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Mario Batali Hits, Hearts Smorgasburg
The 2012 Smorgasburg season was already off to a great start this year (4-for-4 on sunny days hasn’t hurt!) but the weekly food market on the Williamsburg waterfront got an extra jolt of electricity when Mario Batali showed up on Saturday with his wife and kids to sample as much as he could of the hundred vendors. How’d he like it? Immensely, judging from his Tweets. “HFS. Smorgasburg may be the greatest thing I’ve tasted in NYC!” went his first Tweet. (HFS= Holy F’ing S#!+.) Another: “We did not have one unbrilliant bite!! Go wild!!” And lastly: “It was gustatory genius!! Thanks!!”
Photos by eat-everywhere.com and eatsdirt
04/30/2012 11:00 AM
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Louver House, ID390 Hit 80 Percent in Williamsburg
Here’s some intel on the Williamsburg condo front: ID390, the 28-unit building at 390 Lorimer Street, and the Louver House, the 13-unit building at 9193 Metropolitan Avenue, have both reached the 80 percent sales mark. Sales launched at the ID390 (pictured left) last June with studio, one and two bedrooms ranging from $380,000 to $599,000. 9193 Metropolitan Avenue relaunched as the Louver House last September after a previous sales run. In the second time around, prices ran between $619,000 for a 735-square-foot one bedroom to $765,000 for a 1,048-square-foot two bedroom. The building now only has five units remaining.
04/26/2012 11:00 AM
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Auction Site on Kent Finally Ready for RFP?
Five years ago, while on a tour of the Navy Yard, we learned of a plan to ultimately turn the city auction site on Kent Avenue into “a series of multi-story building with a mix of commercial, industrial and…retail fronting along Kent Avenue.” At the time, Navy Yard brass was predicting an RFP within the next year. Then the great recession happened and, we can only conclude, the plan was put on ice. On a recent bike ride recently, however, we noticed that the site had been cleared of all cars and other signs of auction activity which leads up to believe some kind of announcement could be in the offing. At the time, there was discussion of filling in the channel that comes in behind the salt pile. Wonder if that’s still part of the plan.
04/26/2012 10:00 AM
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Pat Kiernan Solidifies Hipster Cred with Big ‘Burg Buy
Pat Kiernan is about to be living large in Williamsburg. The NY1 anchor, and possible heir to the Regis throne, just paid $2.025 million for 135 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. The deed just hit public records. The exterior photos of this don’t do it justice. A Halstead-produced video of the interior, though, can be seen right here. A source in the brokerage community has this to say to us about it: “The sale price is unprecedented in that $2,025,000 is the highest price ever paid for a single family home in Williamsburg.” The news anchor and his wife are moving from the Upper West Side.
135 Bedford Avenue [StreetEasy]
Exterior photo via PropertyShark
04/25/2012 4:42 PM
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Condo of the Day: 138 Broadway, #1D
The Smith Grey Building is pretty much the building that got it all started in Williamsburg. The cast iron, Soho-like building at 138 Broadway was the first condo conversion of the boom years. In fact, we remember going to look at a 2,000-square-foot loft there for around $800,000 back in 2003. We’ve also been in one of the ground floor duplexes (or triplexes, depending on how you count the large mezzanine and the big windowless basement). They are surprisingly nice and, if you can handle the street-level windows, a good bang for the buck in terms of square footage. This one’s about 1,700 square feet and asking $1,200,000. Like it?
138 Broadway, #1D [Aptsandlofts.com GMAP P*Shark
04/25/2012 12:56 PM
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20 Bayard Leftovers in Williamsburg Selling Quickly
Last year an investment firm purchased the remaining 37 unsold units in the Williamsburg condo 20 Bayard Street, and the broker now handling the sales of the units says they’re moving quickly since hitting the market a couple months ago. According to Deborah Rieders, a senior vice president at Corcoran, as of this week there are 12 signed contracts for units in the condo. Rieders also notes that the new owner has made major upgrades to the condo. StreetEasy is showing that the 11 active listings not in contract are asking between $650,000 for an 812-square-foot one-bedroom to $1,550,000 for a 1,515-square-foot two-bedroom penthouse.
