west can only boom for so long. Water, Quality of Life, Traffic, Crime and other issues will eventually all catch up to those "boomtowns". NY has endured and will continue to endure.

So, that's MY take on it. But then again, I don't live here (yet). Do you think this time around, NY is here to stay?

[NewYorkYankee]

Yes, I think, New York is here to stay.

[muscle1313]

It has very little to do with Ratner.




“Bruce is a very persistent and focused visionary,” says Glenn Markman, executive director at Cushman & Wakefield in New York. “He saw something in Brooklyn few people saw, and he saw it 20 years ago.”

Bruce Ratner's Grand Plan for Brooklyn

http://www.nreionline.com/mag/real_estate_bruce_ratners_grand/

[muscle1313]

It has very little to do with Ratner.




Over the next fifteen years, Ratner found plenty of opportunities to test his sanity. “I used to get guffaws,” he recalls. “I would be giving a presentation to a company and I would say, ‘Downtown Brooklyn is the best downtown in America. You’re going to laugh, but I’m going to take the next twenty minutes to prove it to you. We have 32,000 college students, more than Cambridge, Massachusetts. We’ve got the cultural institutions, the transportation. I’ve been all over the country, and this downtown is going to be the very, very best.’ ”

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/sports/features/n_9393/index.html

[BrooklynRider]

Muscle-

I gave you you my argument why Ratner is taking great advantage of an obvious trend. All you are doing is throwing quotes at me.

Glenn Markman of C&W has an interest in praising Ratner as the bestthing since sliced bread, because he would like to be on one of the sides of the table for any new properties being leased (NOT an objective commentary on his part.)

Quoting Ratner, who is his own biggest cheerleader, again tells me nothing. Marty Markowitz will also spew his hot air about how this could only happen under him. Bloomberg will tell you how it is his business friendly policies and rezoning making it possible.

I appreciate your research, but if you belive Ratner is the lynchpin in all of this, then you are ignoring all of the other factors that make some of the stuff he is proposing viable for the first time ever.

[muscle1313]

Ratner's vision of Brooklyn's landscape has been shared by few in his field. The only other major developer to dedicate himself to the borough was Fred Trump, and he was active a generation ago, notes Sharon Zukin, professor of sociology at Brooklyn College. Taking advantage of subsidies offered by the Federal Housing Administration and other agencies, Trump built thousands of affordable apartments in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.

“Since Donald Trump's father died, no other big developer [besides Ratner] has been active in Brooklyn,” Zukin says. Although Brooklyn on its own would rank as the country's fourth-largest city, it “has been considered a second city, relegated to low-status manufacturing and residential use. It's been hard to attract developers with imagination and capital to the borough,” Zukin adds.

http://www.nreionline.com/mag/real_estate_bruce_ratners_grand/

[muscle1313]

“Bruce Ratner believes that Brooklyn can be a great city. Yes, city,” says this sometime associate. “Ratner believes this in the year 2003, which some people might find humorous. But in the year 2012, if he’s able to do what he wants to do, then people will say, ‘Hey, remember 2003, when all of this seemed crazy?’ He has 8.2 million square feet of prime real estate in downtown Brooklyn connected to the biggest subway and commuter-rail hub in New York. In that 8.2 million square feet, you’re going to see a new basketball arena, designed by Frank Gehry, the rest commercial real estate and housing. What you’ll see there is not typical Brooklyn brownstones. There’s a skyline to this. This is the future. This is Robert Moses. This is Levittown.”

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/sports/features/n_9393/index.html

[alex ballard]

“Bruce Ratner believes that Brooklyn can be a great city. Yes, city,” says this sometime associate. “Ratner believes this in the year 2003, which some people might find humorous. But in the year 2012, if he’s able to do what he wants to do, then people will say, ‘Hey, remember 2003, when all of this seemed crazy?’ He has 8.2 million square feet of prime real estate in downtown Brooklyn connected to the biggest subway and commuter-rail hub in New York. In that 8.2 million square feet, you’re going to see a new basketball arena, designed by Frank Gehry, the rest commercial real estate and housing. What you’ll see there is not typical Brooklyn brownstones. There’s a skyline to this. This is the future. This is Robert Moses. This is Levittown.”

