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July 6, 2007

Development Watch: Butt-Ugly on Smith

478smithst.jpg
What can you say about this Bricolage piece o' crap going up at 478 Smith Street at the corner of 9th Street? Not much really. Given the size of the three apartments, they presumably have been designed to sell as condos but it's hard to imagine anyone deciding to sink their nest egg into this, is it not? GMAP P*Shark DOB




Posted by Brownstoner at 10:01 AM | Comments (68)
Categories: Carroll Gardens, Development

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Comments

At least it's close to a good notary ;-)

Posted by: John at July 6, 2007 10:17 AM

That's a nasty, ugly, industrial corner. Not only do you look out at the F train Culver viaduct that rises over the Gowanus, you are directly across the street from the fuel oil depot where oil delivery trucks fill up their tanks. The expressway and heavily trafficked Hamilton Avenue are less than two blocks to the south. That corner also has a tendency to flood in very heavy rains. It was knee-deep in water after a storm last summer. I'm with you, I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to live there, but I bet that someone will.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 10:20 AM

The building is hideous but that block is hardly pretty to look at at any angle. At least they aren't ruining a nice neighborhood scene this time.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 10:21 AM

Ocean views... minutes to center slope's shopping and dining experience... You know if they put in some super large retro loft/factory style windows it might not be so bad. Something tells me ugly balconies await.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 10:28 AM

A fitting successor to "Russo's boatyard." At least the lucky inhabitants-to-come can feast on "Not-F-Line Bagels" across the street while inhaling the goodly vapors from the neighboring brownfields...how long before the inevitable banner goes up proclaiming the nascent properties within to be "LUXURY"?

Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at July 6, 2007 10:29 AM

Whatever... Y'all will be lined up bidding above ask when this POS goes on the market.

"It's a gem!"

Posted by: Roberto at July 6, 2007 10:34 AM

Too early to tell. Hopefully they will go with the industrial look and install a freight winch hanging off the front above the large bays and not put balconies on.

Posted by: Remistompa at July 6, 2007 10:36 AM

Apparently they are trying to sell the bottom floor for commercial space at $4500/month. That might not be a bad idea with train there.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/off/366922941.html

Posted by: Alex at July 6, 2007 10:43 AM

it would look really cool if the old ratty motorboat from the lot was mounted up top, like a lifeboat suspended by ropes over the top edge instead of the usual cornice. (intentinally set to be non-level)

proximity to toxicity and brownfield bagels a plus...


Posted by: smitten by smith 9th at July 6, 2007 10:48 AM

the notary district goes residential and ny'ers go boffo!, snapping up all available units in less than 30 minutes. not f line bagels renames the everything bagel with schmeer, formerly know as "the notary," henceforth to be known as the "cancercondo"

Posted by: d at July 6, 2007 10:49 AM

oh no, who in their right mind would buy something other than a FG/CH Townhouse!?!?!?

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 11:00 AM

it aint so bad
good location being by a train stop, they are prob better off renting it out

Posted by: meh at July 6, 2007 11:05 AM

B-Stoner is a chump.

"piece o' crap"?!?! Have you been on that corner? Do you see the houses next door?

Get some perspective or at least pull that perfectly restored crown molding out of your hairy butt.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 11:09 AM

considering the location, it really isnt so bad...still early to tell, hopefully those holes arent for gigantic fedders

it would be nice if the remaining 'charming' aluminum siding pos's get torn down..if a few similar buildings go up the block will be ok

bstoner can really pompous sometimes. this is an example

Posted by: me at July 6, 2007 11:17 AM

my standards have been beat down, probably, but i've seen a hell of a lot worse. in a way this is a breath of fresh air.

Posted by: anon at July 6, 2007 11:27 AM

I find Russo's to be very cheery! Now you can't call THAT cookie-cutter!

Posted by: Carol Gardens at July 6, 2007 11:32 AM

Top ten reasons for owning Bricolage property:
10- it's the brick selection,
9 - location, location, location,
8 - i need to own a large sleeve A/C unit,
7 - the vinyl windows have a 10,000 year life span,
6 - the bldgs are so not green,
5 - units selling for nothing less than $1000 sq.ft.,
4 - c'mon, you always wanted to be a pioneer in a dump development,
3 - the architect is required to take crack when designing,
2 - can you think of a better name than Bricolage,
The No. 1 reason for owning Bricolage property: It's bootyful

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 11:36 AM

If they get a decent retail tenant, it'll vastly improve the nature of this corner, and then maybe residential won't seem bad. It's an undervalued location - there should be a lot more commerce there.