First Few New-Old Listings Trickle in for 20 Bayard [Brownstoner]
20 Bayard Listings [StreetEasy]
Unsold Units at Williamsburg’s 20 Bayard Change Hands [Brownstoner]
Less Money, Mo Problems for 20 Bayard Developer [Brownstoner]
20 Bayard Goes Belly Up [Brownstoner] GMAP
04/25/2012 10:00 AM
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Music Venue/Artist Space Planned for Former Burg Factory
Today the Observer reports on a non-profit music venue/rehearsal space/recording studio/club/restaurant opening at 80 North 6th Street, at Wythe, in a former sawdust factory. The 12,900-square-foot space (to be called the Original Music Workshop) will accommodate a 2,200-square-foot performance hall, geared toward, as the Observer says, “music of all types for all ages.” But the space is being designed to be versatile and will provide an “A-to-Z support structure” for artist who want to rehearse and record. There will also be a two-story, independently-owned restaurant and two full bars. The $15.6 million project began construction in December of last year and will hopefully wrap December of 2013. The project is designed by Brooklyn-based firm Bureau V, also designing this affordable new build nearby. See a few more renderings of the OMW after the jump.
Is an Unconventional Music Venue with a Jagged Design the Last Hope for Williamsburg’s Art Scene? [Observer] (more…)
04/24/2012 12:00 PM
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Last Week’s Biggest Sales
1. PARK SLOPE $3,350,000
494 3rd Street GMAP P*Shark
A HOTD in November 2011. “The five-story, 22-foot-wide brownstone has lots of impressive original detail and grand proportions. The location, just in from 7th Avenue, is great too.” It’s configured as a four family and was asking $3,699,000. Entered into contract on 2/4/12; closed on 4/3/12; deed recorded on 4/17/2012.
2. COBBLE HILL $3,300,000
357 Henry Street, #1 GMAP P*Shark
This is the first townhouse that sold at the 110 Amity Street mansion. It was asking $3.85 million. Entered into contract on 2/22/12; closed on 4/2/12; deed recorded on 4/18/2012.
3. CARROLL GARDENS $2,275,000
240 Carroll Street, #4 GMAP P*Shark
A four bed/three-and-a-half bath condo in Carroll Gardens. Here’s the listing. It was asking $2,250,000 and sold just a hair above asking price. Entered into contract on 1/27/12; closed on 3/27/12; deed recorded on 4/17/2012.
4. PARK SLOPE $1,955,000
596 3rd Street GMAP P*Shark
A “Single Family Townhouse in Original Condition,” says the listing. It entered contract only 16 days after hitting the market. Was asking $1,860,000. Entered into contract on 1/24/12; closed on 3/28/12; deed recorded on 4/18/2012.
5. WILLIAMSBURG $1,936,967.06
22 North 6th Street, #26KL GMAP P*Shark
This South Tower unit also came with a storage space. Entered into contract on 2/3/12; closed on 3/30/12; deed recorded on 4/16/2012.
04/24/2012 11:30 AM
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First Shot Fired in War Over Al Fresco Burg Brunches
Last week the Brooklyn Paper reported that some members of Community Board 1, which oversees Williamsburg and Greenpoint, were going to try to get the city to enforce a law that prohibits outdoor seating at eateries before noon on Sunday, in part because the seating can block sidewalk space used by church-goers. Today, the New York Post reports that Lokal Mediterranean Bistro, on Lorimer, was given a citation yesterday for having outdoor seating before noon: “‘They are killing business and killing people’s jobs,’ griped Gino Kutluca, owner of Lokal Mediterranean Bistro at Lorimer and Nassau streets, which received the summons. Kutluca’s business had specifically been criticized by local community-board members for serving tables on the sidewalk — thus making it hard for people to walk past them to get to church — early in the day. The eatery owner will now have to show up in court June 11 to find out what the fine is.” The article doesn’t detail exactly when Lokal’s outdoor tables had been set out, so we don’t have a full picture of what the Post’s headline refers to as the “brunch punch to eatery.”