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/sports/features/n_9393/index.html

It sounds like Brooklyn is gonna be a hell of a town if he has his way. But then again, hasn't it always been....;)

[muscle1313]

It sounds like Brooklyn is gonna be a hell of a town if he has his way. But then again, hasn't it always been....;)

There have been some real down times for Brooklyn. I remember walking with my wife on the boardwalk in Coney Island in the early 1990s and saying to her what in the world happened to this place? It was horrendous. Felt like crying. Then the Cyclones arrived 4 years ago. Better days ahead.

[nycguy]

285 Driggs ..looking good... we are financing this piece....

[alex ballard]

There have been some real down times for Brooklyn. I remember walking with my wife on the boardwalk in Coney Island in the early 1990s and saying to her what in the world happened to this place? It was horrendous. Felt like crying. Then the Cyclones arrived 4 years ago. Better days ahead.

I'm sure. I heard the projects got horrifing by the late 80's. But I'm sure the development will bring some much needed revival to the area. Hell, I'm surprised no one suggesting bringing Xandadu or something like it to the area. That might also help employ some of the project residents and might give Brooklyn teens something to do as opposed to being bored, which leads to mischief.

[billyblancoNYC]

I'm sure. I heard the projects got horrifing by the late 80's. But I'm sure the development will bring some much needed revival to the area. Hell, I'm surprised no one suggesting bringing Xandadu or something like it to the area. That might also help employ some of the project residents and might give Brooklyn teens something to do as opposed to being bored, which leads to mischief.

I wish they would. A few years ago Technodrome (I think) was the same as Xanadu, but in the Rockaways. It was on the site that's now Arverne by the Sea. It was to cost $1billion, but the plans never happened.

I hope the amusement district is large enough to have a real "fun" area, try to at least somewhat compete wih Great Adventure.

Of course, the city can make this into a different type of entertainment district, clubs, some amusements, etc., add lots of shiny new condo towers, and make a big amusement park somewhere on Staten Island's western coast. That would be good, too.

[Gulcrapek]

794-802 DeKalb Avenue
4 floors
33 units
Architect: Scarano & Associates
http://www.corcoran.com/property/nd/photo/dekalb.jpg

"Brand new construction and open loft living! 33 units will be available this spring.
Each of these four story buildings will consist of eight duplexes. These open and spaciously laid out lofts will have their own Mezzanine level sleeping area. 14 ft ceilings and huge windows allow sunlight to penetrate these sprawling units which will range from 742 square feet to 1838 square feet. All units will have outdoor space; either a roof terrace, back yard or balcony."

http://www.corcoran.com/property/nd/index.asp?CGM=Y

[Kolbster]

That is an attractive house and a applaud worthy design

[ASchwarz]

Wow, modernist luxury loft condos in Bed Stuy. I wonder how much these will sell for? I'm guessing you get a 10-20% discount compared to Williamsburg or Fort Greene.

I wonder when the first luxury condos will be marketed in Brownsville or East NY? I say give it 3 or 4 years.

[Derek2k3]

794-802 DeKalb Avenue
4 floors
33 units
Architect: Scarano & Associates
http://www.corcoran.com/property/nd/photo/dekalb.jpg

"Brand new construction and open loft living! 33 units will be available this spring.
Each of these four story buildings will consist of eight duplexes. These open and spaciously laid out lofts will have their own Mezzanine level sleeping area. 14 ft ceilings and huge windows allow sunlight to penetrate these sprawling units which will range from 742 square feet to 1838 square feet. All units will have outdoor space; either a roof terrace, back yard or balcony."

http://www.corcoran.com/property/nd/index.asp?CGM=Y

http://www.pbase.com/archit_kderek2k3/image/40762816.jpg
The area is kinda run down.

[Stern]

The area is kinda run down.

