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Stalled Bed Stuy Build Finds Buyer
There is an end in sight for the long-stalled Bed Stuy build at 339 Greene Avenue. The building has been sold to Bonjour Capital for $16,000,000, reported The Real Deal. The firm plans to finish construction on the 57-unit, 12-story rental building. The project was delayed for years by a foreclosure and bankruptcy filing.
Bonjour Capital Takes Over Bed-Stuy Rental Building Stalled for Last Six Years [TRD]
Vultures Circling 339 Greene Avenue? [Brownstoner] GMAP
05/24/2013 11:45 AM
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A Tour of the Almost-Complete Sackett Union Development
The Sackett Union condo and townhouse development is almost ready for primetime! Despite still being under construction, the 32-unit condo complex is sold out and six (soon to be seven) of the $3-million-plus 11 townhouses have been spoken for. The condo building should be ready for occupancy this August, with the townhouses along Sackett Street ready in September and those along Union Street ready in October. The commercial space, which will likely open up next year, will house a TD Bank and a medical center. Ken Horn, behind the developers Alchemy Properties, showed four different condo layouts, as well as an under-construction townhouse on Sackett Street. Not one condo layout is the same, and units range from two- to four-bedrooms. We checked out an amazing duplex unit with double high ceilings, a four-bedroom penthouse unit with a glass entryway, the model unit, and a three-bedroom with a terrace. The views from the seventh story of the development, and the roofs of the townhouses, are of lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, and the whole rest of Brooklyn. Click through for pictures of all the units we toured, plus the townhouse, the garage, the commercial space, and the soon-to-be playroom and gym. (more…)
05/24/2013 11:30 AM
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Conversion for Former Noodle Factory on Berry
BuzzBuzzHome caught the DOB filings and picked up some interior renderings for the conversion at 338 Berry Street, a former noodle factory. The filing specifies 65 apartments in an eight-story building, with units ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. The architecture firm on the job, DXA studio, wants to restore the warehouse exterior and add solar panels to the building to generate electricity for building residents. There are also plans for a rooftop penthouse and a 5,000-square-foot landscaped terrace. But the DOB actually disapproved the application, so it’s back to the drawing board.
338 Berry Street in Williamsburg Going for Residential Conversion [BuzzBuzzHome]
05/24/2013 10:00 AM
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Inside Fort Greene Reno 23 St. Felix Street
The folks behind Transition Acquisitions took us behind their gut renovation project at 23 St. Felix Street in Fort Greene. They bought the building about a year ago in a short sale. It was previously used as an SRO but had been abandoned for years. The only thing left from the old interior is the staircase, which may end up being replaced after all is said and done. The home’s new configuration is an owner’s triplex with a ground-floor rental. On the fourth floor, the developers are carving out a master bedroom, bathroom and closets. The third floor will have two bedrooms, a laundry room and a bathroom. The parlor floor will house the kitchen and living room, as well as an outdoor deck. The garden-floor apartment will have one bedroom. This will be an overall modern renovation, although the developers plan to bring in historic mantels to outfit the space. The project is expected to wrap this June or July, and the house will be put on the market. Corcoran is handling the listing and already has a list of around 25 people interested in the home, although it’s still mid-construction. Click through to see lots of construction photos, as well as more details about this project… GMAP (more…)
05/23/2013 11:00 AM
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A Hotel in the Works for Park Avenue
A plan is in process with the Department of Buildings for a five-story, 32-room hotel along Park Avenue between Cumberland Street and Carlton Avenue, in the Fort Greene/Wallabout area. It will be constructed over three lots, all of which are currently vacant. The site owner said that the hotel will part of the Choice Hotel group, which includes Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, and Clarion Hotels. (The architect on record, Michael Kang Architect, has previously designed a Comfort Inn, among other chain hotels.) The building still needs DOB and financing approvals, and is not expected to break ground until next year. The owner told us they’re planning a rooftop bar and lounge, which will surely have nice views of the nearby Brooklyn Queens Expressway. GMAP
05/23/2013 10:00 AM
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Media Center to Replace Pratt Art Store
The building at 550 Myrtle Avenue that currently houses the Pratt Store will be getting a major makeover by architectural firm WASA/Studio A in preparation for its transformation into a media center for the school. The building has 15,000 square feet of space and will house sound stages, a recording studio, mixing rooms and a screening room, DNAinfo reported. WASA/Studio A also designed Pratt’s Myrtle Hall, where Utrecht Art Supply Store is located. The new design is still in the planning stages, but the building’s mezzanine will stay. No word yet on whether Pratt intends to expand upward. The redo of 550 Myrtle Avenue is expected to be completed by fall of 2014.
