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East New York’s Nehemiah Housing Proving Resilient
When the Nehemiah project launched in the 1980s, it sold houses to residents of East New York for as little as $39,000. The church-run program would buy abandoned, city-owned properties and erect inexpensive homes for residents that met the program’s strict financial credibility checks. Nowadays, Nehemiah (named after the post-exile Biblical character who rebuilt Jerusalem) homes sell for as much as $120,000, but this is still well below market rates for similar properties. NPR profiled the organization this week, pointing out that the project has stringent financial checks to ensure that applicants are not involved in any criminal activity and to ensure that they will not default on their mortgages (applicants can spend no more than 20 percent of their income on the mortgage; no more than ten out of over 4,000 homes have been foreclosed in the program’s entire history). Zandra Brockman, an applicant to the program, said the application process was worth the result: “Where else could we live at the prices we had?” she told NPR. “It was truly a blessing for us.” The article adds that applicants who are rejected often organize their finances and re-apply later successfully. Sarah Plowden, who works for Nehemiah and also owns a home through the program, said: “We more than just bought homes. We bought into one another as a people.”
Low-Cost Brooklyn Housing Sees Few Foreclosures [NPR]
Affordable Houses Infused With Color [NY Times]
Low-Income? You’re Kidding! [NY Magazine]
10/20/2009 10:04 AM
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Tuesday Links
Lanes for Buses Only, and New M.T.A. Chief Means It [NY Times]
City Awarded $105 Million in Exxon Mobil Lawsuit [NY TImes]
British Regulator Proposes Tighter Rules for Mortgages [NY Times]
Author ponders death — at Green-Wood Cemetery [NY Post]
Andrew Lloyd Webber Disses Coney Island [NY Daily News]
Bed Stuy Foot Soldiers Survive Recession [NY Daily News]
Man Shot at Home on Vanderbilt Avenue [NY1]
Photo by flatbushnelson
10/20/2009 8:31 AM
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Closing Bell: In Memoriam
Today marks one week since the shooting at Parkside Donut and Kennedy Fried Chicken, at 188 Parkside Avenue in Lefferts Gardens. An impromptu memorial has grown next door to the restaurant for Brian Scott, a.k.a. Cozmik, an 18-year-old rising star of urban inline skating. Two other men were shot, both in stable condition.
Rising Inline Skater Is Fatally Shot in Brooklyn [NY Times]
10/19/2009 4:00 PM
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One More Atlantic Yards Lawsuit
At the Walk Don’t Destroy Brooklyn fundraiser held Saturday by Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, DDDB announced that it would file another lawsuit today against the Atlantic Yards development project, this time regarding “the failure of the Empire State Development Corporation to issue a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement in response to changes in the project,” according to the Atlantic Yards Report. This lawsuit, sponsored by 19 community organizations, joins two other major lawsuits currently in the courts, both co-sponsored by DDDB: the massive eminent domain case and the MTA case. Update: DDDB along with 19 other community groups did in fact file suit earlier today. Read all about it here.
