Gowanus
November 5, 2009
Inside Third & Bond: Week 107
This week the folks from Hudson talk blowers.
Last Friday we had our first blower door test at Third + Bond. There was a small crowd of us at the event because it’s a pretty cool process and because even though the testing seems incredibly valuable, we’ve never done this before – not once in 3,500 units. How did the test go? Well, let’s just say that we thought about hiding the report card. Average or slightly above average does not cut it when you’re shooting for LEED-Gold and Energy Star. We really need straight A’s. Fortunately, this was just the PSAT. Now we know what we still need to study.
The purpose of the blower door test is to find out whether we sufficiently air sealed the building and diagnose the problem spots. Remember, the thesis of high performance buildings is that a tight building envelope with mechanical ventilation limits wasteful loss of energy. Unlike the convention of letting the tiny cracks and spaces in a building ventilate the space, today’s leading framework is to “seal it tight, ventilate right” or if you prefer “build it right, seal it tight.”
Aside from the energy savings that come with a tight building...
October 29, 2009
Inside Third & Bond: Week 106
This week the Third & Bond bloggers describe why they have it made in the shade. Click on any of the photos to expand.
Doo-hickey. Thing-a-ma-jig. Brise soleil. Funny names we’ve used to describe the sun shading architectural element gracing the private roof terraces at Third + Bond. Brise soleil is the technical term, an adopted French term literally meaning “sun breaker.” A brise soleil is a type of structural sunshade, often with vertical or horizontal slats or holes that keep sunlight from fully striking a building.
The angle of the slats on the brise soleil is determined by the angle of the sun during the hottest time when the building needs to be shaded (and beauty). Some brise soleils have louvered slats that move either during the course of the day or seasonally (i.e., the sun’s angle is lower in winter).
Our brise soleil is composed of cedar for the slats and the aluminum panel of the façade. It has two functions: beauty and shading. We think...
October 22, 2009
Development Watch: 3rd Ave Hotel Trucking Along
The future hotel on 3rd Avenue and 13th Street has just about reached full height. The project is slated to have 48 units. The developer named on DOB permits here is the same as the person named for the Super-8 on 3rd Avenue and President Street, which has looked complete for several months but has yet to open.
Development Watch: 13th Street Hotel Sprouting [Brownstoner]
Another Hotel In The Works for Gowanus [Brownstoner] GMAP DOB
Inside Third & Bond: Week 105
It's all about the yard today on the Third & Bond blog.
You wouldn’t be able to tell from this image of the Third + Bond rear yard model but the plants have gone into winter mode. They don’t need watering or wheedling to stay beautiful until spring. This picture was taken just after rainfall; the concrete pads aren’t quite dry and there are still small puddles on the sustainably harvested ipe. This yard is the work of The Organic Gardener.
We most recently talked about TOG’s work in Week 102, the day the crew started laying out the yard. If we’re allowed to quote ourselves:
The hardscape materials are polished concrete, sustainable ipe hardwood, and pea gravel. The design reminds us of flowing water. The stream of plants is crossed by the bridges of hardscape. While striking, this design wouldn’t work for everyone. Some people have aesthetic differences and others practical differences. For example, there’s no room for a basketball hoop and it isn’t set up for major vegetable gardening. But that’s not really our concern. We wanted to [show] the potential of the yard to be an additional space for entertaining and relaxing.
Make sense now? On the far left of the photo...
October 21, 2009
Gowanus Village Sites Back on Market; Available A La Carte
After pulling its listing for a portfolio of Gowanus buildings off the market, developer Africa-Israel is once again trying to sell the properties—this time either piecemeal or as a group. The firm, which took control of the sites with Isaac Katan after dissolving its partnership with Shaya Boymelgreen, put them on the market in early '08, asking a whopping $27 mil. The listing disappeared from brokerage Massey Knakal's site a while back, but now the three parcels that comprise the portfolio are back online without specific asking prices ("make an offer," is all they say). Way back when, Boymelgreen and Africa-Israel had plans to build a massive mixed-use development on this land called "Gowanus Village." One of the properties for sale is the former "No More Corporate Bullshit" building, which is described as an "iconic industrial" structure.
153 2nd Ave; 420 Carroll; 430 Carroll [Massey Knakal] GMAP
October 15, 2009
Inside Third & Bond: Week 105
The blogging crew from the Hudson Companies dishes on the party they held last week to show off the model apartment designs from Pratt students.