True but it falls into the greater trend of Brooklyn revitalization:

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
Say it loud: Bed-Stuy and proud
BY MELISSA GRACE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, March 10th, 2005

Brooklyn's most famous inner-city neighborhood is trying to put its "Bed-Stuy Do or Die" days behind it with a marketing makeover and a less-street-tough slogan.

"Bed-Stuy and Proud of It" will be the motto of a public relations campaign that kicks off today.

It's aimed at shedding Bedford-Stuyvesant's image as a crime-ridden neighborhood and remaking it as a proud, historic and desirable place to live, shop and do business.

"People see Bedford-Stuyvesant as a dangerous place to be," said Pam Green, head of the Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History, who is involved in the "rebranding" drive. "We need a facelift."

As with "Big Apple" and Mayor Bloomberg's move to trademark the slogan "The World's Second Home," Bed-Stuy's marketers hope they've created a catchy phrase that sums up the image they want to project.

"We want to create a cohesive message that becomes the thing everybody thinks when they come to Bed-Stuy," said project consultant Brian Tate, "in the same way way people think of 'I love New York' when they think of New York."

Joel Dabu, an organizer with the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corp., has already incorporated the new slogan.

"We want to say, 'We're Bed-Stuy and we're proud of it," he said yesterday.

"Brooklyn Icons," a series of enormous outdoor "wallscapes" honoring its most-famous residents, will kick off the privately funded $150,000 campaign today.

The promotional portraits, which are 24 feet tall and 12 feet wide and will loom over Fulton St., will include such famous Bed Stuy-ers as rapper and actor Mos Def, comedian Chris Rock, community activist Hattie Carthan and poet June Jordan.

The neighborhood also was home to Lil' Kim and Lena Horne.

"We're trying to give people more information about the positive aspects of Bedford-Stuyvesant, its heroes and cultural assets," said Green.

Chrystal Bobb-Semple, owner of Brownstone Books on Lewis Ave., said, "We need to attract people from outside of the community. That is a high priority. It's a revenue driver."

[alex ballard]

True but it falls into the greater trend of Brooklyn revitalization:

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
Say it loud: Bed-Stuy and proud
BY MELISSA GRACE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, March 10th, 2005

Brooklyn's most famous inner-city neighborhood is trying to put its "Bed-Stuy Do or Die" days behind it with a marketing makeover and a less-street-tough slogan.

"Bed-Stuy and Proud of It" will be the motto of a public relations campaign that kicks off today.

It's aimed at shedding Bedford-Stuyvesant's image as a crime-ridden neighborhood and remaking it as a proud, historic and desirable place to live, shop and do business.

"People see Bedford-Stuyvesant as a dangerous place to be," said Pam Green, head of the Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History, who is involved in the "rebranding" drive. "We need a facelift."

As with "Big Apple" and Mayor Bloomberg's move to trademark the slogan "The World's Second Home," Bed-Stuy's marketers hope they've created a catchy phrase that sums up the image they want to project.

"We want to create a cohesive message that becomes the thing everybody thinks when they come to Bed-Stuy," said project consultant Brian Tate, "in the same way way people think of 'I love New York' when they think of New York."

Joel Dabu, an organizer with the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corp., has already incorporated the new slogan.

"We want to say, 'We're Bed-Stuy and we're proud of it," he said yesterday.

"Brooklyn Icons," a series of enormous outdoor "wallscapes" honoring its most-famous residents, will kick off the privately funded $150,000 campaign today.

The promotional portraits, which are 24 feet tall and 12 feet wide and will loom over Fulton St., will include such famous Bed Stuy-ers as rapper and actor Mos Def, comedian Chris Rock, community activist Hattie Carthan and poet June Jordan.

The neighborhood also was home to Lil' Kim and Lena Horne.

"We're trying to give people more information about the positive aspects of Bedford-Stuyvesant, its heroes and cultural assets," said Green.

Chrystal Bobb-Semple, owner of Brownstone Books on Lewis Ave., said, "We need to attract people from outside of the community. That is a high priority. It's a revenue driver."


Do you see Bed-Stuy becoming a solid middle-upper class community? Also, I know it's largley black, but what's the flow into there now? Immigrants? Wealthy blacks? Whites?