Video and Media Center to Replace Soon-To-Be Shuttered Pratt Store [DNAinfo]
Photo by Google Maps
05/23/2013 9:30 AM
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City Moves on Affordable Housing in ‘Burg
Just a day after DNAinfo ran a story criticizing the City for its failure to build affordable housing in the North Brooklyn area, and hours before a scheduled protest about the matter, the City announced it has chosen the development team to build affordable housing at 337 Berry Street. The RFP for the site, located between South 4th and South 5th streets, has been in the works for a year. North Brooklyn Development Corporation and MDG Design and Construction LLC will be the developers. The new building will have 55 low-income rental apartments over ground-level retail, which will include a grocery store and community space. It will replace a warehouse used by the Landmarks Preservation Commission for storage, above. The apartments will be offered to families earning between 50 percent and 60 percent of the area’s median income, or $42,950 to $51,540 a year for a family of four.
City Seeking Developer to Turn Old LPC Warehouse in Williamsburg Into Affordable Housing [Brownstoner]
Photo by Christopher Bride for PropertyShark
05/22/2013 2:40 PM
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Affordable Housing Planned for Fulton Street Lots
More information has come to light regarding the empty lots on Fulton Street between Grand Avenue and Downing Street, thanks to the Greene Hill Food Co-Op. The Co-Op (lot No. 16, above) backs up to these empty plots, some owned by the city and some owned privately. In March the private owners met with Community Board Two because they were in talks with the city to buy the two city-owned plots and develop the entire site. The folks at the Co-op found out that this will be an affordable housing development and building will begin in about two years. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development will first have to prepare a land-review process application to transfer the sites. The Co-op is putting up a mural on the back wall of its building this September. According to them, “This [development] is in the very early stages, but we will continue to be in contact with them through the process to potentially preserve the artwork that will be done, or incorporate some of it into the building project.”
In Our Backyard [Greene Hill Food Co-Op]
Meeting Tonight on Fulton Street Redevelopment Proposal [Brownstoner] GMAP
05/22/2013 11:00 AM
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Fort Greene Parking Lot to Become Med Center
The New York Hotel Trades Council and the Hotel Association of New York City have bought a parking lot in the BAM Cultural District and plan to build a health center for their hotel workers on it, the New York Observer said. The paper speculated that the group may intend to sell its existing facility at 68-80 Schermerhorn Street in Downtown Brooklyn to be developed as apartments. In any case, they paid $19 million for the parking lot at 620 Fulton Street, which PropertyShark lists as 253 Ashland Place, and they plan to spend about $90 million constructing the new building. Income from retailers on the first floor will go into the employee benefits funds.
$90M Hotel Worker Health Center Coming to Downtown Brooklyn [NY Observer]
Photo by Christopher Bride for PropertyShark GMAP
05/21/2013 2:40 PM
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Brooklyn’s Best New Buildings Win Awards
A lot of great new buildings have gone up in Brooklyn recently and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce has noticed. It plans to award the Barclays Center the prize for economic development in its Building Brooklyn awards today, according to The New York Daily News. Other winners include the Wythe Hotel for Adaptive Reuse, City Point for Retail, the Botanic Garden visitors center for Energy Efficiency, BAM Fisher for Arts and Culture, Pier 5 for Landscape and Open Space, a Toll Brothers development at 205 Water Street, pictured above, for Residential Multi-Family, the Pitkin Theater for Historic Preservation and Community Development, and Park Slope brownstone The Subtractive House for Single Family Residential. The panel of judges included architects, city planners, real estate executives, a representative from the borough president’s office, and the Daily News reporter who wrote the story. The awards ceremony will take place in July.