DDDB: New Lawsuit Challenging Atlantic Yards [AYR]
Atlantic Yards: Suit Filed Against MTA [Brownstoner]
Oral Arguments over Eminent Domain at Atlantic Yards [Brownstoner]
Photo by Tracy Collins
10/19/2009 10:31 AM
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Dim Hopes for CNR’s Senior Center
As we mentioned last week, CNR Healthcare was hoping to get special upzoning and build an outsized supportive services facility on Lefferts Place in Clinton Hill. At a community meeting held last Thursday with politicians who supported the idea, locals fought back passionately, according to The New York Times. Our concern isn’t with the low-income housing for seniors; the project itself is an amazing and important project, said John Katsos, president of the civic association. We just feel that a project at that size and design is not inclusive of the community. Rezoning will set a bad precedent by opening up the entire block to massive development, and we’re all private residents. In the face of community backlash, the politicians wobbled, and CNR said that it would not pursue the development project without support from the community. We have to go back, assess what we learned tonight and figure out what our next steps are, said Mitch Korbey, a lawyer representing CNR. GMAP
Prospects Dimming for Lefferts Senior Complex [The Local, NYT]
Meeting About Special Lefferts Rezoning Request Tonight [Brownstoner]
Lefferts Place Threatened by Healthcare Developer [Brownstoner]
10/19/2009 10:01 AM
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DDDB Holds Fifth Fundraiser Against the Yards
Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, the Atlantic Yards watchdog organization, held its fifth annual Walk Don’t Destroy fundraiser on Saturday, which raised over $40,000 according to the Atlantic Yards Report. City Council Member Letitia James, DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein, actor John Turturro, and about 200 others walked the 2.3-mile route, which included a stop at Borough Hall, headquarters of Borough President Marty Markowitz, a supporter of the Atlantic Yards development. This is about working-class people, Ms. James said as she marched across Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, according to The New York Times. This is about saving our homes and businesses against billionaires. We want our community back. The cash raised by the event will presumably go towards DDDB’s efforts to prevent the Atlantic Yards stadium and residential development project, such as its current lawsuit against the MTA for negligence of due process in its sale of land to developer Forest City Ratner.
Staying Power at Fifth DDDB Walkathon [AYR]
Walking Against the Bulldozers [NY Times]
Atlantic Yards: Suit Filed Against MTA [Brownstoner]
Photo by Tracy Collins
10/19/2009 9:31 AM
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Manhattan vs. Brooklyn, Boom and Bust
Jonathan Miller posted a neat little graph over at Curbed on Friday, which attempts to show the savings of living in Brooklyn vs. Manhattan over the past seven years. Mr. Miller acknowledges that the graph is “simplistic and fraught with problems,” but it gives an approximated view of how much buyers save by living in Brooklyn, and that saving’s relationship to the boom and bust years. Using median sales price data (of condos? co-ops? houses? all available residential sales?), Mr. Miller concludes that the peak time of Brooklyn savings relative to Manhattan was the second quarter of 2008. Again, it’s an approximation, but an interesting one. Take a look at the original article for more details.
Three Cents Worth: Manhattan to Brooklyn Value Proposition [Curbed]
10/19/2009 9:00 AM
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Monday Links
Police Offer Reward in Beating of Immigrant [NY Times]
Face-to-Face Socializing Starts With a Mobile Post [NY Times]
Arts, Briefly: BAM to Host First Opera Festival [NY Times]
Brooklyn Man Gunned Down After Quarrel [NY Daily News]
Dad Is 1 of 3 Slain in Bronx, Brooklyn [NY Daily News]
For Akiva Goldsman, a Beautiful Turnaround [LA Times]
GOP Challenger Debates Markowitz [Brooklyn Eagle]
Author Ponders Death—at Green-Wood Cemetery [Brooklyn Paper]
Photo by Barry Yanowitz, Brownstoner Flickr pool
10/19/2009 8:30 AM
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House Tour Double-Shot This Weekend
Lots of ground to cover this weekend for house-tour lovers…Tomorrow, the 31st Annual Bedford Stuyvesant House Tour runs from 11 am to 4 pm; you can buy tickets in advance from Brownstone Books at 409 Lewis Avenue or pick them up at the kick-off spot at Brooklyn Academy High School at 832 Marcy Avenue. On Sunday, the action shifts to Prospect Heights, where ten homes—including three architects’ residences—will be open for viewing. The self-guided tour goes from 12 to 5 p.m., and you can purchase tickets ($20 ahead; $25 same day) at Forest Floor Antiques at 659 Vanderbilt Avenue. For more info., call 718-393-7653 or visit their website.
10/16/2009 2:40 PM
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Greenlight Bookstore Renovation Blog: Week 11
This is the eleventh installment of a weekly blog hosted at Brownstoner chronicling the design and construction of the Greenlight Bookstore at 686 Fulton Street in Fort Greene. Written by project architect Frederick Tang of deFT Projects. See the first ten posts here.
