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Over 20 Percent of NYC Metro Area Mortgage Holders Underwater, But Brownstone Brooklyn Largely Spared
The headline pretty much says it all: The percentage of mortgage holders in New York City and environs who have negative equity ticked up slightly from 20.1 in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 21.3 in the first quarter of 2012. As you can see from the map (from Zillow via The Real Deal), however, much of the pain was felt in New Jersey and Queens. Brooklyn, especially Brownstone Brooklyn, looks largely unscathed. And compared to the rest of the country, where almost one-third of homeowners are still underwater, New York isn’t doing too badly.
One-fifth of NYC-area Borrowers Are Underwater [The Real Deal]
05/25/2012 9:00 AM
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Info on a New Restaurant for Franklin Ave, ‘Mayfield’
I Love Franklin Ave has been following the progress of the new restaurant opening in the former Franklin Roadhouse space, near the corner of Prospect Place and Franklin Avenue, and now has some inside shots of how the construction is coming, as well as news that it will be named “Mayfield.” Here’s the scoop from the blog:
“Back in March, local residents and NYC culinary-scene veterans Jacques Belanger and Lev Gewirtzman made news with the announcement that they were taking over the former Franklin Roadhouse Space. Yesterday, they gave ILFA a tour of their new restaurant, which they’ve dubbed ‘Mayfield’ ‘in honor of Curtis,’ according to Lev. The interior already looks completely different than it once did. …Unlike at the Roadhouse, you’ll be able to sit at the bar, which will serve a full lineup of beer, wine, and liquor, and will include, between the kitchen and the booze, a raw bar. …the menu is far from settled, but they still plan to serve seasonal American fare in what Lev called an ‘everyday, casual’ setting, focused around the raw bar and whatever fresh produce comes their way. Whenever they open, I think it’s a safe bet that they’ll be hotly-anticipated, even in a budding foodie scene…”
The hope is for it to be completed by the end of the year.
A Look Inside Mayfield [I Love Franklin Ave] GMAP
Photo courtesy of I Love Franklin Ave
05/23/2012 12:00 PM
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Juliana’s: Still Coming to Dumbo, but When?
Patsy Grimaldi, who originally operated Grimaldi’s out of 19 Old Fulton, sold the pizzeria and its name to Frank Ciolli back in 1998, which moved its operations further down the block several months ago; in the meantime, Grimaldi said he was returning to his roots at 19 Old Fulton and would open a pizzeria there called Juliana’s. Reportedly, Grimaldi intended to open in March. However, the pizza legend’s return to his old haunt is still very much under construction, as can be seen via the photo on the jump.
Juliana’s Marks its Turf in Dumbo [Brownstoner] GMAP (more…)
05/23/2012 10:30 AM
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Justin Bieber To Perform at the Barclays Center
Babs isn’t the only pop star who’ll be crossing the East River this fall. Evidently someone named Justin Bieber will be playing at the Barclays Center in November. Tix go on sale June 2.
05/23/2012 8:31 AM
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Tobacco Warehouse to St. Ann’s in Bridge Park Deal
An agreement reached [yesterday] will provide for the expansion of Brooklyn Bridge Park and for the preservation of historic structures at the Park, substituting new parkland for any lost if regulatory approvals are secured to re-use the structures for other cultural or commercial purposes. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation, Brooklyn Heights Association, Fulton Ferry Landing Association, New York Landmarks Conservancy, Preservation League of New York State, and St. Ann’s Warehouse, a non-profit Brooklyn-based performing arts organization, have settled a disagreement over the process for developing part of the park, which houses two historically significant structures. The Agreement – which resulted from litigation brought by the Brooklyn Heights Association, the Fulton Ferry Landing Association, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, and the Preservation League of New York State — will require state legislation and National Park Service approval to effectuate any development and re-use of the structures. Subsequent to this agreement, State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblywoman Joan Millman secured an additional community planning process and expanded community participation. The agreement will allow for the preservation and adaptive re-use of the historic Empire Stores as a mixed-use retail and commercial development that will provide vital revenue to help fund Brooklyn Bridge Park’s operation and maintenance costs. These improvements will restore the Empire Stores, which is currently in deteriorated condition and closed to the public. The agreement also sets the stage for the preservation of the Tobacco Warehouse and starts a process to secure regulatory approval for re-use of that structure as a cultural and community-use venue. Redevelopment of the Tobacco Warehouse would create a theater space, an outdoor public garden, and a community room for use by schools, community organizations and the public. St. Ann’s Warehouse has been conditionally designated as the lessee of the Tobacco Warehouse.