Barclays Among Architectural Standouts Honored by Chamber of Commerce [NY Daily News]
Photo by robfaulkner.com via NY Daily News
05/21/2013 11:00 AM
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Jersey Developer Will Finish Clinton Hill Condo Build
A New Jersey-based developer swooped in to purchase the property at 143-159 Classon Avenue, previously owned by the Community Preservation Corporation. CPC had an outstanding balance of around $17 million on the site and the buyers ended up paying less than that, according to The Real Deal. The Robert Scarano project broke ground in 2007, and according to TRD, “143 Classon Avenue [is] almost finished and 159 Classon Avenue requires significant construction work before receiving its final certificate of occupancy.” The developers expect to take over the title in the next three to six months.
NJ Investor Buys Clinton Hill Property out of Bankruptcy, Plans Condos [TRD]
Photo via TRD
05/21/2013 10:00 AM
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New Renderings for 341 Eastern Parkway
BuzzBuzzHome attended the Brooklyn Real Estate Summit the other week and picked up new renderings of the big build currently going up on the corner of Eastern Parkway and Franklin Avenue. Aptsandlofts.com will begin marketing the building in the spring of 2014; the firm’s president and founder Dave Maundrell told the summit crowd that the units will be condos. This particular project has cycled through many renderings since the empty lot sold in 2012. According to DOB records, it’ll have 65 units over eight stories, as well as ground-floor retail and community space. See the interior renderings after the jump.
341 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights to Hit Market in Spring 2014 [BuzzBuzzHome]
Eastern Parkway Build Going up Quickly [Brownstoner]
A Peek Inside the Big Build at 341 Eastern Parkway [Brownstoner]
The Latest Look for the Big Eastern Pkwy/Franklin Ave Site [Brownstoner]
Big Lot at Eastern Pkwy/Franklin Finally Sells for $8M [Brownstoner]
Long-Empty Crown Heights Lot up for Grabs [Brownstoner]
Restart Coming for 341 Eastern Parkway? [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 333 Eastern Parkway [Brownstoner] GMAP DOB
Renderings via BuzzBuzzHome (more…)
05/20/2013 2:40 PM
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Old Facade Bricked up at 843-845 Dekalb
Now here is a curious sight: The owner of this building at 843-845 Dekalb is converting it from a four-family with two commercial units to a 10-family, adding two stories, and changing the position of all the windows on the front. Once the original facade is covered over with stucco, as per the permits, all trace of the old windows will be gone. GMAP
05/17/2013 2:40 PM
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Residential Tower Going Into 4th Avenue Space?
DNAinfo has a few more details on the story we broke yesterday about the huge development slated for the corner of 4th Avenue and 11th Street. Unsurprisingly, it will be a residential high rise, according to one of the homeowners whose house is one of five, above, slated to be demolished to make way for the build. But JBS Project Management, which is managing the project, had no comment. Interestingly, it seems the developer picked up the large corner lot first, then approached each homeowner to sell. DNAinfo profiles one holdout, 90-year-old Lillian Striano, who initially didn’t want to leave her home of 43 years, until her son convinced her she wouldn’t want to live next door to all the construction noise and dirt. As we reported yesterday, most of the homeowners got just under a million for each of their properties, except for 239 11th Street, which cost the developers $2,500,000. Striano, whose sale has not yet hit public records, said she can’t afford to buy another property in the area and is moving to Staten Island.