For the past couple weeks, we’ve been saying “we’re in the home stretch!” but the completion of the project always seemed elusively one more week away. This time, though, it’s really true. Floor protection has been removed. Books are going up on the shelves. Computers are installed in their final locations. And most exciting of all, our launch party is scheduled for next Saturday, October 24! (more…)
10/16/2009 11:30 AM
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Owner Takes Park Slope’s Pink House Off Market
Local media were abuzz recently when Park Slope’s hard-to-miss pink brownstone on Garfield Place went on the market for nearly $2.3 million, but The Brooklyn Paper reported yesterday that Heights Berkeley Realty, the firm selling the house, took the property off the market due to legal complications. The grandson of owner Bernie Henry, who painted the house bright pink in the 1960s, “is under investigation for forging key documents that have put a cloud over who has legal ownership of the building,” according to the Paper. As for the ostentatious color of the home, the article mentions that of course a buyer could repaint it, but one local resident commented: “It’s like anything else in life: at first, you hate it because it’s new. But then you come to love it. And then you don’t want it to ever change.”
Famed Pink House Pulled Off Market in Legal Dispute [Brooklyn Paper]
Park Slope’s Pink House 4 Sale [Gothamist]
Photo by Karen Bonna Rainert
10/16/2009 10:00 AM
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Relationship between Towns and Countrywide Scrutinized
Representative Edolphus Towns, a Democrat from Brooklyn and the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has been relentless in his criticisms of the financial services industry, reports The New York Times, but now he himself is under fire because he opposes Republicans’ efforts to subpoena records for Countrywide Financial, a company implicated in the subprime mortgage crisis. Republicans have suggested that Mr. Towns has received loans from Countrywide’s V.I.P. program and refuses the subpoena for personal reasons. A representative of Mr. Towns said this is simply a smear campaign, since Countrywide was already investigated last year regarding its connections to Senators Christopher Dodd and Kent Conrad, with both parties coming out clean. He went to his local mortgage guy and got a normal mortgage, the representative said. The guy’s from Brooklyn and doesn’t have much money and wasn’t prominent enough to be considered a V.I.P. Whether it was later transferred through the V.I.P. program, I don’t know. But he didn’t receive any favors. The Dodd-Conrad investigation showed that the V.I.P. program expedites service but issues regular loans at market rates. Republicans plan to continue their investigation, however, to prevent companies from buying influence from government officials.
Watchdog in Congress Now a Target Himself [NY Times]
10/16/2009 9:44 AM
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Atlantic Terrace Applications Available Nov 1
The Local reported yesterday on this week’s October meeting of Brooklyn Community Board 2, during which it was announced that applications for Atlantic Terrace, the 80-unit affordable (ish) housing development at 669 Atlantic will be available November 1. According to The Local, “construction should be complete by May, followed soon after by a city-sponsored lottery.” Other topics at the meeting included the Navy Yards, the new Fulton Street business improvement district called the FAB Alliance, and zoning and how it relates to stalled construction sites.
At the Board: Atlantic Terrace Coming Soon [The Local]
Development Watch: Atlantic Terrace Plods Along [Brownstoner]
10/16/2009 9:29 AM
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Atlantic Yards, the Nets, and the Times
Atlantic Yards seems to be in the hot seat this week due to the Court of Appeals case that began on Wednesday regarding the state’s use of eminent domain to acquire land for the development project. Here’s a round-up of recent comments, from the Atlantic Yards Report, the Wall Street Journal, and Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn. The WSJ points out that if the Yards wins in court, its next big challenge will be “selling the development to a skeptical bond market.” The $700 million bond sale needed to fund the project comes at a time when sports spending is receding and the bond market is still shaky. The article adds: “If developers of the Atlantic Yards project don’t issue bonds by Dec. 31 to fund the arena’s construction, the debt will lose tax-exempt status, which would kill the project.” And concerning the arena’s prospective occupants, the Nets basketball team, the Atlantic Yards Report writes that there’s some jostling in New Jersey regarding what to do with the team until it moves to Brooklyn. Regarding legal matters, the Report also questions why Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries didn’t join the lawsuit against the MTA for its dismissal of due process during the sale of land to developer Forest City Ratner, especially since his neighboring assemblymembers, Jim Brennan and Joan Millman, did join. Jeffries said that participating in the lawsuit would compromise his power of advocacy, but the Report wonders if he’s simply hedging his bets. Finally, several sites made a stink that The New York Times failed to run a print article about the opening arguments of the eminent domain case on Wednesday. Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn wonders whether the Times is avoiding the topic because its Manhattan tower was built with the use of eminent domain.