You might have caught our most recent press in Interior Design and Metropolis: They both wrote about our collaboration with Pratt Institute in our model apartments. These photos, taken by Pratt, illustrate the broad contribution of current students, alumni, and faculty. Here is the wallpaper designed by Pratt interior design students who were inspired by the legendary Gowanus oyster, as well as a lounge chair designed by long-time faculty member (and centenarian+) Eva Zeisel, a prototype lamp by Pratt alum Tim Richartz, and a table designed in collaboration by Pratt student, Cory Watson, and Carlos Salgado of Scrapile. And that’s just one corner of the room.
As described in Week 100, we hired Pratt Institute to outfit our two model apartments from wall covering to couches to soap dishes. Everything was in place in the 3+ bedroom/3 bath duplex with private rear yard and the 2 bedroom/2 bath floor-through, just moments before the press sneak preview last week.
Also invited to the press event were the designers who had contributed to the project. One of the best parts of the evening was to see a couple of young people crowded around an object with one of them proudly claiming ownership of a piece. We were impressed with the work put into every chair, lamp, and clock, especially the prototypes made by the designers’ own hands.
We spoke with Tawny Hixson who designed and built the graceful Ari Chair while studying abroad in Copenhagen. She’s concentrating on her thesis right now so hasn’t had time to think about getting the chair into production. We also spoke with Michael Chuapoco who isn’t selling his prototype but is willing to talk prices for custom pieces. His piece is the Adams Table, a dramatic squiggly-lined wood base with a glass top.
Also present...
October 14, 2009
EPA, Bloomberg Compete to Clean Gowanus
In late September, the Gowanus Canal, polluted from sewage runoff and years of industrial waste, made headlines when Riverkeeper, a watchdog organization, threatened to sue major polluters unless they take remedial action. The Environmental Protection Agency is also considering the waterway as a possible Super Fund, which would take extensive containment measures and look for clean-up funds through litigation against present and past polluters. The Bloomberg administration opposed both these plans, offering that the city could clean the canal faster, without hampering private development—and Friday, in a pump house along the canal, Bloomberg announced the details of his plan: a two-stage process that he expects would clean the canal within ten years. The first stage, according to The Architect's Newspaper, consists of three capital programs to increase fresh water flow, dredge the river, and increase capacity to transport and process sewage runoff. The second, and more vague, stage involves approaching companies to help remedy some of the long-term environmental damage, with matching funds from the federal Water Resources Development Act. The city would grant oversight rights to the EPA, which could step in if the city's program failed to meet its standards. There are no data yet concerning which plan, city clean-up or the Super Fund process, would be safer for residents or more environmentally sound. Some people have criticized Bloomberg, saying that his sudden interest in the canal isn't just to protect private development but because Riverkeeper implicated the city's Department of Transportation as one of the polluters. The decision has caused some polarization and frustration already; at Friday's announcement, for example, eight supporters of Super Fund designation were barred entry to the event, while the developer Toll Brothers was allowed inside, reports the Daily News. A Bloomberg representative said that it was simply a private event for invited guests and the media. And there are other residents, on the other hand, who don't care who cleans the canal, as long as someone does.
Riverkeeper, Feds, State Jostle to Clean Gowanus [Brownstoner]
Advocates of Super Fund Barred from City Conference [Daily News]
Flushing the Gowanus [Architect's Newspaper]
Photo by Timothy Vogel
October 8, 2009
Inside Third & Bond: Week 104
This week the T&B crew talks mortgage financing.
With the finishing of our sales models, launch of our marketing campaign and start of open houses – first one is this Sunday, 2-4 – we’ve been spending a good amount of time looking at financing. Without good financing options, buyers can drool over a unit, dream about it at night, name their new puppies Third and Bond, but won’t be able to purchase a unit. (Unless they have a mattress of cash and can forgo a mortgage.) To this end, we’ve been talking with end loan providers and getting our ducks in a row with SONYMA, FHA, and Fannie Mae.
We have our project approval for FHA, which means that buyers looking at a mortgage maximum of $729,750 can put as little as 3.5% down. We expect over half of our units to qualify for FHA. For our 1-bedroom, 2 full bathroom (or 1 full bath and 1 fancy closet for you bathroom complainers) duplex with a private terrace, that means a down payment less than $25,000. Put that together with the federal tax credit of $8,000 for first time home buyers, and you’re really looking at $17,000 down. FHA also has a 5 year ARM for which they require 5% down but give an interest rate of 3.87%. So good we wish we could put numbers in CAPS.
