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October 13, 2006

119 Court Street: Just About There

building
Last March we took a look at the slow-moving development at the corner of Court and State. A reader chimed in with some background at the time: A guy named Danny who used to run a Chinese restaurant on the site woke up one day and realized he could make a lot more dough building condos than slinging chow mein. He had a tough time putting together the financing which, our commenter guessed, explained the project's fits and starts. We went by on Saturday, though, and it looks like the building is just about finished. Anyone know anything about price or timing? Who's got the listing?
Development Watch: 117-119 Court Street [Brownstoner] GMAP




Posted by Brownstoner at 11:08 AM | Comments (16)
Categories: Development

Comments

Heard that one of his problems was that he depended on getting materials from China. With the Central merican labor, this was truly a global venture. I wouldn't expect to see Kohler and Viking in these...

Posted by: Anonymous at October 13, 2006 11:34 AM

that looks pretty nice imo. I like the big windows and the all glass corners. It would be interesting to see interior shots/layouts.

Posted by: lp at October 13, 2006 12:39 PM

Why do the walls end right in the middle of the windows? I have noticed this before on this building and it looks odd from the street. I hope those walls are not dividing apartments because they look mighty thin from the street.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 13, 2006 1:01 PM

I live right next door to this building and I remember how this past summer for those few weeks when it absolutely poored that bottom apartment had no windows in it, but certainly had plenty of finishing touches already in place. In fact the apartment was without windows for quite some time.

Posted by: TheKingsCounty at October 13, 2006 1:02 PM

...in addition from street level looking in the apartments appear to be quite nice. The brick looks good on the outside and hopefully the retail space will get something other than a Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks or a bank.

Posted by: TheKingsCounty at October 13, 2006 1:05 PM

Two things- it is pretty typical to end a wall at a mullion and yes they can be very thin and still be fire rated.
And we are all waiting on materials from China- get used to it. It is where a we alot of our steel, etc.

Posted by: Max at October 13, 2006 1:52 PM

I hate it when windows end at a mullion. The whole rhythm of the fenestration is messed up at night, as the lights are on (to use the left-most apartment line as an example) in three windows but not the fourth, or vice versa. Of course, Mies would have just instructed the tenants to turn on all the lights or leave them all off.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 13, 2006 2:13 PM

fenestration?

Anyways, I think the penthouse looks nice. I've been eyeing this building on my way to and from work for some time. It'll be interesting to see how the sales go. With this and 110 Livingston, the few square blocks around Court between Joralemon and Atlantic are going to get an influx of residents really soon.

Posted by: cobblestoner at October 13, 2006 3:55 PM

I agree. It's a nice looking building. Good proportions, harmonious. Nice brick. I like a window that ends at a mullion (never knew what it was called before though!)

Posted by: Anonymous at October 13, 2006 5:12 PM

i like them! one of the first new constructions i've looked at and immediately had a sense of liking about it.

kinda looks like an ofc bldg, but i really like them.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 13, 2006 10:41 PM

defenestration

1620, "the action of throwing out of a window," from L. fenestra "window." A word invented for one incident: the "Defenestration of Prague," May 21, 1618, when two Catholic deputies to the Bohemian national assembly and a secretary were tossed out the window (into a moat) of the castle of Hradshin by Protestant radicals. It marked the start of the Thirty Years War. Some linguists link fenestra with Gk. verb phainein "to show;" others see in it an Etruscan borrowing, based on the suffix -(s)tra, as in L. loan-words aplustre "the carved stern of a ship with its ornaments," genista "the plant broom," lanista "trainer of gladiators."

Posted by: Anonymous at October 14, 2006 11:25 AM

It's not bad looking, but you do feel a little exposed by the large, clear windows. The combo movie theater, Starbucks, Barnes&Noble is directly across the street with all the gawkers looking out their large windows and so is the Court House Apartments on their other side.

The windows should have been the dark tinted kind, or something with a little reflective property.

Posted by: D at October 14, 2006 12:40 PM

I think that they are floorthroughs. Family sized apts.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 14, 2006 4:30 PM

It's the fashionable things, those big "living in a glass house" windows. The Meier buildings in Manhattan are like that; even cars going by the on expressway can see right inside. But in those Meier buildings there are a white, flat, screen style shades residents can draw down that let in some light but obscures the view for passersby. The window covering question might be the drawback for this building; if there isn't a uniform style of shade installed on the windows there is going to be a chaotic cacophony of colors and texture and types of window fixtures and then the uniform look of the exterior we are admiring now, won't be evident anymore. However it's a drag for people who live in a building to have restrictions on what kind of window fixtures they can use. Limits their interior decor, creatively. The upside for the exterior is the downside for the interiors, in those kinds of buildings. Which we don't know is the case here.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 15, 2006 5:48 PM

I just noticed the bottom-panes on those big windows do open. That's really nice. A big drawback on large windows most of the time, is that they can't be opened and the building is hermetically sealed. This nice features makes this building NOT like an office building.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 15, 2006 5:50 PM

A friend lives almost next door to this, on the same block and this block is LOUD. Between the crowds of people coming in and out of the movie theater, the 'blood bus' that parks outside with the engine and AC running all day, exchanging blood donations for movie tix, and the garbage trucks that come usually between 1 and 3 am and sometimes take up to an hour to load up all the trash from the combo of movie theater and B&N, it's never quite on this block. It is nice that the windows open, but especially on the lower floors, you'd probably never want them open.

Convenient 'hood though. Close to most subways, Brooklyn Heights and stuff on Court or Smith.

Posted by: Anon at October 15, 2006 10:36 PM

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