The Daily News has a translation of the news in English that is comprehensible: “Under the settlement, the St. Ann’s plan, which includes a theater space and an outdoor garden, will be able to go forward – eventually. First, city officials will have to get state legislation and approval from the National Parks Service for the development, expected to take about a year. The city will move the paint shed and water meter testing facility currently located under the bridge and turn it into part of the park, a Bloomberg spokeswoman said.” Here’s hoping this all works out.
Brooklyn Bridge Park to Expand Under Deal to Settle Tobacco Warehouse Lawsuit [NY Daily News]
05/22/2012 9:30 AM
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New Businesses on Classon Near Lincoln
A string of storefronts on Classon Avenue beginning at Lincoln Place and running toward Eastern Parway have been renovated, and almost all have new tenants now. The photo above is a few weeks old, but it shows the storefront for Colour Me Silly, a paint-your-own pottery shop that has been open for at least a couple of weeks and has long lines of kids and parents waiting to get in on weekends. Directly to the north, a barbershop opened about a month ago. GMAP
05/21/2012 2:00 PM
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385 Union Avenue Sells for $20 Million
Sometimes real estate is just darn weird: City records filed last week show that the building at 385 Union Avenue, in Williamsburg, sold for $20 million. The new development, which is a rental, has some units available, according to StreetEasy. What’s odd about this deal is that the city deed shows the property selling as “INDUSTRIAL BUILDING,” and a check of Department of Buildings records doesn’t show a certificate of occupancy for residential use. Is this because city records are not up to date, or is something else going on here? Who knows.
385 Union Avenue 25% Rented [Brownstoner] GMAP
05/21/2012 12:37 PM
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Green Manufacturing Center to be Built in the Navy Yard
On Friday news dropped that the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation will invest $46 million to build a green manufacturing center in the Navy Yard, primarily in the massive glass-shingled Building 128 just inside the Clermont entrance. Job creation is being stressed as a certainty. Here are the full details from the press release:
Crye Precision – a premier designer and manufacturer of body armor and apparel for the U.S. military as well as federal and state law enforcement agencies – which was awarded $1 million through the New York State Consolidated Funding Application (CFA) process, has agreed to become one of two lead tenants at the new Green Manufacturing Center. Crye currently operates in four separate spaces at the Navy Yard, with 110 employees, and will now lease 80,000 square feet, consolidating multiple sites into one central location. Crye decided to expand in the Navy Yard after considering numerous options for consolidation and expansion, including New Jersey. The company’s expansion into the Green Manufacturing Center will create 100 new jobs over the next five years. Crye also has several commercial product lines under development; one uses locally recycled materials that are converted into fabrics. Crye Precision Executive Director Caleb Crye, said, “The Navy Yard has been exactly what our business needed to grow and we are thrilled that our future will remain here. We started here a decade ago with 4,500 square feet, today we’re up to 45,000 square feet with more than 100 employees and when the new facility is complete we’ll have a more efficient operation with room to grow and add at least 100 new jobs.” A second anchor tenant, Macro Sea, will lease more than 50,000 square feet for New Lab, a cutting-edge facility that will promote design and manufacturing innovation using the latest in environmentally-conscious processes and machinery. Through traditional tenancies and co-working spaces, New Lab will encourage the collaboration between design and fabrication by hosting a dynamic mix of designers, digital manufacturers, architects, graduate research facilities, and others in a hive of sustainable design and innovation.
As for the time line? “Major construction begins this summer and will take approximately 18 months to complete.” State and city subsidies will help the project come to fruition.
Rendering credit: Macro Sea
05/21/2012 9:00 AM
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‘Crispy Mr. Chicken’ Announces Itself on 4th Avenue
Perhaps looking to fill the void that was created when the KFC on 4th Avenue closed in the fall so that it could be converted into a McDonalds, an awesome sign advertising “Crispy Mr. Chicken” has been on the front of 52 4th Avenue for more than a month now. The location is almost directly across the street from the former KFC and possible future McDonalds. Unfortunately for those looking to get their chicken fix, the work inside appears to be progressing slowly and there are no indications that the restaurant will be opening anytime soon. However, all hope is not lost: According to Department of Buildings records, there was a fried chicken biz operating in the same location from 1994 until 2010, before it was converted into a deli. Now that the deli’s gone, the chicken is free to range in all its glory. –By Evan Bleier
Blight at 4th Avenue Fast-Food Building [Brownstoner] GMAP
05/19/2012 11:00 AM
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Opening Day for Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitors Center!
Last week there was a sneak peek for media of the new Brooklyn Botanic Visitors Center, and today it opens to the public. The project was designed by the firm Weiss/Manfredi. According to a rep for the institution, the mayor will be on hand to cut the ribbon today. Contractors were sprucing up the grounds this morning, and hopefully the slight drizzle that may attend the ceremony will bolster its verdant roof.