[billyblancoNYC]

Do you see Bed-Stuy becoming a solid middle-upper class community? Also, I know it's largley black, but what's the flow into there now? Immigrants? Wealthy blacks? Whites?

Yuppies, some artists, some upper class blacks, some orthodox Jews. It will be solidly middle to upper middle class in the not-so-distant future. Prices have climbed and brownstones routinely run mid-600s.

[Gulcrapek]

3032 Brighton 8th Street
4 floors, 65 feet
6 units
Architect: Wiktor Wasilewski, P.E

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?requestid=4&allisn=0000981514&allboroughname=&allnumbhous=3032&allstrt=BRIGHTON++++8+STREET&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A

[Gulcrapek]

Server messed up and deleted my last post :mad:


2955 Brighton 7th Street
4 floors, 55 feet
16 units
Architect: Sandor Weiss (he's now going under like 3 different companies... fishy)

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?requestid=4&allisn=0001064229&allboroughname=&allnumbhous=2955&allstrt=BRIGHTON++++7+STREET&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A


2925 Brighton 8th Street
7 floors, 60 feet
8 units
Architect: David Silberman, P.E.

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?requestid=4&allisn=0000972151&allboroughname=&allnumbhous=2925&allstrt=BRIGHTON++++8+STREET&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A


2919 Brighton 8th Street
4 floors, 45 feet
8 units
Architect: David Silberman, P.E.

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?requestid=4&allisn=0000873376&allboroughname=&allnumbhous=2919&allstrt=BRIGHTON++++8+STREET&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A


727 Oceanview Avenue
5 floors, 55 feet
11 units
Architect: ND Architecture and Design P.C.

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobDetailsServlet?requestid=5&allisn=0001049240&allboroughname=&allnumbhous=727&allstrt=OCEANVIEW+AVENUE&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A


There was another one on Brighton 8th Street, but I lost it when the server hiccuped..

[BrooklynRider]

Gul-

You make me laugh all the time on here. Where do you come up with all of this stuff? Are builders filing for permits with you?

[Gulcrapek]

No. You don't want to know :o

[Derek2k3]

hey Gul, do any of these look any good?

[Gulcrapek]

Dunno. I've only seen one of that group, and the only cladding it has on at the moment is insulation.

[Gulcrapek]

3070 Brighton 1st Street (renovation/reconstruction)
4 floors, 60 ft
3 units
Architect: Scarano & Associates

Steel is up

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?bin=3321671&requestid=2&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A


120 Oceanview Avenue (late u/c or completed)
5 floors, 54 ft
8 units
Architect: WYS Design Partnership

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?bin=3244602&requestid=3&s=2764E472656094405BCE4CFD7393E84A

[Muscle13]

Gul - Are any of these properties you are listing in Brighton Beach on the oceanfront? Seems like what you are saying here is the condo explosion is spreading way past the Oceana in Brighton.

[Gulcrapek]

None on the water

[Derek2k3]

http://www.architexture3d.com/index.htm

Renderings of some Bk buildings I don't know of inside.

[Gulcrapek]

Ya I've seen these before but I'm not familiar with them.

http://www.architexture3d.com/images_lg/Masores811.jpg

That looks like it could be on Ocean Parkway though. In fact if it counts as 5 floors, I've seen a permit somewhere on OP for a 5-floor community facility...

*edit: on another renderer's page, Sandor Weiss is described as a "master architect" and "genius"... I need to get whatever they're on and sell it.

[Gulcrapek]

1610 DeKalb Avenue
5 floors (3 floor addition), 55 ft
23 units
Architect: Kushner Studios

http://www.kushnerstudios.com/kushnerstudios.swf

[Derek2k3]

you'd think this would warn developers in other neighborhoods not to put up crap.

Developers race to beat new zoning

BY DEBORAH KOLBEN
DAILY NEWS WRITER

http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/292438p-250368c.html

Bay Ridge turned into a frenzied construction site yesterday as condo-crazy developers raced to beat a new law that puts the brakes on construction.