90-Year-Old Widow Last to Move out at 4th Avenue Development Site [DNAinfo]
05/17/2013 9:15 AM
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Demo for Nine Buildings on 4th Avenue and 11th Street
Something huge is brewing on the west side of 4th Avenue between 10th and 11th streets. A few tipsters wrote in to say that the structure once housing Cafe 454 was demolished (the cafe closed in late February) and it turns out demolition is in store for all the buildings, residential and commercial, on that corner. The Cafe 454 building is actually on the same lot as the residential building on the corner, 243 11th Street. The development group Fourth Eleventh Development, LLC picked up the lot this December for $5,053,000. The sale also included the old Urban Spaces storefront at 472 4th Avenue and the laundromat at 470 4th Avenue. The DOB approved demo permits for those two commercial buildings as well. What’s surprising is that five more townhouses along 11th Street will be demolished. The DOB approved demo permits for 241 11th Street (which cost the developers $999,000), for 239 11th Street ($2,500,000), for 237 11th Street ($999,000), for 235 11th Street (which shows no recent sale), and 233 11th Street (also $999,000). We also hear that at least three of those townhouses appear to be already vacant. You can click through to see an outline of the lot, and of all the townhouses set to be demolished. Information behind the development LLC is scarce and they have not filed any new building permits yet, leaving the scale of the new development unknown. There’s about 120 feet of frontage on 4th Avenue and a little more than 100 feet of frontage along 11th Street. The current buildings are built up to a floor area ratio of around 1; the current zoning allows a building with a FAR as large as 6. Have any details on this big, soon-to-be-empty lot? Send them to the tipline… (more…)
05/16/2013 2:40 PM
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Park Slope Conversion Finished
The conversion at 392 Dean Street that we have been following is all done, an open house was held on Mother’s Day, and photographs of the interior are now available and posted on the listing. Even though the townhouse is basically a brand-new build on an old foundation, the exterior and interior details such as the doors, moldings, windows, and salvage fireplaces are historically appropriate for this mid-19th century dwelling and its neighbors. The kitchens and baths are more modern in style and, as noted before, have book-end matched walnut and lacquer cabinets, and Carrara marble tile. Or, as developer Seth Brown put it, the unit for sale for $1,995,000 is a “mix of new and old, with a traditional parlor and working fireplace in keeping with a 150-year-old house, but with a very modern kitchen, home automation, ultra-efficient mechanicals, etc.” We think the whole thing turned out very well. What’s your opinion?
05/16/2013 11:00 AM
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Bed Stuy Nine-Family Finishing Up
It looks like they’re putting the finishing touches on this nine-unit apartment building (technically three three-families) at 817-821 Dekalb near Throop. Here’s the permit for No. 821. We’re guessing by the balconies these might be intended for Hasidic families, but who knows. GMAP
05/15/2013 2:40 PM
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Renderings Live for the New Dumbo Townhouses
BuzzBuzzHome spotted the official site for Dumbo’s new townhouse build, coming to 55 Pearl Street. It’s full of snazzy renderings and floor plans for the five homes, each with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. Square footage for each home will range from 3,049 to 3,358 square feet. Landmarks approved the exterior design, comprised of one-foot-deep ductal fins (ductal is a high performance concrete), this February. The ground-floor facade is made of wood. According the BuzzBuzzHome, the developers are still finalizing pricing. Given the high demand in Dumbo these days, and the virtual lack of one-family homes in the neighborhood, how much do you think these will go for? Check out drool-worthy interior renderings after the jump and then give us your guesses…
Dumbo Townhouses [Official Site]
Facade Proposal Revealed for 55-57 Pearl St. Townhouses [Brownstoner]
New Building proposed for Dumbo Graffiti Garage [Brownstoner]
Dumbo Lot Sells for $4.25 Million [Brownstoner] (more…)
05/15/2013 11:00 AM
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Third Northside Piers Tower Going Up
Work is moving along at the third Northside Piers building at 1 North 4th Place in Williamsburg, BuzzBuzzHome reported. The new build will rise 41 stories with 509 units, according to permits approved last week. The developer is Douglaston Development (they also did the Edge); Fxfowle Architects designed it. The building will be a rental, according to the story. Click through to the jump to see the rendering of what the finished building will look like. (more…)
05/15/2013 9:00 AM
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New Commercial Building Rising at 468 Baltic Street
There’s a new three-story building on Baltic Street between Bond and Nevins streets. According to the DOB permit, the new structure will have about 9,400 square feet of space and be devoted to light manufacturing. This is interesting if for no other reason than it’s rare to see someone building a new commercial building in this part of town these days. As far as we can tell, most longtime landowners around here — and farther in Crown Heights, for example — are sitting around waiting to cash in for a residential rezoning. GMAP
05/14/2013 2:46 PM
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crownlfc
May 21, 2013 | 09:56 AM