BBG’s New Visitor Center About to Open! [Brownstoner]
05/16/2012 11:00 AM
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City Studies Big Traffic Changes for 20th Street
Via a resident of the South Slope, we hear the following: “The residents of 20th st. have been lobbying CB7 and DOT for years. DOT finally did a study…and is unveiling it to the community on 5/30. It’s going to be a big deal, both pro and con, as it reroutes trucks onto 7th ave (along several schools and the off/on ramps to the Prospect Expressway iif the want to head west to the Gowanus Expressway via Prospect Ave. There’s also the change of direction on 21st. St. 20th St. will become one way eastbound.” Click through to see the full study that the city will be presenting to Community Board 7 on May 30th. (more…)
05/14/2012 10:30 AM
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Loopy in Prospect Park? Changes Come to the Ring
Reprinted in full from Gothamist:
Back in February, in the wake of two serious collisions between cyclists and pedestrians in the often-crowded 3.3 mile Prospect Park Loop, the DOT proposed a significant redesign to change how the road gets shared. Many were disappointed the DOT didn’t use the opportunity to try banning cars completely from the park, but the new layout does shrink the real estate allocated to motorists. Here are details about the work that starts today. As you can see, the new design, being implemented this month, replaces a lane of car traffic with a dedicated bike lane intended to keep cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers out of each other’s way. (The bike lane is bifurcated to accommodate different cycling speeds.) So drivers lose a lane, bikers gain their own dedicated zone, and pedestrians get their own section on the inside track. The only thing missing is a special fenced-in lane for teenagers!
Click through for Tobias Funke’s thoughts on the matter.
Big Prospect Park Loop Lane Changes Start… Now [Gothamist] (more…)
05/14/2012 9:00 AM
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The Bike Share Map is Here!
And Gothamist says the list looks “freaking sweet.” It’s still in draft and this is only the first phase of proposed locations, so no Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Prospect Heights or Crown Heights locations yet. From what we’ve heard, it will be up for discussion at Community Board meetings in the coming month. Update from CB2 District Manager Rob Perris: “Community Board 2 will be looking at the draft locations at its meeting this Tuesday, May 15, at 6pm in Founders Hall (the auditorium), St. Francis College, 180 Remsen Street (between Clinton and Court streets).”
05/11/2012 12:15 PM
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Steiner Goes Big in Carroll Gardens
OK, we’ve got a purchase that just hit public records that will probably make it to the top-10 biggest commercial real estate deals of 2012 in Brooklyn: Doug Steiner purchased 204 Huntington Street in southern Carroll Gardens for $24.5 million, according to city data. The large rental property has frontage on Court Street and, if memory serves, recently saw some capital improvements. The property has 60 units. A current listing for a three-bedroom is asking $4,100. The building last sold for $22 million in 2005. GMAP
05/11/2012 10:09 AM
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Heavy Hitters Sign on For Downtown’s City Point Phase 2
As if yesterday’s news that Downtown Brooklyn’s City Point project had landed an anchor tenant in Century 21 wasn’t big enough, today the Eagle brings word about the development partners that Acadia Realty Trust and Washington Square Partners have brought on for the second phase of the project: BFC Partners (Toren and, with Mr. B, 1000 Dean Street) will partner in the development of the first tower, “which will contain approximately 250 mixed-income rental units in a 50-30-20 arrangement of market-rate-middle income-low income units.” Meanwhile, the Brodsky Organization (known for a whole lot of development in Manhattan) is partnering on the second tower, which will have around 440 market-rate rentals. The story notes that both towers need to be approved by the Public Design Commission before shovels can go in the ground, and the plan is to have both towers “constructed above a five-story retail podium.”
Residential developers BFC, Brodsky Organization named for City Point Phase II [Eagle]
Century 21 is Opening at City Point on the Fulton Mall! [Brownstoner]
05/11/2012 9:30 AM
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ProCreation Rental Building at 801 Bergen Sells
There hasn’t been much news about the development at 801 Bergen Street, between Grand and Classon, since the summer, when we noted that construction fencing had come down and Curbed picked up on the fact that it was going to be a rental, not a condo. Well, according to public records that hit yesterday, the structure has sold to new, Brooklyn-based investors, to the tune of $8.25 million. Meanwhile, the listings on StreetEasy show the monthly damage running from $1,600 to $2,800, and it seems that at least some of the units have rented.
Development Watch: 801 Bergen Street [Brownstoner]
801 Bergen Street Listings [StreetEasy]
Development Watch: 801 Bergen Street [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 801 Bergen Street [Brownstoner]
New Building for 799-801 Bergen [Brownstoner] GMAP
05/10/2012 9:30 AM
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Century 21 is Opening at City Point on the Fulton Mall!