If the City Council approves the new zoning law today as expected, developers would be dramatically limited in the height and size of the homes they can erect in the quiet neighborhood.

"I don't think we'll be able to build this big anymore," said Dino Cristo, a construction supervisor at 90th St. and Fourth Ave., where developers are building a six-unit condo.

His crew worked overtime to make sure the building foundation was finished by today, giving the developer the right to build under the old rules.

Under the new zoning changes that limit the size of buildings and preserve single-family homes in Bay Ridge, only one- and two-family homes would be allowed on the block.

Residents hope the new rezoning will preserve the character of the neighborhood of quiet streets and single-family homes.

Over the past decade, developers have snatched up single-family homes, torn them down and put up multi-family condos in their place.

"I'm frustrated," said Victoria Hofmo, president of Bay Ridge Conservancy. "I'm disappointed watching the neighborhood being ripped apart."

Residents say the new developments are an "eyesore" and blame them for growing parking problems.

Councilman Vincent Gentile (D-Bay Ridge) fumed about developers sweeping in just before the deadline.

"I think it's typical of attitude we've seen of developers who have no lasting concern for the community," said Gentile. "Their concern for making maximum profit trumps any concern for the community."

Meanwhile, construction continued throughout the neighborhood yesterday.

"We're 99% finished" with the foundation, said a construction worker on 91st St., where developers are putting up another condominium.

Some developers said they didn't realize the new zoning would go into effect so quickly.

John Ingravallo, who demolished a house on 77th St. over the weekend and planned to put up condos, was unaware of the new rules and said he wouldn't be able to get the foundation in by today.

"I'm nervous," said Ingravallo. "I hope they give us a chance to finish up whatever we started."

Originally published on March 23, 2005

[Kolbster]

I think that the new law is a reflection of ignorance...why down zone? I understand the want for a single family homes, but you can't stunt the growth of a promising neighborhood.

[Derek2k3]

1610 DeKalb Avenue
5 floors (3 floor addition), 55 ft
23 units
Architect: Kushner Studios

http://www.kushnerstudios.com/kushnerstudios.swf

http://www.pbase.com/archit_kderek2k3/image/41804858.jpg

A Symbol of Rebirth in Bushwick
By JOSH BARBANEL

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/realestate/03Post.html

Published: April 3, 2005

IT looks a bit like a boxy Hamptons beach house propped atop a concrete factory, but to its architect, Adam Kushner, the five-story apartment building under construction in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn is designed to symbolize the rebirth of an inner-city Brooklyn neighborhood in the midst of a real estate revival.

Mr. Kushner said he envisioned the floor-to-ceiling glass walls on the upper floors as suggesting the rolled-up gates and street signs in an older Brooklyn neighborhood, especially one still recovering from decades of decline and disinvestment. "We are trying to use these materials to symbolize new beginnings," he said.

And to top it all, the fifth floor will have a large circular window, or an "oculus," that looks out on a view that, in a real estate broker's dream, frames the Empire State Building atop the Manhattan skyline.

The three airy top stories are being built on top of an existing two-story brick warehouse at 1610 DeKalb Avenue, near Wyckoff Avenue, to create 23 loft-style apartments, including some with 16-foot ceilings, and three duplexes opening onto a private courtyard. They are due to be completed at the end of the summer.

The adventurous design represents one of the things developers do when they are trying to create a sense of excitement and identity in a neighborhood on the fringes of cool - in this case, one that is sometimes described as "East Williamsburg."

Perry Finkelman, a principal at the American Development Group, said he had originally planned to create rental apartments that could eventually be converted to condominiums. But he said that he and his partner, Mark Engel, are now closely watching other condo projects in the area and may decide to sell the units instead.

Bushwick has been on the rebound for many years, and thousands of subsidized apartments have been renovated with city subsidies. Brokers say that it has more recently become a refuge for artists and others driven out of nearby Williamsburg by rising real estate prices and that market rate developers have moved into the areas in the last year or so.

Mr. Finkelman said there are four other projects under construction within a few blocks of his new apartment building.

