Trends
April 28, 2008
At Toren, Even the Parking Goes Green
The New York Times name-checked Toren (a Brownstoner advertiser) in an article this weekend about the growing trend of developers using green features as a marketing tool. It used to be, even if developers used green building techniques, they weren't mentioned because "buyers associated that type of construction with lower-quality design or a lack of comfort." Now, green is the new black in New York City (though we doubt the same will be true for clothes, except on St. Patrick's Day). “There’s no question green adds a competitive advantage," Donald Capoccia, managing principal of Toren developer BFC Partners, told the Times. His development (where 15 of 240 units have sold since going on sale earlier this month) is aiming for gold LEED certification, second only to platinum in the environmental design rating system. And while the city dilly-dallies about finding a location for new power plants (there are currently none in the pipeline), Toren's energy will be supplied by five on-site 100-kilowatt generators. The green-focus doesn't end there for the building. In the hierarchy of parking lots, there once was only two categories: handicap and non-handicap. Toren has added one more: Hybrid. Bill Ross, director of Development Marketing at Halstead Brooklyn, told us hybrid vehicles will "get premiere parking so they don't have to wait as long" in the new parking garage, which is on the second and third floor (and not underground) because of an abandoned train station below. Take that, gas guzzlers!
When to Shout ‘Eco-Friendly’ [NY Times]
Closing Bell: Could The Toren Land the Mac Store? [Brownstoner]
SOM-designed Toren About to Hit the Market [Brownstoner]
April 3, 2008
Sex and the Brooklyn
It makes you wonder: Now that much of Manhattan has turned into a theme park version of "Sex and the City," would Carrie Bradshaw and the gang still live on the island? Probably not, since Manhattan is as played out as a pair of last season's Manolos. "It's expensive, and it's not what it used to be," Sarah Jessica Parker tells the Daily News. "That's why the outer boroughs are so desirable. The outer boroughs are pretty sexy. It's just a matter of time before they have their own shows." According to the article, "If 'Sex' were starting over today, Carrie would rock out Carroll Gardens. BFF Miranda started out in Park Slope, but later, she's bound to settle down with Steve, Brady and a brand new car in spacious Red Hook," while Samantha would roost in Long Island City and Charlotte would play house in Riverdale. The article has quotes from Brooklyn residents who say stuff like, "Carroll Gardens or Williamsburg have a little bit of the hip edge that Carrie has, so she'd be able to get away with her funky outfits and no one would think twice about it." Hip, edgy, less expensive than Manhattan: You heard it here first, folks. Also, the apocalypse is nigh.
Trendsetters Set Their Sights on Hip Alterna-Nabes [NY Daily News]
Photo by spinachdip.
March 31, 2008
The San Fran-Brooklyn Love Connection
Did you know there are places to live in the United States aside from Brooklyn? Neither did we, but according to an article in the Style section of yesterday's Times, there's a place in California called San Francisco that is something of a sister city to Brooklyn. Or, as the piece puts it, "there is a young, earnest population that is beating a path between artsy, gentrifying neighborhoods in Brooklyn and their counterparts in the Bay Area, especially East Oakland and the area south of Market Street in San Francisco, or SoMa." So what do the two places have in common aside from loads of creatives? Local eyesores (Emeryville mud flats and the Gowanus Canal); good breweries (Anchor and Brooklyn); literary do-gooder establishments (Dave Eggers' 826 Valencia and 826NYC); and a shared ethos: "If there is an aesthetic credo to Brooklyn and the Bay Area, it is Do It Yourself, which connotes more than using an Allen wrench from Ikea. D.I.Y. can mean everything from wearing locally designed T-shirts to attending concerts staged in someone’s warehouse apartment, to riding a bike to work."
Sisters in Idiosyncrasy [NY Times]
San Francisco photo by Dizzy Atmosphere; Brooklyn photo by rsguskind.
January 21, 2008
Exploring Our Preoccupation With Housing
The Times has a review of an intriguing new book called “House Lust: America’s Obsession With Our Homes” by Daniel McGinn (Currency, $24.95) that tackles questions many of us can presumably relate to, like, “How did home renovations come to routinely turn families’ lives upside down?” and “Why do thousands of us now watch reality shows about home flipping or house hunting?” Although the book doesn’t specifically zoom in on Brooklyn, or even New York City, real estate, it does examine larger cultural trends that hit close to home, such as how in recent years (before the subprime fallout, anyway) Americans came to see home ownership as the most valuable investment they could make, leading many to fetishize their homes. For example, McGinn looks at “Fix-Up Fever” in Newtown, Mass., where he finds owners engaged in renovations for the purpose of “one-upping their neighbors.” The author’s conclusion? “Our homes may no longer be making us rich, but living through an era when we thought they might has resulted in a permanent shift in thinking — one that will leave many of us happily obsessed with houses for years to come.”
Who Needs a 401(k)? I’d Rather Have a Castle.
Book cover from Amazon.
Trends: Lower Rents and ‘Condo Reversions’
The Wall Street Journal examines how renters are finding excellent deals in areas of the U.S. that have been most affected by the subprime crisis, areas where many developers have put thousands of unsold condo units on the market as rentals. As with most aspects of the subprime mess, lower rents and “condo reversions” have largely bypassed the priciest segments of the New York City market, though the article name checks 99 Gold Street as an example of a condo-turned-rental. It’s also worth noting that the Real Estate Group of New York found that average rents in Manhattan, with the exception of doorman studios, declined at the end of 2007 (we couldn’t find comparable data for Brooklyn). All this data seems like good fodder for speculation, though: Think ’07 might bring falling rents and more condo reversions to Brooklyn?
Home Sellers' Pain Is Renters' Gain [WSJ]
Half Sold, 99 Gold Throws in the Towel, Goes Rental [Brownstoner]