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April 16, 2009

Development Watch: 165 Havemeyer Street

165-Havemeyer-Street-0409.jpg
Not mincing words, blogger Brooklyn 11211 calls this nine-unit new building at 165 Havemeyer Street in Williamsburg "soul-deadeningly ugly' and we'd have to agree. While at least this POS is symmetrical, those small windows and the vast expanse of bricks between the ground floor and second floor make this worthy of enmity from anyone with an aesthetically-inclined bone in his or her body.
Soul-Deadeningly Ugly on Havemeyer [Brooklyn 11211] GMAP P*Shark DOB




Posted by Brownstoner at 2:29 PM | Comments (31)
Categories: Development, Williamsburg

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Comments

Have we renamed Horror Show Friday????

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at April 16, 2009 2:35 PM

Thing is...there are hundreds of buildings all over Williamsburg that look like this. And they are sitting empty with no takers on the horizon. That means one thing...a HUGE surplus of inventory which is going to bring prices way down in the area in the coming months and years.

There is so much shadow inventory in Williamsburg...I don't think some people have any idea.

All one has to do is walk around and notice every street packed with 10 developments that all look equally as horrible as this one.

It's sad. Williamsburg could have been a really cool neighborhood, not unlike the Pearl District in Portland, Oregon.

Instead it was raped and pillaged by developers and this is what is left to show for it.

Posted by: 11217 at April 16, 2009 2:38 PM


"All one has to do is walk around and notice every street packed with 10 developments that all look equally as horrible as this one."

Or, you could walk down 4th Avenue in the Slope.

Posted by: East New York at April 16, 2009 2:41 PM

ooooh, a Fedder High Rise...Perfect!

Posted by: bayridgegirl at April 16, 2009 2:41 PM

11217..you're right about a lot of inventory of this kind of crap. But who would substitute this POS as an alternative to what they really want??? Some, of course but no one on this blog, not even BHO or MM. cornerbodega and brickoven probably would. Winelover probably already lives in one, surrounded by illegals.

These places sit unfinished and therefore uninhabitable and are not part of the true inventory numbers.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at April 16, 2009 2:42 PM

the ugliness can all be overlooked by a big enough price cut (ie price it at or below rental cashflow and buyers will line up to snap 'em up). Williamsburg is not on my short list but a big enough price cut will move it up to top of my list.

Posted by: more4less at April 16, 2009 2:43 PM

ENY,

I agree...4th Avenue isn't gorgeous in the slightest, but those units are at least selling/renting. The places in Williamsburg are sitting empty. Walk by even McCarren Park at night, and those highrises along it are 1/4th empty and they've been up for years.

And comparing about 5-10 large buildings confined along one single Avenue is not the same as an entire neighborhood filled with hundreds of these dumpy, crappy and EMPTY developments.

Posted by: 11217 at April 16, 2009 2:45 PM

It boggles my mind, that all it takes is a cheap price and someone would then be interested in a total piece of crap.

I guess that's why Walmart is successful.

Go America! Quantity over Quality!!

Posted by: 11217 at April 16, 2009 2:47 PM

and 11217 has hijacked yet another thread to defend park slope!

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at April 16, 2009 2:48 PM

ugly & crappy buildings priced as if they're beauties = no sales vacant buildings

price it to reflect they're crap, I predict quick sell-out

Posted by: more4less at April 16, 2009 2:51 PM

11217: unlike some other bears here, I don't see a quick & big drop in the good hoods. It might be drip drip for another 2 yrs so if I can save up some more $$ during that wait living in these POS bldgs, have to consider it.

Posted by: more4less at April 16, 2009 2:58 PM

It's the perfect storm of shoddy construction and unrealistic pricing. When a building in Williamsburg is well made and priced correctly - they go like hotcakes (see building on Berry mentioned previously in the week)

They just don't make them like they used to. The Gretsch Building is probably one of the coolest buildings in the whole city - but why do an expensive factory conversion when you can knock it down and build a shitbox?

But buildings like this, I'm not sure who they are fooling. This looks more like it was built for the Hasids south of the bridge then the yuppies.

I'm more concerned with the stalled construction sites that are a definite blight on the neighborhood. When it gets windy I can't even walk westward on my block since the dust/metal fencing from the huge construction site starts blowing around.


Posted by: dirty_hipster at April 16, 2009 3:00 PM

also - I'm sorry. The new condos/existing housing stock in South Slope (teens, west of 6th) doesn't look drastically different then your average block in Williamsburg. There - I said it.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at April 16, 2009 3:02 PM

Let's not bash Hasids for this- have you seen their buildings? This is far too plain and definitely built for those looking to live in trendy neighborhoods who before the crash would have bought anything in said neighborhood at any price because, hey, its trendy and proved they were oh so hip.