We also have approval...
Con Ed Readying Demolition of 3rd Street Warehouse
As a reader pointed out to us last week, markings appeared on the sidewalk outside the building on the northeast corner of 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue pointing to the location of gas and sewer lines, which usually happens before a demolition. And that's the case here: Con Ed, which owns the property, plans to demolish the warehouse this fall. A spokesperson says they haven't decided what they're going to build in its place yet. The most interesting thing about this property is that it's connected to a wall that some believe was part of a ballpark the Dodgers played at before Ebbets. (Others are not so sure, though most baseball historians think it's an important structure regardless of whether it's Dodgers-related or not.) In any event, the Con Ed spokesperson said the wall, which mainly runs from 1st Street down to a section of 3rd Avenue, will not be harmed by the warehouse demolition. GMAP DOB
October 2, 2009
Development Watch: 398 Bond Street
The glassy facade on 398 Bond has gone up since we checked in on it last December. The 2-unit development, which is right next door to the much larger 3rd & Bond project, looks like it's getting there, though no TCO has been issued yet. The building replaces a house that was torn down way back in 1998.
Development Watch: 398 Bond Street GMAP DOB
New Do-Gooder Org in Former Nonprofit Space
The office space on 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd avenues that used to house the Center for an Urban Environment is now being leased by Family Home Care Services, an affiliate of Catholic Charities that provides in-home care to the elderly, ill and disabled. What's more interesting about the space, however, is how it was abruptly vacated by the Center for an Urban Environment last April: With almost no notice, the nonprofit's board of directors decided to shut down the 30-year-old organization because of financial woes. The nonprofit hadn't been headquartered at the 7th Street location for very long. GMAP
October 1, 2009
Inside Third & Bond: Week 103
The clock is ticking this week as the Hudson Companies bloggers get ready for their first open house.
Less than a week until we invite members of the press to come in and see what we’ve been up to the last few months. Barely more than a week until our first open house. Will we be ready in time?
Back in April, we asked Kiska to have the model units ready by mid-August. There was a lot of push-back as the summer started and things were taking longer than expected. We agreed that Labor Day was a more realistic timeframe at that point and still kept us on a decent timetable. Then the day slipped to the 15th, the 25th, and now we fully expect to be running the last dust rag and straightening the last picture frame just before the first guest arrives.
There are consequences of doing work out of sequence...
September 29, 2009
Development Watch: 232 7th Street Nears the Finish Line
We haven't checked in on 232 7th Street, a seven-unit new development between 3rd and 4th avenues, since it was a hole in the ground. But now here it is, all grown up. The building, which is across the street from the Argyle condo, is a condo, according to a construction worker at the site. It doesn't seem like any listings for it have popped up yet, though.
Development Watch: 232 7th Street [Brownstoner] GMAP DOB
September 23, 2009
Riverkeeper, Feds, State Jostle to Clean Gowanus
Riverkeeper, a clean water advocacy group, gave notice on September 16 to three businesses along the polluted Gowanus Canal of an intent to sue within 60 days if the businesses do not voluntarily commence clean-up procedures. The corporations, alleged to violate the federal Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, are: 6th Street Iron and Metal, accused of "dumping metal and debris into the canal"; Ferrara Brothers Building Materials Corporation, "a cement plant discharging liquid cement and stone into the canal"; and 107 Sixth Street LLC and 36-2nd-J Corporation, "for operating an open dump and filling the canal from a parking lot on their property." As the organization mentions on its site, "Riverkeeper also issued a warning letter to the NYC Department of Transportation after documenting a turbid plume of water coming from a stone barge at the DOT Asphalt Plant on Gowanus Bay." As The Brooklyn Paper reports, Riverkeeper has pursued companies for environmental violations in the past, resulting in voluntary action, lawsuits, and hefty fines. The city has also had its eye on the canal, with plans beginning in 2002 for private investment and aid from the Army Corps of Engineers, but these plans are on hold while the Environmental Protection Agency decides whether to designate the canal as a Superfund site. Proponents of the Superfundification of the Gowanus say that the federal government can obtain large-scale funding (by designating the canal toxic and suing polluters from the past 150 years) that the city can't. Opponents, such as urban planner Julia Vitullo-Martin, say that the Superfund process will take decades, dry up private investment, and make the process large and inefficient. In an editorial yesterday, Ms. Vitullo-Martin argued that some polluters, such as National Grid on behalf of its predecessors, have already agreed to help the city clean the canal, and the city's plan will be more beneficial for the well-being of canal neighborhoods in the long run.
