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May 1, 2009

On Prospect Park: Is Anybody Home?

While the sales statistics online are fairly opaque, the inherent transparency of On Prospect Park can't tell lies. Walking past the Richard Meier design on Tuesday evening on the way to the NY Times panel at the Brooklyn Public Library, we were struck by how few of the apartments appeared to be inhabited. On a more positive note, this was the first time we'd passed by the finished lobby and we have to say it's pretty impressive looking if you've got a modernist leaning or two.
OPP Floats Some 'Limited Availability Pricing' [Brownstoner]
On Prospect Park: Ready For its Close-Up [Brownstoner]

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Wow, I noticed EXACTLY the same thing the following night at another event at BPL. Just after sundown, and the place looked almost uninhabited; track lights on in one apt. 'way up, it could have been a staged model apartment. Maybe everyone else is just afraid to turn the lights on at night, having realized that they now have all the privacy of a hamster Habitrail!

Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at May 1, 2009 11:40 AM

Future Low-Income housing....

The What

Someday this war is gonna end..

Posted by: Return of The What at May 1, 2009 11:46 AM

Those Irish carpenters have to work, you know. Gotta pay off those fat American mortgages somehow. They'll pop in for a couple weeks during their summer breaks.

Posted by: Beau Guest at May 1, 2009 11:47 AM

Any shots of the penthouse(s)? Is Beyonce' home?

***Bid half off peak comps***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at May 1, 2009 11:47 AM

Brenda, you summed it up perfectly.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at May 1, 2009 11:53 AM

Brenda: If I were in the design/construction business, I would be coming up with ways to mitigate all those glass walls. Besides the lack of privacy, the heating and cooling costs will take their toll on anywone who actuallylives there. [The RM buidlings in the village are always empty after how many years? All bought by celebs who do not live there.]

Posted by: BH76 at May 1, 2009 11:55 AM

DUDE THAT IS SO CREEPY. Brownstoner, please don't do that to my house if you're ever in the Ft greene area.

Posted by: iz at May 1, 2009 12:01 PM

BH76, you're exactly right - you have to factor in outrageously high heating and cooling bills once you actually come up with the dough to pay off the big mortgage in that building - hope it doesn't have electric heat!! Same story at the Plaza (to my mind, OPP is Brooklyn's equivalent) - a lot of celeb/rich buyers who don't live there. Must be creepy for the few who call this their full time residence. Location can't b beat though!!

Posted by: bkhabitant at May 1, 2009 12:02 PM

actually BH, those large windows will allow for people to turn the heat down in the winter. not to shut it off completely, but it'll warm up hundreds of square feet nicely.

Posted by: Fjorder at May 1, 2009 12:10 PM

also lower lighting bills...no lights needed in the daytime

Posted by: fsrg at May 1, 2009 12:20 PM

modern glass curtain walls are built with UV filters and other little tricks that mitigate heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter. Privacy is controlled with get this: blinds or curtains!

Posted by: mcKenzie at May 1, 2009 12:21 PM

I still like this place.

Posted by: East New York at May 1, 2009 12:24 PM

This building is gorgeous. Now here is a beautiful modern building.

Posted by: mopar at May 1, 2009 12:27 PM

The weird thing is, this beautiful modern building looks exactly like a generic office building in any exurb built any time in the last thirty years to me. But I am sure the interiors are fab.

Posted by: Heather at May 1, 2009 12:37 PM

I also noticed the exact same thing other day walking by. I felt sorry for the people who had bought since I would be creeped out living in a nearly empty building (The Shining, anyone?) and having paid out the nose to do so, to boot. I like modernism enough but this building leaves me cold. Maybe its charms are better appreciated from the inside?

Posted by: Miss Muffett at May 1, 2009 12:42 PM

A few week ago there was a thread with links. The interiors are open, cold and about as welcoming as the Antartic.

Posted by: bxgrl at May 1, 2009 12:49 PM

Here I will openly traffic in speculation --but there is something fishy about all the reported sales, at or near ask, for this building. Methinks there is some clever-ish logrolling going on, to make it seems to prospective buyers that they aren't purchasing into a vertical ghost town. Also --didn't his previous boomtime vanity structure, the Perry St. Meier building, end up a disastrously ill-executed rat trap? What's to make us believe this will be any different?

Posted by: Whuh at May 1, 2009 12:50 PM

Being as cold and about as welcoming as the Antartic myself, I love the interiors. A clean blank slate. The light must be awesome, not to mention a view of the park to die (or kill) for.

