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This is the conclusion of the Third and Bond blog, which has run on Brownstoner since 2007. It’s been a great run!
The day has come and gone. Every unit at Third + Bond is sold and closed. It’s been such a long time coming that you probably forgot about our weekly blog detailing the ins-and-outs of real estate development. Our first post was in August of 2007. Since then we have subjected you to the project minutiae in 154 posts over 200-plus weeks, including this one. Well, friends, we promised to show you the development process, warts and all, and this was a doozy. We bought the property during the boom, and five years later we are glad the roller coaster is slowing to a stop.
In the time since we broke ground, we have witnessed the most severe economic bust in 80 years and the explosion of Brooklyn’s popularity. There is now a neighborhood Superfund. Although the Gowanus rose to be six inches against the corner of the building, we did not have water infiltration from Sandy. No emergency pumping, no loss of electricity, nothing.
And, Whole Foods is actually on site at Third and Third, building a grocery store! Like, right now. Seeing bulldozers there brings us to tears. We bought at Third and Bond specifically to follow Whole Foods, the neighborhood changer, and we (jokingly) called our project Aisle 11.

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This is one of the last updates the Third + Bond bloggers will have for us.
Every condominium offering plan requires the Sponsor to schedule the first annual owner’s meeting at some point after the first closing to elect a condo board and review the issues of the building. In the good old days when prices were high in a seller’s market, buyers felt taken advantage of, the annual meeting was their first cathartic opportunity to rant and rave at the Sponsor for all sorts of indignities. We’ve had stressful first meetings and we’re-all-drinking-the-kool-aid first meetings. As we prepared for the Third + Bond owner’s meeting, we wondered, would they come bearing gifts of thanks for their beautiful homes? Would they come with pitchforks, angry that a light switch didn’t work?

We held the meeting in our largest unsold unit, thinking that you can’t beat it for location. The open living room/kitchen/foyer was perfect for fitting the 40 or so people in attendance. Over half of the units sent a representative. We’ll see what attendance is like a few years from now… and we’ll see how well the occupants like each other!

We started the meeting with the President of Lisa Management giving an introduction to the agenda, his staff, and his thoughts on the peculiarities of starting up a new building. For example: We’ve had some problems with doors that don’t shut well or shut too hard and he pointed out that these problems were unlikely to come to light before owners move in and actually use the doors day in and day out. Construction workers just prop doors open so they aren’t truly tested. It was true and well said, but did it come off as an excuse? There were no comments from the owners.

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The Third + Bond bloggers are winding down, with only a few posts left to go…
Last month we prepared for the worst. Hurricane Irene looked to have a direct path to our front door and we were scared. We poured over the weather maps, reviewed our stormwater system, and pumped out our detention tank. We talked with residents about putting away or weighing down their outdoor furniture. We crossed our fingers. And then… not much happened.

Our plan was to start pumping out our detention tank before the storm and continue throughout as necessary. We also bought some pumps in case the cellars took on water. The management company, Lisa, and our Director of Construction put together a game plan that started well in advance of the storm. Hey, we didn’t come this far to have Mother Nature give us a hard time!

You might be wondering, what is this thing you call a detention tank and why do you have it? Is it because you are in the Gowanus flood zone?

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While NYC sweltered under the summer sun, we’ve been slowly but surely tidying up punch lists and ushering new owners through the doors. There’s nothing like a 100-degree heat wave to ensure the a/c will go out just before an open house. But it isn’t all sweat and bear it, we have good news, too: we received our official LEED rating from the US Green Building Council: Platinum! We are the first building in Brooklyn to be LEED Platinum through the LEED for Homes program. We are only about the fifth in all of New York City – the others are affordable projects in the Bronx. Finally we see the pay-off for all of that tedious foam sealing of cracks and crevices!

Platinum is the highest level achievable in LEED. Many of the buildings that reach that level have all kinds of bells and whistles that are not realistic on a mass-scale. (An in-house sewage treatment plant?!) So we are especially psyched to have demonstrated that you can be super energy efficient and super green by making sensible choices.