Posted by: gritsavage at July 6, 2007 11:39 AM

Speak for your own butt. This building makes my ass look like a Michelangelo masterpiece.


Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 11:52 AM

It sounds like the floods and toxic waste explain why there isn't more commerce.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 11:54 AM

Seriously what the hell is with you Brownstoner - WTF do you want them to build here?
Its a normal color brick building with (apparently) no a/c sleeves in the facade; It maintains the 'street wall' and is only 5 stories tall.
Doesnt that make it a "Brownstoner" approved design??
God it is truly amazing how you bitch amd moan about every new building, can you please get some perspective.
The fact that anyone would risk substantial $ on developing what is traditionally a horrible corner (floods,smells and tons of traffic), in a horrible location (under the train) should fill you with happiness, instead you apparently expect the developer to risk even more $ on some neuvo design or recreate some faux-19th century townhouse.

Posted by: David at July 6, 2007 11:57 AM

I’m with 11:39. No masterpiece but its not that bad. This corner will change a lot over the next few years. It has the potential to be a small retail hub.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 12:03 PM

it has always been such a depressing area and toxic isn't the word... though that funky notary place always tickled my funny bone...
"build it and they will come" ... and
folks will.

Posted by: bren at July 6, 2007 12:26 PM

AMEN 11:57.

Goes to prove my point. The only positive posts on this website are about FG/CH Houses of the Day.

Get off your high horses.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 12:30 PM

toxic schmoxic....in 50 years it'll be a landmark....

Posted by: anon at July 6, 2007 12:57 PM

it is funny how short-sighted the negative comments tend to be... who knows, perhaps with the push to clean the gowanus and the "public space" are on smith and 5th street, the area may improve some. no one who buys in this development could afford your pristine townhouse next to prospect park or the hot FG/CH...

Posted by: hola at July 6, 2007 12:58 PM

lets face it, this site is a ruse, dedicated to promoting CH over other BK neighborhoods in an unbalanced manner, thereby speeding up its gentrification, and rapidly increasing mr B's property value.

Mos Def would be proud indeed

Posted by: yup at July 6, 2007 1:00 PM

You need a lot of brick when you're sitting on an oil spill that's just waiting to blow. Not to mention the cancer causing fumes and the falling debris from the elevated viaduct (construction till 2012).

It doesn't get better than this.

Posted by: EGdh at July 6, 2007 1:30 PM

Well said 11:57

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 1:40 PM

"construction till 2012"

Wait, isn't that the Mayan year for Armageddon? (NY Times magazine from this past weekend. Yes, I read things other than brownstoner and curbed!)

Perhaps Mr. Radusky had that in mind when designing this bunker.

Shit sandwich.

Posted by: ActionJackson at July 6, 2007 2:27 PM

This is going to look exactly like that dump on Union Street between 5th and 4th Ave. 3 Years ago when it started out I thought "okay, may not be bad. It is brick, clean lines, nice big openings". Oh how wrong was I, they ended up filling in those openings with vinyl windows from Lowes, those god awful chrome railings, and balconies that look like they were made by the GC's cousin at Winn Restaurant Supply. The foundations were CMU and they tried getting away with spraypainting them to fancy them up. Luckily the neighbors complained and they removed that feature. You wait, this is shaping up to be as bad as that.

Posted by: JGNY at July 6, 2007 2:30 PM

big difference between a residential townhouse block (union) and this industrial location

Posted by: nope at July 6, 2007 3:00 PM

So are you saying that because a neighborhood looks industrial the best it can hope for is bottom of the barrel design? Post-industrial sites like this one can be a catalyst for interesting architecture, one that both draws inspiration from it's "gritty" context (through materials, articulation, massing) and the history of late 19th/ early 20th century Brooklyn.

Posted by: JGNY at July 6, 2007 3:13 PM

I'm gonna defend brownstoner on this one...

Bricolage (Henry Radusky) is a notoriously BAD, TALENTLESS, and UNETHICAL developer who has a proven track record of bending and breaking rules, while plunking down miserable examples of cheap, poorly designed and poorly built structures around brooklyn, especially the slope & south slope.

There is nothing wrong with finding opportunities, turning a profit and developing in neglected neighborhoods, but when it is consistently done at the expense of ALL other considerations (especially building codes, zoning, quality and safety for workers/future residents and yes, aesthetics) why shouldn't Brownstoner call him out on it?

And not to diss anyone living in this area or nearby businesses by any means, but with the convergence of the elevated F&G trains, Gowanus canal, BQE, the asphalt factory, metal junkyard and God knows what else, I'd have to think it can't be a healthy place for human habitation or a monetary investment either...