Posted by: SnarkSlope at May 1, 2009 12:54 PM

I think they made a mistake not putting some retail in the first floor--perhaps a union market type store. I understand that might undercut the "high end" vibe they're trying to create, but the facts are it's a hike from this location to any sort of decent shopping options (I know the "new" deli on st johns and underhill is one, but I'm not really feeling that place). don't get me wrong--it's only about five mins to the keyfood et al on flatbush, but if i'm paying these sort of prices, that's about 4 mins too long.

Posted by: oneasternparkway at May 1, 2009 12:57 PM

It is a nice piece of design. Among the few distinguished buildings built in Brooklyn during the late bubble. I also like the Walentas building next to Trader Joe's on Atlantic Avenue.
Most of the big (empty) condo towers downtown or in Williamsburg leave me cold.

Posted by: mcKenzie at May 1, 2009 1:02 PM

The perry street had rainstorms inside the bldg. The curtain was poorly executed.

Posted by: DeLepp at May 1, 2009 1:03 PM

Hmmm Snarkslope, maybe you took my "Shining" allusion too literally...

Posted by: Miss Muffett at May 1, 2009 1:11 PM

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Snarky!

Posted by: SnarkSlope at May 1, 2009 1:29 PM

Can we add some axe sound FX?

Posted by: Miss Muffett at May 1, 2009 1:31 PM

"Can we add some axe sound FX?"

Now that DIBS and lechacal buried the hatchet, we might have to send the prop dept. out to replenish.

Posted by: Biff Champion at May 1, 2009 1:48 PM

I'm down with OPP.
Like this building, maybe enough to be able to deal with the stalkers with blogs.

Posted by: etson at May 1, 2009 1:55 PM

oneasternparkway, they couldn't have retail because the Plaza is not zoned for retail; it's zoned R8X. The nearest retail zoning is on Vanderbilt (north of Park Place), Flatbush, and Washington.

Posted by: zinka at May 1, 2009 2:05 PM

Zoning schmoning. I'm guessing that greasing the right palm would have solved that.

Posted by: SnarkSlope at May 1, 2009 2:14 PM

I live in an apartment facing the "serene" OPP courtyard. There are actually quite a few folks living on the inside (read: cheaper) of the complex. More than a few of them seem to think that it is ok to go without blinds/ shades of any kind.

Posted by: judged at May 1, 2009 2:39 PM

opp webcam = income stream.

Posted by: SnarkSlope at May 1, 2009 3:04 PM

Zinka---ok, didn't realize that. too bad, because retails what that building needs, not a pool table in the lobby...

Posted by: oneasternparkway at May 1, 2009 3:39 PM

Webcam on Beyonce's OPP apartment = megamillions!

Posted by: benson at May 1, 2009 3:40 PM

"not a pool table in the lobby..."

Why not? I'd appreciate a pool table in the lobby. I LIKE playing pool. Besides, there's retail not too far away and a subway station across the circle.

Posted by: East New York at May 1, 2009 3:46 PM

"Being as cold and about as welcoming as the Antartic myself, I love the interiors. A clean blank slate. The light must be awesome, not to mention a view of the park to die (or kill) for."

This from a man with Snidely Whiplash computer wallpaper? The whole blank slate this is attractive and I love lots of sunlight- but with windows this big and open I'd feel like a germ in a petri dish under a hot lamp. Somehow i think the idea of living in a building designed like this can wear thin after awhile.

Posted by: bxgrl at May 1, 2009 3:46 PM

15-minute drive to Fairway. You don't, like, expect rich people to walk to that crappy Met food, do you?

Posted by: eveostay at May 1, 2009 4:39 PM

It only works for me if you are on a nice high floor.

Apartment 8F, for example, would be my perfect supervillian lair.

1947 sf of interior space. 1871sf of exterior space. All overlooking Prospect Park.

My fingers are involuntarily tenting just thinking about it.

All I need is a large fluffy cat and an egg chair.

And three million clams.

Posted by: SnarkSlope at May 1, 2009 4:50 PM

How can you even think of having a creature in there that hacks up hairballs? On your 3 mil marble floor?

Posted by: bxgrl at May 1, 2009 5:53 PM

There's a second or third floor apartment right on the outside corner that's occupied - when I walk to the Greenmarket, everyone crossing Eastern Parkway looks up and watches that family eating brunch. I inevitably hear someone say "how could you LIVE like that?" I have to say, it kind of creeps me out too!

Like Snarkslope, I can imagine living in a high-floor apartment facing the park, if I were a multimillionaire -- but even then, I have to say, I think I might like my privacy too much to live there.

Posted by: phbalanced at May 3, 2009 12:25 PM

« Time Puts Its Stamp on South 4th Street Open House Picks: Six Months Later »

May 1, 2009

On Prospect Park: Is Anybody Home?

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