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We were talking to a (non-Corcoran) broker the other night who was contrasting Toll Brothers’ lack of understanding of the Williamsburg market (as evidenced by the 8-foot 9-foot ceilings in North 8) with the spot-on aesthetic of The Mill Building on North 3rd Street. We haven’t been inside either, but we are excited to see a condo project that wasn’t afraid to keep the original factory floors in place, regardless of their “imperfections”. (He also mentioned what a broker dynamo Kara Kasper is, but that’s another topic.) For those of you who have been inside The Mill Building, do you think the developers did a good job of preserving some of the original building’s original charm? It looks like prices are about $600 a foot which seems okay for the location and quality. Agree? Disagree? The Corcoran site shows 17 listings still available, which means that a lot of the units have already sold.
85 North Third Street [Corcoran] GMAP
Photo by justiNYC


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Violations with respect to safety are in no way the equivalent of a parking ticket! Public safety is at stake and serious violations will indeed prevent the issuence of even a TCO. TCO’s are issued when a building is substantially in compliance with the submitted plans and only minor violations and unpaid fines remain. A review of the building code violations on the DOB’s website, regarding the Mill building, reveals that many, more than minor violations remain open. This building has 37 open DOB violations and 23 open ECB violations. If satisfactory inspections have been made, why haven’t these violations been cleared? One building code violation relates to a penthouse on the roof, built without a permit. The likelihood of a TCO being issued while a violation like this is outstanding, is remote. Buyer be careful and get any promises in writing for legal occupancy within a resonable period of time.

  2. Violations are the housing equivalent of parking tickets. You don’t foreclose on a property over violations like you don’t go to jail over parking tickets.

    Not being able to obtain a CO on a project is EXTREMLY rare and has NEVER had anything to do with old violations. I only know of 4 scandalous cases where a developer had serious problems with the application for a TCO and they ALL had to do with the same concept of being “overbuilt” on a lot. They were all “new” construction. They were all “self-certified” jobs. And they were consistently coming out of the same 2 architect’s offices. And even in those extreme cases 1st- the buyers were granted the right to rescind. And 2nd the developers ultimately got or are getting their paper work from the city.

    This building has to be THE MOST UNLIKELY site to have a problem obtaining a CO in all of Brooklyn. It is a highly respected architect. Nothing was self certified. There is ZERO new construction on this site so it couldn’t possibly get overbuilt.