Sale of Arena Debt Is Tough Shot [WSJ]
WSJ Calls Arena Debt a ‘Toss Up’ [AYR]
Newark Mayor Booker Focuses on Temporary Nets Move [AYR]
Jeffries Agrees with Plaintiffs But Won’t Join Them [AYR]
Something Is Wrong at the Times [DDDB]
Photo by Tracy Collins
10/16/2009 9:00 AM
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Friday Links
As City Adds Housing for Poor, Market Subtracts It [NY Times]
Man Charged in Immigration Fraud Scheme [NY Times]
Acorn’s Woes Strain Its Ties to Democrats [NY Times]
41 Charged with Mortgage Fraud [NY Times]
Giuliani to Campaign with Bloomberg [Newsday]
Greenlight Bookstore Set to Open [NY Daily News]
Suit vs DUMBO Dock Street Project Claims Conspiracy [NY Daily News]
CB1 Approves Oddly Controversial Tapas Bar [NY Post]
Hope for Battered Brooklyn Housing Market [NY Post]
Unspeakable Conditions Prevail at Two Flatbush Buildings [NY Post]
Prospect Heights, the Next Cobble Hill [NY Post]
Leases Signed for Cruise, Beer [Brooklyn Eagle]
Has the Bust Gone Bust? [Brooklyn Paper]
Photo by adamlerner, Brownstoner Flickr pool
10/16/2009 8:31 AM
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Closing Bell: Google Bike Routes
Streetsblog ran a post yesterday pointing to a Google blog post that suggests bike routes and directions will be coming to Google maps some day. Right now, Streetsblog says, New Yorkers can use the site Ride the City for bike directions, but the options for most cities in the nation are slim. And in case Google needs more encouragement, Streetsblog directs us to an online petition for Google to add bike trip tools, which already has over 50,000 signatures
Google Bike Routes Almost Here [Streetsblog]
Your World, Your Map [Google LatLong]
10/15/2009 4:01 PM
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Tenants Claim Negligence at Flatbush Gardens
Tenants at the 59-building, rent-stabalized, East Flatbush housing complex called Flatbush Gardens (previously Vanderveer Estates) claim that the owner, Clipper Equity, is neglecting repairs in order to drive out tenants and drive up rents. “You call, but they never come to fix anything,” one tenant of 25 years told the Daily News. Needed repairs include flooring in disrepair and exposed or non-functioning outlets. Tenants also claim that Clipper began charging $30 air-conditioner fees as part of its intimidation tactics, and raised rents in stabalized apartments beyond what is legally permissible. The owners will renovate an apartment as soon as tenants vacate, tenants say, but ignore maintenance requests for occupied units. Finally, the tenants point to television and subway ads for the complex as more evidence that the owners are trying to attract new money. A Clipper spokesperson said that the owner works through all maintenance requests, and highlights $10 million in upgrades such as new elevators, intercom systems, and playgrounds. Tenants say these are simply cosmetic upgrades, and a lawyer representing them told the News, “It’s clear the landlord wants to bring in new business.” GMAP P*Shark
Landlords Letting Flatbush Gardens Rot to Flush Us Out [Daily News]
Rent Wars: Flatbush Gardens Achieves Stuy Town Dream [Curbed]
Image by Nicholas Strini/PropertyShark
10/15/2009 9:41 AM
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BWN
May 29, 2012 | 11:02 AM