What I hate is what happens when eastbound drivers leave GAP: they accelerate like crazy on Eastern Parkway to release all of the frustrations accumulated while getting through the plaza. I pity the poor folks trying to cross the EPW in front of the Museum and Botanic Garden. And then there are all of the pedestrians and cyclists squeezed onto the 10 foot wide sidewalk on the south side of the Parkway, half of which is blocked with multiple tree pits. How do you spell planning disaster?

Posted by: thisnthat at October 8, 2009 3:43 PM in response to Collision at Grand Army

Crown Heights North Assoc. is working on a request to have the building made an individual landmark. If Shalom Nagel cares to reach out to us on this, he can do so by going to the CHNA website www.crownheightsnorth.com and sending us an email.

Posted by: thisnthat at June 15, 2009 2:16 PM in response to 1094 Park Place Finally Sells

Crown Heights North Assoc. is working on a request to have the building made an individual landmark. If Shalom Nagel cares to reach out to us on this, he can do so by going to the CHNA website www.crownheightsnorth.com and sending us an email.

Posted by: thisnthat at June 15, 2009 2:16 PM in response to 1094 Park Place Finally Sells

According to PropertyShark, the new owner's name is Shalom Nagel and it lists his address as 1094 Park Place. Sounds like he may be trying to hide his real property address. Not a good sign. Anybody know the purchaser? PropertyShark shows no other properties in Brooklyn listed in his name.

Posted by: thisnthat at June 15, 2009 11:56 AM in response to 1094 Park Place Finally Sells

Please. Crown Heights is way cooler than Bed-Stuy. Let's not continue the scam of smushing it into Bed-Stuy and then ignoring it. AL Vann has been playing that game for years!

Posted by: thisnthat at May 28, 2009 5:35 PM in response to Closing Bell: Crown Height's Rescue Company 2 Art Exhibit

Just to be clear: this is a FOUR story brownstone, as noted in the first sentence of the description. The fourth floor is a humpback, hidden from the street, but very much real in the house, containing a large bedroom and spectacular bath with soaking tub. And some would even assert this property is in Clinton Hill, admittedly a stretch, but we all know it's only a matter of time......

Posted by: thisnthat at April 25, 2009 9:36 AM in response to Open House Picks

Whoa, let's get some perspective on the PMI thing. We're talking about a $7,000 per month mortgage payment. Paying $300 per month for PMI is less than 5% of the mortgage amount. To me that's less than beyond insignificant.

Posted by: thisnthat at November 16, 2008 4:30 PM in response to bought a house with 10% down

Whoa, let's get some perspective on the PMI thing. We're talking about a $7,000 per month mortgage payment. Paying $300 per month for PMI is less than 5% of the mortgage amount. To me that's less than beyond insignificant.

Posted by: thisnthat at November 16, 2008 4:29 PM in response to bought a house with 10% down

Actually the developer owns vacant land behind the buildings which will be used as a shared garden and parking for the buildings.
Regarding the likelihood of Bed-Stuy's restoration, given rising energy and transportation costs, many planners are projecting the net shift in population will be towards built urban environments where people can live and work and play all in the same vicinity, using mass transit if necessary. No more midnight runs in the SUV to a strip mall for a carton of milk. And try finding a good party for under 30 folks in the 'burbs!

Posted by: thisnthat at November 14, 2008 9:15 AM in response to Price Cuts at Nzinga Townhouses

Just to keep it real, 905 Halsey is also right across from a school.
The block of NY Avenue is a work in progress. When Restoration Plaza is renovated, a lot can change. Just think what Fort Greene used to be like, say, 10 years ago. Nothing sold for over $200k. It was (and still is by the way) snuggled up against three projects. Likewise Vinegar Hill. But now the Toy Factory, the Oro and the Toren are all selling within two blocks of these same projects.
It's really about 90% perception.

Posted by: thisnthat at November 13, 2008 4:30 PM in response to Price Cuts at Nzinga Townhouses

There have been several sales of well-preserved multi-family existing townhomes within 1/2 mile of the proposed Nzinga site within the past 12 months. Among these are:

272A Halsey two family closed on Jan. 23 for $925,000
47 Halsey four family closed on July 30 for $905,000
343 Jefferson four family closed on Aug. 18 for $950,000
404 Stuyvesant three family closed on April 21 for $1.115 million
11 St. Francis 2 family closed on June 5 for $1.1 million

Of course, a high-end "green" building is a completely different animal. Buildings like this are not designed or intended for investors, but home owners, who plan to stay in the home ten or 15 years. Within that time range, Bed-Stuy should well be another n'hood entirely.

I am speaking as one who took a chance and a bought a 3 family limestone on a shaky block in Park Slope (13th and PPW!) for $79K in 1979. Boy, was that scary!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, one can always take the position that Park Slope is fundamentally different from Bed-Stuy. That's the position that a lot of Manhattanites took towards the Upper West Side and Park Slope in the 70's. Those n'hoods were "ghettoes", right?

Posted by: thisnthat at November 13, 2008 3:19 PM in response to Price Cuts at Nzinga Townhouses

All this talk about the housing bubble bursting ought to be better focused on the oil bubble bursting. As Paul Krugman pointed on last week in his column in the NY Times, this is NOT an oil bubble, but part of a new reality. And the price of oil effects everything. Food, heating, transportation, plastic.....
So to bring this back home,the price of "green homes" will be rapidly effected by the rising costs of oil. Few want to believe it yet, but the era of cheap energy is over. And energy efficiency will become the new mantra of home ownership. Green home values will far outpace the value of conventional homes because the cost of operating them will more than conpensate for the higher price.

Posted by: thisnthat at May 17, 2008 12:39 PM in response to Upscale Green Townhouses Coming to Bed Stuy

Crown Heights Revitalization Movement, a new group created in response to Crown Heights over-saturation with social service residences, has conducted a review of each of the Community Boards in Brooklyn. Based on the City's own records there are 1,170 social service residential beds in Community Board 8 - North Crown Heights.* For every 100 acres of land in the community board, there are 112 beds. This is the highest level for any community board in Brooklyn. By contrast, Park Slope (CB6) has 19 beds per acre, Bedford-Stuyvesant (CB3) has 42 beds per acre and Crown Heights South (CB9) has 51 beds per acre. And this is BEFORE any expansion at the Bedford Armory.
Are there any other communities where the shelter system should expand into? How about just about any of them!
*Based on a review of Department of City Planning: Community District Profiles and Department of City Planning: Selected Facilities and Program Sites.

Posted by: thisnthat at May 11, 2008 5:51 PM in response to Friday Links