Matthew J. Rudert, a broker at Massey Knakal Realty Services who works with developers, said there are still great values in the area. "It is not overhyped," he said. The building is just a few feet from the DeKalb Avenue stop on the L train and will include a gym, parking in a multilevel lot next door, glass tile in the bathrooms and granite counters in the kitchen. By creating a building that will be "something of a destination," in part through its design, Mr. Finkelman said, he hoped to attract more affluent buyers to the area.

[Kolbster]

That is the most hideous thing i have ever seen

[Stern]

That is the most hideous thing i have ever seen

To be fair only the first two floors are hideous, the addition is average. They should've torn down the first floors and started all over again.

[Gulcrapek]

346-360 Smith Street
7 floors
Architect: Scarano & Associates

www.scaranoarchitects.com (http://www.scaranoarchitects.com) > multifamily

This is a good one...

"Buildings play upon the grouping of materials woven together by distinct elements. For example, the uniquely designed balcony frames, which are repeated and mirrored multiple times along the facade, serve to act as stitching elements between stucco, brick and metal panels on the facade. A curved roof also unifies a building together by drawing the viewer's attention towards its center.
The main corner of this building, which sits on top of the Smith Street entrance of the "F" train, was dually designed to be bold enough to mark itself as the entryway to this train stop as well as retain its residential character in relation to the rest of the building."

[Gulcrapek]

160 Scholes Street (row)
4 floors, 55 ft
7 units
Dev: Jacob Rubin
Architect: Scarano & Associates
Approved

http://www.scaranoarchitects.com > multifamily

Nifty stuff.

"A quiet revolution is occurring on a sleepy East Williamsburg block. Within this mixed-use district, dozens of new buildings are being constructed.
Small walk up, multi-family residential buildings have been the rule in the area. Every vacant lot is ripe for development. Maintaining the individuality of this four building group by putting separate entries, stairs and utilities, meant that a parking lot (considered less crucial to sales), could be eliminated. This freed up the cellar and ground floor area to become garden duplex apartments.
Masonry was chosen as an exterior veneer system, complimentary to the finish of many of the surrounding structures. Exposed masonry continues on the interior walls of the living rooms, which in most cases are over 15 feet high
A simple palate of masonry, glass and pre-caste stone creates a modern face reminiscent of brick used in the early days of Louis Kahn. A strong building presence closes the gap in the street wall. The loft-style interiors create a style of living, which has become the norm in this burgeoning community."

[MagnumPI]

BIG DEAL

A $20 Million Town House in Brooklyn (No Fooling)

NYTimes

By WILLIAM NEUMAN
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif
Published: April 10, 2005

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/04/08/realestate/10deal.jpg


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/i.gifT sounds like an April Fools' Day joke but it's not. A town house at 140 Columbia Heights overlooking the promenade in Brooklyn Heights went on the market on April 1 with the stratospheric asking price of $20 million. That is just down the street from a town house at 212 Columbia Heights that went into contract late last year for $8.5 million - double the highest price ever paid in the neighborhood.

The owners of the five-story town house just put on the market, Peter A. Murin and Robin Jaffe Murin, had brought in several real estate brokers to make sales pitches. In a January interview, Ms. Murin said they had started to think about selling after they received an unsolicited cash offer of $10 million. Reached this month, after the house went on the market, Ms. Murin refused to talk to a reporter. The Murins gave the listing to Lisa Beck and Rhea Cohen of Brown Harris Stevens.

The Murins bought the house in 1999 for $2 million from Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, according to the deed filed with the city. The home had been left to the university by the estate of Donald and Mildred Othmer, an unassuming couple who amassed a $775 million fortune. Dr. Othmer, who was a chemical engineering professor at Polytechnic, died in 1995. Mrs. Othmer died in 1998. Both were in their 90's.

The couple moved into the house in 1957. They lived there quietly, and the scope of their fortune came to light only after their death, when it was reported that they had left close to $200 million to Polytechnic and hundreds of millions more to other institutions.

