658 UnionAtrocious new buildings are not limited to the southern part of Park Slope, as this reader submission demonstrates.

I live in the neighborhood and am super curious about what its deal is. Basically, walking past it for the past couple of years, I’ve watched as they built this fugly thing, and then…it just sits vacant. It’s been vacant for more than a year now. Occasionally I’ve seen a FOR SALE sign up but then it is gone in a couple of days. What gives? Why are the small balconies encased in sheet metal? And what’s up with those plastic plants in front?

We don’t have any answers, but there sure have been a lot of mortgage transactions on the property since 2004, so perhaps the hold-up has something to do with that. Other than that, all we know is that the 5,000-square-foot POS has three residential units. Anyone have any knowledge or theories? GMAP P*Shark DOB


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. this building looks disgusting….and these developers add balconies to 2 and 3 story buildings because the zoning resolution permits them to, then they pass it off as an amenity. and all it ends up doing is making the building look like crap. i dont see why its so hard to build something study and basic anymore.

  2. But he did say he hadn’t seen the buildings, in the language he used. It’s not unfair to ask simply for people to actually see art or design, before they dismiss it completely. It shows such a lack of curiosity to outright refuse to even enter or consider a type of building. Plenty people dismiss Victorian brownstones because they don’t like dark interiors. And I can state for a fact it would offend the brownstone lovers if a brownstone hater had never seen many examples of brownstones, or even been inside one. They would say, please check it out, don’t be closed-minded. But apparently it’s not okay to say that same thing here, to someone who hates modern design.

    (This is all OT – I’m absolutely not defending this monstrosity of a building on Union Street.)

  3. It would make me feel ignorant and stubborn, too. That’s why I wouldn’t do it.

    It would make me feel equally ignorant and stubborn to make unfounded assumptions about what others have and have not seen.