We made it to LEED-Platinum and (waiting for the official word) ENERGY STAR (R) by using a pre-fabricated steel structural system with concrete floors; individual ducted central air conditioning; energy recovery ventilators for tempering and filtering fresh air continuously; locally sourced brick and recycled aluminum panels for the façade; water conservation measures such as dual flush toilets, super low-flow lavatories and drought-tolerant landscaping; low-VOC paints; and Forest Stewardship Council certified solid hardwood flooring.

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The bloggers from The Hudson Companies dust off their keyboards this week for an update on how sales at the Gowanus development are going…

We are enjoying another big moment in a journey of moments at Third + Bond: reaching 51% units in contract. Now all of our buyers with FannieMae and SONYMA loans can close. A half dozen buyers have been waiting for 51% so that they could fire up their lenders and attorneys. Closing these units means the buildings will be half full. The current occupants will have to stop wandering the halls in their pajamas.

When we broke ground on Third + Bond, we expected to make this announcement, well, long before now. Given the economy, we’ve revised our outlook to think this is still pretty good. In the three months since getting TCOs, we reached 51% sales. And we raised prices. We’ve sold from every floor plan studio, 1 beds, 2 beds, 3+ beds. As usual, we weren’t quite right in our betting on which unit would go first versus last. Hey, it doesn’t matter so long as there are buyers for each one.

The back half of sales is always easier than the first half. It’s like buyers need to have the comfort that someone else thought living there was a good idea. Spring has sprung for our buyers, as surely as the street trees have blossomed.

Facebook: Third + Bond Twitter: Thirdbond
www.thirdandbond.com

Our legal fine print: The complete offering terms are in an Offering Plan available from Sponsor. File No. CD080490. Sponsor: Hudson Third LLC, 826 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

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With closings and move-ins occurring every week, we thought we’d check in with one of the first buyers to move into Third + Bond, Monica S.

When did you first see Third + Bond, and when did you know it was the place for you?
I saw it for the first time on StreetEasy and scheduled an appointment immediately. It was love at first sight with my unit. Of course I went to see other places after but ended up coming back!

What other places did you look at before settling on Third + Bond?
Many brownstones in the area and a few new construction projects in Williamsburg.

Where did you live before Third + Bond? Where are you from originally?
I used to live in a hi-rise condo “75 Wall” in the Financial District (Manhattan). I was born and raised in Venezuela but lived in Europe for several years before moving to NYC.

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Today the Third & Bond bloggers emerge from a long winter’s nap…Howdy friends, fans, and foes of Third + Bond. For the last couple of months, we’ve been mum on Brownstoner because we’ve been occupied with punch lists, sales, and getting temporary certificates of occupancy (TCOs). But for those of you wanting to see this behind the scenes real estate development through to the finish line, as we do, we wanted to bring you an update. We’ll continue with updates, although irregularly no posts about paint drying up to the end. Before we close the book on ‘Inside Third + Bond’ we’ll post about coordinating move-ins (started last week!), transitioning the building over to the property manager, procuring end loans, and getting to the magic 51% pre-sold, as well as lessons learned. Maybe we’ll even let you know about our next Brooklyn project…

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The Third & Bond bloggers return from hibernation this week…Come on over to Third + Bond this Saturday (10am-6pm) for a green block party! There will be over 50 vendors with hands-on displays, over a dozen tours of nearby buildings and green roofs, and a bunch of activities for the kids. The NEW New York: GreenHomeNYC’s Green Block Party is being produced by the all-volunteer non-profit, GreenHomeNYC.

We are delighted to be an anchor for this free, fun-filled event. We love opportunities to bring people to our front door even if they don’t step foot inside. Bonus if they like green buildings and are likely to already live in brownstone Brooklyn! They’ll see how easy it is to get here and how gorgeous the building looks. Looks so gorgeous in fact that after riding her bicycle past, Gita Nandan, spearhead of the event and GreenHomeNYC board member, approached us about hosting. She had been looking at sites in Manhattan for the event but it was difficult to find one that worked. It was critical to be in the street, rather than a park, and to have nearby green buildings to feature. Third Street between Bond and Hoyt worked on every level. Even better, Alison is a GreenHomeNYC board member so Gita knew she had an advocate on the inside.