Posted by: bxgrl at April 16, 2009 3:07 PM

Do we know anything about pricing? Hell, maybe it was actually built for the normal, working class people that live in this neighborhood.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at April 16, 2009 3:12 PM

quote:
It boggles my mind, that all it takes is a cheap price and someone would then be interested in a total piece of crap.

please think before you make such ridiculous statements.

*rob*


Posted by: PitbullNYC at April 16, 2009 3:14 PM

quote:
Do we know anything about pricing? Hell, maybe it was actually built for the normal, working class people that live in this neighborhood.


ALOL X 5000

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at April 16, 2009 3:17 PM

I'd probably buy one for the mere fact that its only 2 blocks from Walter Foods.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at April 16, 2009 3:18 PM

Hey now. Let's be fair. That building is going to be BEE-YOO-TEE-ful once there's a huge 25 by 6 sign for a liquor store or laundromat to cover up all the brick between first and second floors.

Posted by: RaginCajun at April 16, 2009 3:19 PM

As I mentioned before with regard to a certain big ol' 4th Ave place... WHAT THE HELL is with the "balconies"??

These are just stupid. I appreciate that they even *thought* about providing a balcony, but how about one that is actually a balcony?

Seriously, What's the difference between this and if they had simple put an iron fence in front of the door?

Posted by: tybur6 at April 16, 2009 3:19 PM

um those are bike racks not balconies tybirg. it's an amenity!
*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at April 16, 2009 3:24 PM

"It boggles my mind, that all it takes is a cheap price and someone would then be interested in a total piece of crap."

If my memory serves me correctly, a few years ago, 5th Ave in Park Slope was a 'piece of Crap'. Cheap prices and people were interested.

You do know how markets work, correct?

Posted by: bayridgegirl at April 16, 2009 3:30 PM

5th Avenue was seedy. The buildings aren't pieces of crap like this one. There's a difference.

Have you been to 5th Avenue?

Posted by: 11217 at April 16, 2009 3:34 PM

11217...5th avenue in Park Slope?

Nope never been. I don't know where Park Slope is. Is it nice?

Posted by: bayridgegirl at April 16, 2009 3:42 PM

Nope, it sucks.

And not in a good way.

Posted by: 11217 at April 16, 2009 3:43 PM

I call them "Romeo and Juliet balconies" since about the only thing you can do is stand on them and yell down to someone. Or, you can throw yourself off of them when you realize you paid a lot of money for your own pile of crap. Seriously, a balcony ought to be wide enough for a potted plant.

Here's the problem with these particular types of developments. They are usually-though not always-poorly designed and constructed. As such, serious buyers with money will chose to spend their $$s on places that are of higher quality and/or more astheticaly pleasing. So, these would make the most sense for renters living in older, poorly maintained building that are looking for newer construction in and around the communities they have always lived in. But the conversions from condos/co-ops to rentals means that the developers aren't able to get the returns they forcasted prior to the bubble bursting and they might need to be in the deal for many more years than originally projected.

So buildings sit empty while renters continue to have problems finding places and developers wait for the returns promised at the beginning of the Naughts. Everyone loses.

Posted by: LC Arnett at April 16, 2009 3:44 PM

"5th Avenue was seedy. The buildings aren't pieces of crap like this one. There's a difference."


This was an empty lot.

Surprisingly most of the major avenues in Williamsburg aren't filled with buildings like this. The buildings on Bedford Avenue aren't pieces of crap like this one either.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at April 16, 2009 5:06 PM

You're right dh. Bedford has some nice architecture.

I don't see how this is necessarily better than an empty lot if people don't move in and it sits vacant.

Posted by: 11217 at April 16, 2009 5:12 PM

quote:
The buildings on Bedford Avenue aren't pieces of crap like this one either.

ha. but the same cannot be said about the people tho

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at April 16, 2009 5:14 PM

My cats, now deceased, were born in that building. It was a fruit stand, single-story building. Not the nicest produce ever, but the only one in the immediate neighborhood. It closed several years ago and was then vacant, before they pretty much tore it down in the dead of night (well, almost) and built this. What's even sadder is that Havemeyer has lost its fish store, meat store, hardware store, portrait studio (well, he retired I think), all in the last year or so.

Posted by: Heather at April 16, 2009 7:12 PM

I know the big area of brick under the 1st floor of apts looks silly...but I assume that is blank now because signage for commercial on street level will be there.
(as can see it is same horizontal line as signage on building on the left). Won't appear as foolish then.

Posted by: Petebklyn at April 17, 2009 9:21 AM

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