Their wealth was derived from a long association with their hometown friend from Omaha, the billionaire investor Warren E. Buffett, with whom they invested their money over several decades.

[Kolbster]

BIG DEAL

A $20 Million Town House in Brooklyn (No Fooling)

NYTimes

By WILLIAM NEUMAN
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif
Published: April 10, 2005

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/04/08/realestate/10deal.jpg


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/i.gifT sounds like an April Fools' Day joke but it's not. A town house at 140 Columbia Heights overlooking the promenade in Brooklyn Heights went on the market on April 1 with the stratospheric asking price of $20 million. That is just down the street from a town house at 212 Columbia Heights that went into contract late last year for $8.5 million - double the highest price ever paid in the neighborhood.

The owners of the five-story town house just put on the market, Peter A. Murin and Robin Jaffe Murin, had brought in several real estate brokers to make sales pitches. In a January interview, Ms. Murin said they had started to think about selling after they received an unsolicited cash offer of $10 million. Reached this month, after the house went on the market, Ms. Murin refused to talk to a reporter. The Murins gave the listing to Lisa Beck and Rhea Cohen of Brown Harris Stevens.

The Murins bought the house in 1999 for $2 million from Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, according to the deed filed with the city. The home had been left to the university by the estate of Donald and Mildred Othmer, an unassuming couple who amassed a $775 million fortune. Dr. Othmer, who was a chemical engineering professor at Polytechnic, died in 1995. Mrs. Othmer died in 1998. Both were in their 90's.

The couple moved into the house in 1957. They lived there quietly, and the scope of their fortune came to light only after their death, when it was reported that they had left close to $200 million to Polytechnic and hundreds of millions more to other institutions.

Their wealth was derived from a long association with their hometown friend from Omaha, the billionaire investor Warren E. Buffett, with whom they invested their money over several decades.

Two ironic things, i was just telling my friend about this house, and also, right after i had finished telling him about it, i happened to run into the guy on my street. Can you believe this? 20 million! wow, i thought 5.6 was a lot, then i was blown away w. the 8.5, but now 20 million...how much was that trump penthouse going for again?

[alex ballard]

Two ironic things, i was just telling my friend about this house, and also, right after i had finished telling him about it, i happened to run into the guy on my street. Can you believe this? 20 million! wow, i thought 5.6 was a lot, then i was blown away w. the 8.5, but now 20 million...how much was that trump penthouse going for again?

I'm sorry, I can't help myself...

Who wants to play the odds it gets sold at that price;)?

My play:


5:1<10 Million
10:1<15 Million
20:1<20 Million
50:1>20 Million


Who's wants some action;D?

[muscle1313]

I'm sorry, I can't help myself...

Who wants to play the odds it gets sold at that price;)?

My play:


5:1<10 Million
10:1<15 Million
20:1<20 Million
50:1>20 Million


Who's wants some action;D?

Well given the article quote that they had a $10 mil unsolicited cash offer before they put it on the market I would say its a pretty sure bet they get over $10 mil.

[krulltime]

20 million? This is going to be on the market for a long time and then they will reduced the price... I am pretty sure.

[Gulcrapek]

2943 Brighton 4th Street
8 floors, 93 ft
19 units
Architect: Simino Architects
Completed

So, so weird. I'd never seen this thing or heard of it, and then turn the corner, see this huge thing coming up over you...

It's a box with an exoskeleton. The building's forward frame looks like it's suspending/suspended by the main facade. The window/balcony placement is irregular in some sections. Ground floor design and landscaping is very nice. But so unexpected.

Also I think either Simino is married to Sergey Guberman or he's his permanent, devoted architect.They're everywhere together.


2934 Brighton 4th Street
6 floors, 60 ft
6 units (this is the building of the beast)
Architect: Forum Engineering?

This is a butt-ugly throw-together of a building. Bland, flat front with unchanging stacks of windows, painted blue. This is the kind of stuff that should be demolished before it's even finished.

[Gulcrapek]

2955 Brighton 4th Street
5 floors, 50 ft
14 units
Architect: Miller Savarese Associates

Nothing above ground yet.