So, whether you’ve strolled by to check out our façade in person, sniffed around during an open house, or haven’t been by at all, you should come on over on Saturday. The weather forecast is mostly sunny with highs in the 60s. What better to do than hang around outside learning how to install and plant a green roof, tagging-along on an energy audit of a 100+ year old building, learning how to harvest rainwater, and even tour, that’s right, Third + Bond with a talk on sustainable furnishing by Pratt designers! There will be kid-friendly activities like solar car building and racing with SolarOne and crafting from old bike parts with Recycle-A-Bicycle which is also providing free bike valet.

There won’t be any tube socks or tie-dyed garments for sale but you can learn about NYC-based Green Depot’s new green cleaning products recently launched at Target stores, or talk to the guys at Foro Marble who provided the countertops for Third + Bond.
There will be food vendors like the Red Hook Lobster Pound, Rice and Blue Bottle. You can even drop off your old electronics, clothing or bikes for donation.

And you won’t want to miss the triumphant return of ‘The Jerko, the Gowanus Water Vacuum’ super-eco houseboat as it pulls into port at 2nd St after its maiden voyage on the canal. The Jerko’s captain will phone his personal brass band as he approaches the Third Street bridge so it can march down to greet him. Seriously.

It’ll be hard to top this event, marketing-wise. C’mon, a houseboat, brass band, and bike valet?? We might need to scale back to something a little simpler. Like shaving our logo into the neighborhood dogs. Here Fido!

Facebook: Third + Bond Twitter: Thirdbond
www.thirdandbond.com

Our legal fine print: The complete offering terms are in an Offering Plan available from Sponsor. File No. CD080490. Sponsor: Hudson Third LLC, 826 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

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The latest missive from our friendly developer bloggers…When will Third + Bond be finished? We are asked this question at least as many times a week as there are Tea Party rallies. Our answer depends on who’s asking. If it’s the construction manager then we say, ‘When we have certificates of occupancy, temporary or permanent, the project will be substantially complete.

Completion at C of O doesn’t satisfy Kiska. They want to consider the project complete, or more specifically substantially complete today. They look around the site and say, Everything’s finished except for the punch list and some inspections. Why are they so eager? A certificate of Substantial Completion is typically signed by the architect and handed over to the construction lender. The lender uses this form, as well as a big pile of other paperwork like final lien waivers, to justify releasing the remaining funds held in retention until job completion (aside from some amount held for punch list). Often Substantial Completion is also used to demarcate the end of the contractor’s responsibility for general conditions which includes security, utilities, daily project manager oversight, insurance, etc. Putting the brakes on overhead costs for the construction manager is highly desirable, especially when they have new projects where they want to move personnel.

Substantial Completion is defined as…

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When Buyer B came along looking for at least three bedrooms and enough space to give the grown-ups and their three kids room to play, we thought they were perfect candidates for one of our garden duplexes. With private rear yards and plenty of space, our garden duplexes are house-like and the most family-friendly units at Third + Bond. But Buyer B envisioned something a little different. They were more excited about gardening on a roof terrace than in a rear yard, and they liked the views from our higher-floor units. Their idea: buy two two-bedroom apartments in one building and combine them into a four-bedroom duplex.

We love signing contracts, but customization is a tricky business. Over the course of our negotiations, we had to consider the costs of the additional construction and design work, as well as the impacts on the construction timeline and TCO sign-offs for the rest of the project. In the end it was fairly easy to decide that the benefit of selling two apartments with one stone more than outweighed the complications involved in combining them, and we now we have a signed contract for a second floor and a third floor two-bedroom as one combined duplex unit.

As detailed by a construction rider to the purchase contract, Hudson will customize the units by installing an internal staircase and demolishing one kitchen. The new unit will…