Gowanus Canal Pollution Enforcement [Riverkeeper]
Riverkeeper to Sue Dirty Rotten Scoundrels [Brooklyn Paper]
Don't 'Superfund' the Gowanus [NY Post]
Photo by Riverkeeper
September 18, 2009
New Gowanus Club is Getting There
Ultraviolet, the club on 7th Street and 3rd Avenue that's been in the works for about a year and a half, is nearing completion. The large lounge, which will have bars and DJ booths on three separate floors, has an impressive pedigree—one of the owners of the East Village's popular but now defunct Save the Robots is behind the venture—and it's on the same block as the Bell House. The space looks almost finished (no interior picture-taking is allowed, unfortunately, but it's pretty slick). The owners are waiting on a final city inspection and their liquor license, so it'll probably open within the next 3 to 6 months. GMAP
September 17, 2009
Inside Third & Bond: Week 101
This week the folks behind the Third & Bond development blog reveal their marketing strategy for the project.
Last week Petebklyn noticed that thirdandbond.com is fully on-line. With our model units opening in October, we’ve been rolling out our marketing campaign this month. Knowing well that real estate developers’ marketing campaigns are frequent fodder for sarcastic jokes, we will dare to talk a little about what’s going on behind the scenes on ours.
So we have a logo, a tagline, a color scheme, a website. Now what? Now we have to get it out into the world. The world beyond Brownstoner. First we take advantage of the project site itself. Pasqualina Azzarello, who also painted our construction fence mural and coordinated the mural project with the Brooklyn New School, was commissioned to do our branded signage on the sidewalk shed. We like the hand-painted look, and employing a local artist. Originally, we wanted the design to grow out from the center, where our tagline, “What Really Matters” marches across a bright yellow sun. Each week, Pasqualina would come back and paint more of the vine and the items that emerge from the vine. But the reality of moving scaffolding around between material deliveries and trucks made it hard to accomplish. And given that Third Street isn’t exactly a main thoroughfare, we didn’t know if people would notice the creeping changes the way they might in Union Square or Times Square. A good idea with no associated cost except for headache – put that one into our back-pocket for a more appropriate spot. The signage is intended to blend our marketing specifications and Pasqualina’s artistic style.
Next...
September 10, 2009
Inside Third & Bond: Week 100
The Third & Bond bloggers from Hudson Companies celebrate their centennial post with some fun news about a collaboration with a crew of Pratt students.
Unbeknownst to you, dear reader, we’ve been working on an unique collaboration with the fantastically talented students, faculty and alumni of Pratt Institute. That hallowed institution of art and design, located in our own Brooklyn, has put together conceptually innovative and aesthetically stunning furnishings for our two model residences. Everything -- floor and wall coverings, home accessories, furniture, textiles, art, lighting elements, fashion designs, and more—has been designed by Pratt fine artists, designers, and architects.
We began working with Pratt a little less than a year ago. The original seedpod of the idea was that we wanted to dress the two model units in a style that spoke to a range of potential buyers and befit the classy modern design of Rogers Marvel. At first, shelter magazines like the dearly departed domino and ever popular dwell came to mind. From that line of thought sprouted a desire to collaborate locally and with one of the best design institutes in the country...
Glassy Gowanus Office Site on the Market
The dream of developing a modern office building on 3rd Avenue and 6th Street appears to be very much deferred. The most recent news on this would-be development hit last month, when it came out that it was one of the projects that tried and failed to get federal stimulus funds via an EDC-helmed program. Now a banner has gone up on the site announcing that it's being marketed for sale by a firm called Exit Realty Central, though it doesn't look like the listing is online yet.
Glassy Office Space Planned for Gowanus [Brownstoner] GMAP
September 1, 2009
First Closings Recorded at the Satori
Last week the first three closings at the 34-unit Satori, the condo on Bond and Carroll streets, were recorded in public records. Here's what went: Unit A3E, which, according to the building's condo declaration, is 1,000 square feet, closed for $733,140, with the sale including a parking space; unit B2A, a 661-sf apartment, sold for $481,650; and unit A3A, a 1,100-sf unit, fetched $789,000. StreetEasy shows 12 active listings in the building, with prices going from $299,000 for a 500-sf unit to $749,000 for a 1,550-square-footer. The condo got its final certificate of occupancy in May.