Hey hey, there’s finally word on the biz that will be the anchor tenant for the first phase of City Point in Downtown Brooklyn: According to an article in the Journal, news that Century 21 is taking space in the new building is going to be announced today. The retailer doesn’t intend to open in the location until fall of 2015, but the story notes that it is set to be twice as big as its Upper West Side location. The article also says that the agreement cements City Point’s developers’ ability to start moving forward on the second phase of the project this summer, “675,000 square feet of retail and commercial space and 690 new market-rate and ‘affordable’ apartment units at Dekalb and Flatbush avenues,” and perhaps puts some wind at the back of the third phase, which is slated to be the tallest residential tower in Brooklyn. The transformation we’re witnessing of the Fulton Mall—and the larger Downtown area—is nothing shy of historic for Brooklyn. Here’s the article’s quote from Tucker Reed, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, on the news: “Fulton Mall…was always the place where Brooklynites came to shop and bump up against each other. …Century 21 is a discount department store for Brooklynites who want to be able to shop at discount prices.” UPDATE: Tom Montvel-Cohen, a spokesman for the developers, has this to say: “[Century 21] is not going to take up all of phase one…it will be in both phases…we expect to be announcing exciting retail tenancies that will be opening in 2012 in phase one.”
Dressing Up Fulton Mall With Style [Wall Street Journal]
05/10/2012 8:45 AM
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Public Review Begins for Bed Stuy North Rezoning
The southern portion of Bedford Stuyvesant was rezoned back in 2007 in an effort to preserve the historic area’s low-rise character and now the city is moving ahead with similar plans for a northern portion of the neighborhood. “The proposed rezoning would protect the existing historic neighborhood character and scale on the mid-blocks, while allowing for modest growth with incentives for permanently-affordable housing and requirements for active, engaging retail along major corridors,” says the press release. As per the map above, the area in question is bounded by Lafayette Avenue and Quincy Street to the south, Classon and Franklin Avenues to the west, Broadway to the east, and Flushing Avenue to the north. “The proposed rezoning would protect the existing historic neighborhood character and scale on the mid-blocks, while allowing for modest growth with incentives for permanently-affordable housing and requirements for active, engaging retail along major corridors.” The first step in the public review is for Community Board 3 to review and vote on after which it goes to the Borough President’s office. We’ve reproduced the entire press release on the jump for area residents and zoning geeks who want to drill a little deeper into the details.
(more…)
05/08/2012 9:30 AM
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Argentinian Celebs Buy Northside Piers Penthouse
Nicolás Repetto, an Argentinian newscaster, purchased a penthouse unit at Northside Piers, according to public records filed on Friday. Repetto is one half of a Buenos Aires power couple, as his wife, Florencia Raggi, is a well-known actress. Un pied-à-terre en caliente Williamsburg, puede ser? StreetEasy is showing very few active listings at either of the Toll Brothers-developed Northside Piers towers. Repetto paid $2.7 million for the spread.
05/07/2012 10:30 AM
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There is no ‘War on Brunch’ in Williamsburg
For the past month or so, a couple newspapers owned by some Australian dude have been publishing stories about how there is a “War on Brunch” in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, a tet offensive that was reportedly launched at the behest of Community Board 1 because of residents complaining about how outdoor seating and people lined up outside cafes on weekends is clogging up sidewalk space. However, according to Tom Burrows, the chair of the Community Board 1 public safety committee, which covers sidewalk café permits in addition to criminal matters, “there is no war on brunch in Williamsburg and Greenpoint—this is a way of selling papers.” About a month-and-a-half ago, Burrows noted at a committee meeting that some residents were complaining about patrons of Five Leaves—which is located on the corner of Bedford and Nassau—taking up a lot of sidewalk space on weekends. However, Burrows wasn’t looking to target just one establishment and says, “this is not a war, it’s about everyone following the rules.” Burrows says the Department of Consumer Affairs should fairly enforce the law and, “I know everyone breaks the rules but, if that’s the case, then let’s get rid of the rules.” According to Mieszko Kalita, the owner of Beata Delicatessen and a small-business owner in Greenpoint for more than two decades, “the Brooklyn Paper published a story that was made up.” Kalita adds: “The people who want to change rules about sidewalk cafes can contact their elected officials….I’ve been in this business for 24 years and 5 days, and I understand that the neighborhood has changed greatly during that time.” There is, perhaps, a larger issue at play here, as there are several establishments in North Brooklyn that have outdoor seating without even having permits for them. Pictured above, a crowd outside Five Leaves yesterday; a manager who answered the phone at the establishment yesterday said he could not comment on the matter.
05/07/2012 10:00 AM
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466 dad
May 21, 2012 | 02:16 PM