I certainly hope they clean up the canal and make the area better, but really, is it actually possible to reverse the effects of 125+ years of heavy metal/chemical/petroleum dumping/spills all around there? would ANY of you posters buy into this building? I'll bet not...

And I call bullshit on all of you who say the 'Stoner is trying to hype clinton hill at the expense of other hoods. I'm not buyin' it - if anything he's doin' y'all a favor by pointing out the flaws of this particular area.

Posted by: ..and I live in south brooklyn at July 6, 2007 3:18 PM

o thank you bstoner for pointing out how ugly my hood is
i wish we all can live in beautiful brownstones
what would brooklyn be without you

Posted by: Mos Def at July 6, 2007 3:47 PM

ditto b stoner is lame! i have more talant in my sphincter than your wife has in the kitchen. nice corner building.

H

Posted by: Henry Radusky at July 6, 2007 4:04 PM

ditto b stoner is lame! i have more talant in my sphincter than your wife has in the kitchen. nice corner building.

H

Posted by: Henry Radusky at July 6, 2007 4:04 PM

Yeah look at the piece of crap next door - a frame house with white vinyl siding, unevenly spaced windows, half height windows on the top floor, and an ugly-ass patchwork roof. The new brick building with big windows is a palace in comparison. So what's the problem, I don't get it?

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 4:34 PM

mos deaf, get yourself some kleenex

Posted by: anon at July 6, 2007 4:59 PM

If y'all hate Mr. B so much, why do you keep reading the site? He's just putting it out there for discussion. If you think he's got some nefarious motive, why do you bother?

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 5:08 PM

surprised no one's weighed in yet on the main problem for this corner - the permanent collection of dicey folks who park there all day. presumably you'd think they're waiting to get the bus, but there seems to be an awful lot of full-time loitering there. most people in the area avoid the smith and 9th street stop in part for that reason (another: the skeevy, scary, multiple floor entrance to the stop itself) in favor of hoofing it to the carroll street stop several blocks away.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 5:15 PM

how come these negative comments were not thrown at the developments at luquer and 4th, which are also next to smith, the train and gowanus.... those developments seemed to have sold well. i think some dont even know the hood they say they know

Posted by: hola at July 6, 2007 6:16 PM

Brownstoner,
I am confused by your use of the word bricolage. Sometimes you seem to use it to convey something that is thrown together, cheaply made, but at other times you use it to describe architecture that brings different materials together. Both uses are correct but I am sometimes unsure of what you are trying to say. In this case, perhaps you are referring to different architectural styles thrown together to create a whole lot of nothing. Just thinking out loud here.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 7:51 PM

You want to see a fine example of "Bricolage" disaster? Well look no further than the corner of Classon and Fulton! A real piece of shit! The building has been up for two years now and they haven't sold a single unit. Why? It's a shit sandwich!

Bricolage = Throwing up scrap building material to save a buck at the expense of overall community aesthetics.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 8:13 PM

Bricolage is the name of an architecture firm that has designed several buildings in Brooklyn; the word bricolage, which derives from french, means to throw something together.

Posted by: Brownstoner at July 6, 2007 9:19 PM

I'm the proud (future) owner of a Bricolage apartment in the St Marks Lofts just off Washington Ave, and although I'm none too impressed by the company's other buildings, I bought it because of the huge windows they put in (which Brownstoner commented on previously) and because of a south-facing balcony. If the outside looks like run-of-the-mill brick, I'll have to take my chances.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 9:50 PM

This building makes me not want to masturbate as much.

Posted by: Mos Def at July 6, 2007 10:13 PM

Hmm. Instead of trying to take a dowdy block and improve it, we place a giant shit pile at the end of it because it's not a nice block to begin with. Great urban renewal spirit we have here.

Posted by: Julie at July 6, 2007 10:16 PM

i love ugly buildings not on my block. they call me a bricoleur.

see claude levi-stauss and jacques derrida.

and i'm black and grew up in clinton hill and bedford stuvesant.

interestingly, i think mr. brownstoner gets the complexity of ch/bs black identity in all of its complexity. this is why i return here & respect your site/cite.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 6, 2007 10:46 PM

I agree Julie...

Posted by: bren at July 7, 2007 12:21 AM

Thanks Brownstoner,
An architecture firm named Bricolage... that explains it.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 7, 2007 8:46 AM

Can be compared to some of the monstrosities being put in and around Clinton Hill and Bedstuy in the blink of an eye. And the mother of all bricolage, Fulton ST and Classon Ave.I dont think the homeless would live there for free if offered.