Brunch Punch to Eatery [NY Post]
Photo by RSFlckD4
04/23/2012 10:30 AM
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The Outsider: Gardening on Concrete in Williamsburg
Welcome to the first installment of The Outsider, Brownstoner’s new Sunday garden column. We’ll cover backyards, front yards, terraces, decks, patios, rooftops…wherever a Brooklyn homeowner or renter can stake out a garden. Like The Insider on Thursdays, The Outsider is written and produced by Cara Greenberg, who blogs at casaCARA: Old Houses for Fun & Profit. Find it here every Sunday at 8AM.
THERE’S NO DIRT in Tyler Horsley’s Brooklyn backyard, except in pots. Yet Horsley, a professional garden designer whose urban practice involves many terraces and roof gardens, has elevated the use of containers to a high art. What he calls a “mismatched hodgepodge of dumb plastic pots” follows time-honored principles of garden design. (He prefers grayish pots to terracotta, which flakes in cold weather and whose color, he says, is “shriekingly bad with magenta and pink.”)
Horsley’s Williamsburg backyard — south-facing and open, with 6 hours of full sun a day — is a 13′x30′ concrete rectangle behind a former rosary factory converted in 2000 to one-story rental apartments. The photos in this post show it over the past decade and in all seasons. There are certain ‘backbone’ perennials, trees, and shrubs, but the garden is never quite the same from one year to the next.
How does he do it? “The first principle in a small space is layering,” Horsley says. “Get something tall that arches over people’s heads, so it feels like you’re really in a garden environment,” as well as some “things that tumble down, to get a lush dimension.”
Bold moves are the ticket, says Horsley. “Plant things simply and repetitively. If you have a plant that grows well and your conditions are perfect for it, plant more of it. Repeating stuff makes for a much more restful garden.” Planters look better if each is planted solidly with one thing, he says. “Don’t mix things up too much. If you clump together five pots with hakonechloa (Japanese forest grass) for a big sweep, it looks great.”
More after the jump.
- Horsley’s favorite local source: Crest Hardware & Urban Garden Center on Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg. “They opened a garden shop a couple of years ago and it’s terrific: interesting plants, unusual and thoughtful choices. They’re making a first-rate effort.”
Photos: Tyler Horsley
04/22/2012 8:00 AM
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Residential Conversion for 457 Keap Street
Looking at DOB records, it seems like 487 Keap Street in Williamsburg is one of those buildings that’s been under construction forever without anything actually happening. According to recent DOB permits, work’s been approved to slightly adjust plans to convert this building into a five-story residential development with a one-story addition. Here’s an old article with a rendering of the building, although it’s unclear if those plans are still relevant. GMAP
04/20/2012 2:40 PM
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Burg Residents Still Fighting Against Proposed Club
Williamsburg residents spoke out against a proposed nightclub for North 1st Street during last night’s CB1 public session. Brooklyn Paper previously reported that Manhattan nightclub owner Alexander Dimitrov wanted to renovate a warehouse into a 300-person nightclub with a rooftop patio. Here’s the BK Paper’s description of the owner’s club in Manhattan, called Mehanata: ” [It] boasts a bathroom sink that looks like a woman’s posterior, a fleet of party buses modeled after San Francisco cable cars, and a refrigerated “ice cage” where waiters in Russian military garb serve booze amid furniture and glassware made from ice.” The owner promised a more “laid back” club in Williamsburg, but residents remained opposed. Last night, the majority of the CB1 audience was against this club, and a petition going around had gained more than 250 signatures. Residents complained the owner has been unwilling to work with the community. They also brought up possible traffic issues outside the club, the issue of drunk party-goers in the neighborhood at 4am, and listed violations at the Manhattan spot, which included serving alcohol to minors. One of the residents stated that, after previous media attention regarding the opposition, she received “hate mail to move out to Connecticut” but said “I want to live here, I want to raise my son here.” You can see the video of residents speaking out over at New York Shitty. Needless to say, the CB1 Liquor Licence Committee unanimously denied the club’s application.
