Condos of the Day: Maze at 447 Humboldt Street
Timing is everything, and we’re betting that the developer of the Maze Condos at 447 Humboldt Street in Williamsburg is kicking himself for not having kept closer watch over the building process. Or maybe he’s kicking himself for having hired Scarano Architects. Whatever the reason, after months of Stop Work Order-related delays (something about a…
Timing is everything, and we’re betting that the developer of the Maze Condos at 447 Humboldt Street in Williamsburg is kicking himself for not having kept closer watch over the building process. Or maybe he’s kicking himself for having hired Scarano Architects. Whatever the reason, after months of Stop Work Order-related delays (something about a cinderblock falling on a neighboring house), the 10-unit project has finally come to market. But what a different market it is than if the building had been completed a year or six months ago. This seems like the kind of project—one and two-bedrooms priced between $389,000 and $699,000 and targetted at younger, often first-time buyers—that is most vulnerable to the mortgage financing freeze that’s underway. The pricing isn’t crazy ($550 to $600 a foot) but if we were a young go-getter interested in buying Williamsburg, we’d be holding out for a price correction closer to the water. But that’s just us. It’ll be very interesting to see if these sell.
Maze Condo Listings [Apts & Lofts] GMAP P*Shark DOB
After Falling Cinderblock, Work Resumes on Humboldt [Brownstoner]
The construction was delayed by more than a cinderblock falling on the house next store. A 40 foot piece of the cinderblock 4th fl side wall of the building fell down and through the roof of the house next door totally destroying it. They patched up the wall and continued with construction. There were no structural changes made so chances are something else will colapse! The entire building is a construction nightmare. Check out the NYC Building Department website to views years worth of violations and stop work orders that have been served.
1:50pm. Bought in Williamsburg in a condo development that was like 90% sold immediately and within a year, 100% sold.
Here’s why:
1) great location – 1 block to L which gets you everywhere fast. the other day, entered the L platform at 9:52am and walked out of Grand Central Station at 10:00am. Try that from the Slope – lived there for years. Big BIG drag. Can’t get anywhere in manhattan quickly. Also, where i am in williamsburg is near the G and a 10 minute or so walk to the JMZ. I use all lines and walk home from SOHO over the bridge frequently. Parking is also cheap in the area, and we can park in front of our building easily. Williamsburg is just simply really convenient. Hear bitchin about the trains, but i have not had any trouble. have never not been able to get on a train ever.
2) CENTRAL AIR and CENTRAL HEAT. NY sucks with it’s bullshit antiquated HVAC systems that everybody settles for. it’s ridiculous. Central air has been around for frickin decades. It’s great to enter my big, beautiful air conditioned apartment on gross hot NYC days.
3) Big apartment (almost 2000 sq. ft) for under $500 per square foot with outdoor space. Any increase in the square foot price will be a significant gain because the space is so large.
4) Williamsburg restaurants and shops are excellent and reasonably priced. GQ just wrote an article about Brooklyn restaurants and singled out several Williamsburg restaurants including Moto, Dressler and Diner. Think DuMont too. Also, several Williamsburg boutiques have been featured in major national magazines as well.
5) Great neighborhood amenities for kids: Mamalu’s, McCarren Park, McGolrick Park, new playgrounds, Williamsburg Northside Preschool, close proximity to the excellent private schools in the Union Sq. area, brand new, gorgeous satellite doctors office of the well regarded Tribeca Pediatrics, and the Yahoo Group brooklynbabyhui has very active Williamsburg parents too.
6) It’s a generalization, but really, Williamsburg is actually much more hip. In the Slope for instance, you see the lingering bumper stickers and banners from the 2004 election, the crazy people who shop at the food coop, women wearing mom jeans, and too many tiresome corporate types that just discovered Brooklyn 10 years too late. snore….
I went to an open house at this building. Like some of the other Scaranos I’ve considered, this place had the same problems. Buyer beware, there was standing water in the basement for the first open house. Anyone buying here needs, at very least, a mold test. Every place like this I’ve been in has had some sort of water issue at one time or another. I don’t know what gives, but graduating to adult life with something toxic killing your baby’s liver isn’t a wise investment. Don’t mean to sound hyperbolic, but this is a lot of money for something poorly engineered. 600+ should buy you a dry home. Sad part is, developers could prevent all these deal breakers with a little extra toward simple interior and exterior materials. Most developers just don’t get it: you wanna get rich you gotta provide value.
I was walking by this building the other day, and talk about shoddy construction… the doorway was probably at least a foot higher than the rest of the block, so they paved the sidewalk in front of it into a rather steep slope! I can’t imagine trying to to enter and leave the building on an icy day!
2 1,500 ft plus “lofts” at 659 and 699? Not bad , but what a drab building, cantilever included.
Like a lot of people on this site, I wonder who is buying these places in W-burg. It really points up the need for some sort of architectural review board with teeth, like in Chicago.
There was a small window of opportunity about 8 years ago for W-burg to become a low-rise neighborhood of exciting architecture.
That window slammed shut.
Zach, I feel for you. If it’s any comfort, I kind of think it’s smarter to keep a cheap city rental and if you want to buy, invest in a very cheap country home fixer upper (prices are down like crazy in weekend home areas), have the fun of a satisfying project and a respite from city living, and then sell it when prices are starting to go up again. Then you can at least afford a down payment… Growing up here, most people I knew had modest rentals in the city for many years and bought in the country before they bought (if they ever did – some people had rent control so there was no incentive to buy) in the city.
There are floorplans.
I’m priced out of ever buying in my neighborhood. Ever. Living in the apartment here that’s the same size as my walkup around the damn corner would triple my rent. After $100K down. Plus condo fees.
As a young person looking to make my first home purchase in the next year or so, I can say that I definitely am feeling no rush to purchase at this point. We feel like we can wait (hope, perhaps) for some price correction. And it seems like in developments like this, the prices have a way of falling a little after a few months. However, I was pretty surprised to see that offers have already been accepted on two of the 2-bedroom units. I feel like with the risk involved, if young people do buy condos, they are going to look to buy places with room to grow so that they can afford space-wise to hold onto the property for a few years if values drop. But maybe this is just my thinking
Little pet peeve too… no floorplans?