Posted by: watchingchange@aol.com at July 7, 2007 9:07 AM

It just occurred to me. Take a good look at that piece of crap and all the other Bricolage (Radufsky) buildings built in the last 10 years and one thing comes to mind - PRISON.
They look like Jails houses. To bad our City officials haven't seen the signs cause that's where Radufsky and all his Associates belong.
To all who may consider buying in and to all our government officials I have 2 words-
WAKE UP.

Posted by: My2 at July 7, 2007 9:25 AM

Someone mentioned the "dicey" characters that seem to live at that corner but no one has mentioned ( or maybe someone can confirm...) Isn't that a methadone clinic by the F station? Or is just where the junkies hang out? Because they are not thugs, or gangsters, or troublemakers. They almost always have a heroin glaze in their eyes.

Or do junkies just like to hang out on the single grittiest, ugliest corner within a 50 block radius?

Posted by: Peter in CG at July 7, 2007 12:19 PM

Someone mentioned the "dicey" characters that seem to live at that corner but no one has mentioned ( or maybe someone can confirm...) Isn't that a methadone clinic by the F station? Or is just where the junkies hang out? Because they are not thugs, or gangsters, or troublemakers. They almost always have a heroin glaze in their eyes.

Or do junkies just like to hang out on the single grittiest, ugliest corner within a 50 block radius?

Posted by: Peter in CG at July 7, 2007 12:20 PM

Is the hideous piece of crap on Classon between Clifton and Lafayette also a Bricolage building? That building is an eyesore.

Posted by: jvf at July 7, 2007 12:37 PM

Steps from a Superfund site....and how convenient! There is a brisk drug trade in the early mornings

Posted by: MissLo at July 7, 2007 1:19 PM

The poor folks waiting on the corner for the bus are en route from the subway to Red Hook where, you may have noticed, there is a housing project of some size.

Posted by: rf at July 7, 2007 9:27 PM

9:27

I know the difference btw poor folks and junkies. Yes, I know the Red Hook bus stops there and yes, I also know there are -several- projects in RH.

I'm also quite struck by the number of junkies who seem to live at that corner...

Posted by: Peter in CG at July 7, 2007 11:18 PM

Its brown just like dog shit!

Posted by: Anonymous at July 8, 2007 5:07 AM

I would swear that there is sex trade going on there, as well. I saw a few transvestite prostitutes walking around in the early morning hours.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 8, 2007 8:02 AM

Do not forget to blame the reason for the buildings overall look, the rules of the city planning commission made the mass and those setbacks.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 8, 2007 10:56 PM

Julie - "Our" urban renewal spirit is irrelevant because "we" didn't "put" anything, anywhere - the developer (which isn't the ARCHITECT Bricolage BTW) who is risking his millions of dollars is only relevant 'spirit' that matters.
The fact that this cite is so close to the toxic dump that is the Gowanus - is underneath the F-Train and virtually underneath the BQE and apparently (based on reports here) home to heroin addicts, tranny prostitutes and other "dicey" characters - means to me that the developer actually has a true urban renewal spirit and in fact considering the building really isnt ugly (not pretty either) I think the developer deserves some credit

Posted by: David at July 9, 2007 9:32 AM

I think it's no longer possible to subjectively separate the name Radusky from Bricolage Design Inc. The well is poisoned. When will the district attorney's office investigate his use of nonexistent Yeshivas to boost his clients FAR? As for Radusky the architect, I seriously doubt that he even bothers to design anything anymore, Besides having his right to self-certify his work taken away in NYC his building plans are basically computer cut and paste jobs executed by unsupervised, inferior contractors. As for this building's location, just check Property Shark's Toxic Site Map for the story why this property is not fit for humans.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:02 AM

I don't think the building is that bad so far. The naysayers above wouldn't by chance also be the ones with petitions up their asses about the building on the Carroll Street subway stop? Just wondering.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 10:52 AM

Don't understand why people do not realize that Architects have no control over what type of material or how much the DEVELOPER is willing to spend on the facade of their projects. In an area like this why should the DEVELOPER spend on a fancy facade? All that will do is cut into his profits. VERY RARELY is the architect the DEVELOPER. Something people who read the B'stoner obviously have no clue about.

Posted by: The EMP at July 9, 2007 11:33 AM

If a Starbucks opens there on the ground floor, all will be forgotten.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 9, 2007 7:11 PM

Why would anyone want to be an architect?

Posted by: Anonymous at July 10, 2007 8:23 AM

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