340 Bond Street [StreetEasy] GMAP
More Price Cuts at The Satori [Brownstoner]
August 25, 2009
Gowanus Building No Longer Dissing Wall St.
The old power station near the corner of 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue has lost its message. As per the bottom photo above, last year the top of the building had been tagged "No More Corporate Bullshit! Fuk Wall St." The building was one of the parcels in the area bought by developers for a would-be project called "Gowanus Village." GMAP
Bottom pic by letsgetridofny
August 20, 2009
StreetLevel: Gowanus Will Pump You Up!
Come early September, the raw space pictured above will be transformed into a gym and training center called Triomph Fitness, Health, & Wellness. The gym, in a former warehouse at 540 President Street, will have cardio equipment, a studio space for classes, a juice bar, a strength training area and massage rooms. Triomph is being established by three people who used to work at the Cobble Hill Fitness Collective and, as is the case with Fitness Collective, the emphasis here will be on one-on-one training. (In other words, the facility won't be open for a la carte use of machines.) Training packages are being discounted in advance of the September 9th grand opening.
Triomph [Official Site] GMAP
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Rezoning
The Dept. of City Planning told Brownstoner yesterday that the long-planned rezoning of Gowanus is on hold. The public review period for the rezoning was set to begin next month but, inconveniently for the city, that's also when the word will come down about the EPA's Superfund designation for Gowanus. Here's the official line from a Planning spokesperson: "Certification of the Gowanus Rezoning Proposal into the public review process is temporarily on hold to allow the City to focus on the alternative cleanup plan for the Canal, the potential for Superfund listing, and to better understand the relationship of this process to the rezoning. We still intend to advance the rezoning plan, and the EPA has also strongly encouraged the City to move forward with rezoning. Once there is a better understanding of the overall process of canal cleanup, the rezoning plan can move into the ULURP process." The Brooklyn Paper reported in May that a staffmember of Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler said the prospect of the Superfund designation had put the Gowanus rezoning "on pause."
Conflict over Gowanus Canal Superfund Status [Brownstoner]
August 18, 2009
Development Watch: Third & Bond Shows Itself
Way back in October '07, the indefatigable Third & Bond bloggers posted a rendering of what the development was eventually supposed to look like. The project's facade is finally being revealed on 3rd Street, and one gets a pretty good idea of how the Rogers Marvel design is going to pan when all's said and done. GMAP
August 17, 2009
Gowanus Conversion On Ice
A year ago developer Peter Moore, who has been active in the Hudson Square area of Manhattan, paid $12 million for the large warehouse at 92nd 3rd Street. At the time, Moore said he intended to convert the former home of prayer-card manufacturer Abigail Press into a mixed-use complex with a hotel, office space, and art and production studios. Now, however, like so many other projects, the 3rd Street conversion is on hold. Moore says he's had to "step back from the whole thing" because of a lack of financing. Moore also said the scope of the planned development might change.
Gowanus Sees Major Green With $12M Buy [Brownstoner] GMAP DOB
August 13, 2009
Inside Third & Bond: Week 96
It's a big day for the Hudson bloggers today...
Welcome to the Third + Bond teaser website. You’ve seen the logo, now see the renderings.The teaser website may well be our buyers’ first introduction to the project. We want to capture their attention by highlighting key attributes that we think rise to the top for design-and-comfort-conscious, value buyers: space + light, convenience + neighborhood, eco-living + inspired design.
Often, developers do teaser websites when they want to start collecting names but don’t yet have the condo plan approved and so are limited in the marketing they can do. We have our approved condo plan but still thought the teaser was a great way to launch. Already we are getting calls from potential buyers and this will help direct those calls to our sales team. We have a full website ready to go but prefer to launch that in September when the models are available for touring and NYC has returned from August vacations.
For those of you around town, like us, the teaser website: http://www.thirdandbond.com immediately awaits your curious eyes.
Inside Third & Bond: Weeks 1-95 [Brownstoner]
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.
Latest Restaurant Additions
-
Chickadee Chick
added November 6, 2009 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Vutera
added November 5, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Park Cafe
added November 4, 2009 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Bahia
added November 3, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Aqualis Grill
added November 2, 2009 12:00 PM in Fort Greene -
Wombat
added October 30, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Organic Heights
added October 29, 2009 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Giardini Pizza
added October 28, 2009 12:00 PM in Carroll Gardens -
Rye
added October 27, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Bati
added October 26, 2009 12:00 PM in Fort Greene