Brownstoner's right - I thought it had an odd office building feel to it at first, but I have definitely warmed up to it, and it is the nicest thing around. Interiors are at least as good. what I couldn't warm up to was the rest of the neighborhood compared to some other locations I looked, and relative inflexibility on price.

Posted by: johny0299 at July 14, 2009 12:25 PM in response to Price Cuts, Broker Switcheroo at The Absolute

who would buy what practically amounts to a large closet for 200 grand? I mean seriously, why wouldn't you just keep renting and saving money until you could afford an actual apartment? Seems a little sad, really.

Posted by: johny0299 at June 19, 2009 12:06 PM in response to Brooklyn Sales: Under a Million

"How does a new condo ever hit 70% sold if banks are requiring 70% sold to loan money? What, they're expecting 7/10 of the people buying in a building to make an all-cash payment?"

Precisely--and there's the rub. Catch 22. These will sit. Anyone with $300K in cash lying around aint moving to Washington Ave.

No - "sold" means in contract, in this context. What they expect is that buyers will sign, make their downpayments, then everyone waits around until the critical mass is reached, and lenders allow individuals to close. Of course that doesn't stop anyone who IS a cash buyer from moving in ahead of all that. And it isn't necessarily 70% either. It can be 50%. It can even be less - but then you are usually looking at jumbo rates and downpayment requirements that are unrealistically high for many people, unless the buiding got project approval with a lender a long time ago.

Posted by: johny0299 at April 30, 2009 2:07 PM in response to Condo of the Day: 655 Washington Avenue, Apt. 3B

Heather, haven't seen any radon-filled chambers there, but I do have a bunch of floor plans that the Developers Group people sent me a while back. If anyone wants to see them, let me know and I'll forward to your e-mail. Agree that the corcoran people need to get their act together with floorplans, photos, and open house schedule. I know they are planning a "launch" (re-launch?) on the 23rd.

I guess I walk between tybur6 speed and ragincajun's - takes me 7 or 8 minutes to walk from that spot to the Union Street 'R' station.

Posted by: johny0299 at April 10, 2009 2:35 PM in response to Satori Developers Try for a Mulligan

IT's OK, but I'd like it a lot more if it was all wood-clad?? That seems a little odd; it's not as if that side of the building was somehow distinct from the other parts and there was some stylisitic reason to set it off a bit. That just looks kind of random. Would like to see the inside.

Posted by: johny0299 at April 10, 2009 1:06 PM in response to Development Watch: 818 Dean Street

Really? Not close? Seemed like about a 4 min walk Smith to me...or did you mean not comparable? I think Ragincajun was being sarcastic, I was just trying to continue that theme. Sorry if I have offended, I was not trying to say that Smith is the same as Bond, just that I think some posts have given the area around the buiding a bad rap. Those aren't necessarily unfair opinions to have, just trying to share another view. Yes - these are my first posts, no I'm not with corcoran nor am I a broker - just a buyer, so I certainly DO have a bias, though my subjective opinions are clearly (I would have thought) just that; I won't try to disguise them as facts.

Posted by: johny0299 at April 10, 2009 11:45 AM in response to Satori Developers Try for a Mulligan

aarhh, terrifyin' ain't it - and ye forgot to mention the minions of doom that be inhabitin' the nearby wastelands of Smith and Court Sts...poor, wretched souls.

Posted by: johny0299 at April 10, 2009 10:40 AM in response to Satori Developers Try for a Mulligan

Everyone knows the canal is dirty; I would think if the EPA actually gets it added to the list of national priority sites (just a proposal at this point) that means it will be getting cleaned up - a plus as far as anyone considering living in the area is concerned, no?

The views from the roof are pretty cool, since there is nothing high rise in the immediate vicinity. You can see a long way to the east across the Park, downtown Bklyn, lower Manhattan...I know, the canal ain't exactly pretty.

Posted by: johny0299 at April 10, 2009 10:28 AM in response to Satori Developers Try for a Mulligan

Hey Brownstoner, I think it's 27 units available if you want to update your story, not 28; the 630 Union St listing in the middle of that page on the Corcoran site you link to is not at Satori. My understanding is that there were 6 or 7 signed contracts with another 4 or 5 offers accepted at this point. They need 50% or 18 to begin closings, I believe. The # of Ks they have signed now lets them declare their condo plan effective, and they are hoping to get their C of O by the 15th.
I agree they need some price cutting, to the top and bottom floor units, based on what I've seen recently on the market - something I relayed to TDG a couple of times, with my comp evidence. I think that's only a matter of time, and it may be that while they haven't lowered ther prices any further officially, they may be getting more flexible in their negotiations. Some of the comps I sent them had been holding out at higher levels for a much longer time (11/07) before getting very 'real.'

The units are pretty damn nice inside, IMO, after looking at just about 30 buildings in Brooklyn and LIC during my search. I think your exterior shot used in the story is very flattering, especially with the trees now in bloom.

I'd be interested to see how how their sales compares with other new Brooklyn development on sale for roughly the same length of time - given the market, I think Satori isn't doing that badly right now.

Posted by: johny0299 at April 10, 2009 10:13 AM in response to Satori Developers Try for a Mulligan