04/18/2012 2:00 PM
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Boutique Hotel To Rise Across from W’burg Whole Foods
Today the Journal has an article based on sources that are saying a firm called Waterbridge Capital, which is headed by a developer named Joel Schreiber, has purchased and is in contract to purchase a large assemblage of properties in Williamsburg. The juicy news is that Schreiber intends to build a 245-room boutique hotel right across the street from the site that’s slated to get a Whole Foods on North 4th Street off Bedford Avenue. Here are the details:
The properties include a former bagel shop, a laundromat, a supermarket and a hookah bar. Waterbridge paid about $68 million for the properties and plans to renovate, in the hope of attracting more prominent retail tenants, including a bank. Waterbridge has also signed a contract to acquire most of the eastern portion of the block between Bedford and North Fourth and Driggs and Metropolitan avenues, which is home to moving-and-storage company Sher-Del Transfer, from the company’s owners. The developer plans to build a 245-room boutique hotel on the Sher-Del site and an adjacent vacant lot, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Williamsburg, you’ve heard this before many times, but you’ve come a long way, baby. [Insert comment about lack of Apple store here.]
Block Redo Melds in Williamsburg [WSJ] GMAP
Williamsburg is Getting a Whole Foods! [Brownstoner]
Graphic courtesy of the Wall Street Journal
04/18/2012 10:46 AM
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Developer Tries to Rezone Outside the B’Way Triangle
At last night’s Community Board 1 meeting, applicants from “Walton Realty Associates” presented at the public hearing to build a housing development at 59 Walton Street, just west of the Broadway Triangle. Earlier this year a judge halted the city from moving forward with the development of 1,851 housing units at the Broadway Triangle due to a plan that, as the judge stated, favored the Hasidic community over black and Latino residents. This particular development, not within the confines of the Triangle, would only be 69 units in two different buildings, with one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. Fourteen of those units would be affordable. The build is eight stories high, with the top two stories set back. The developer was seeking a zoning change from M1-2 to an R6A, as well as a commercial overlay along Marcy Avenue. A CB1 board member, who worked to stop residential development of the Broadway Triangle area, stated: “This is a sneaky way for your client to build within the Triangle without acknowledging the lawsuit concerning the housing demand.” The ULURP Committee will discuss the matter further at the next meeting, Tuesday April 24th, 6:30pm at the CB1 District Office. Check out a map after the jump to see how this proposed rezoning, which covers a decent portion of the area, lines up against the Triangle. (more…)
04/18/2012 10:30 AM
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Residents Don’t Want BBQ Pits at Cooper Park
Earlier this week we received some information about a controversy brewing in Williamsburg concerning the proposed addition of BBQ Pits in East Williamsburg’s Cooper Park. The Boy Scouts planned to install 10 BBQ pits and benches this Saturday at the park, near the corner of Maspeth and Morgan avenues, as park of a major renovation the park is in the midst of. Brooklyn Paper noted this morning the pits came after “more than 80 residents including many tenants at a public housing development one block from Cooper Park lobbied city officials last year to include a barbecue pit in the renovation plan.” But a tipster told us some local residents were “vehemently opposed” to the installation, given the small footprint of the park already, the possibility of losing the only undisturbed green space there, and concerns of extra foot traffic and refuse. Residents planned to demonstrate against the installation this Saturday in what was described as “Residents vs. the Boy Scouts.” At last night’s CB1 meeting, Stephanie Thayer of the Open Space Alliance addressed the issue. She said the volunteer event on Saturday has been postponed, although the BBQ pits are still coming in. She said OSA reached out to residents and wants to continue the discussion, ultimately “moving forward with the BBQ pits and making it the best possible situation for everyone.” A concerned resident later spoke at the meeting and said she was not aware of any outreach through OSA. Anyone else involved in the matter care to chime in?
Photo by chicapoquita
04/18/2012 10:00 AM
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Pfizer Sells Off Another Chunk of its Williamsburg Property
Last night Brooklyn 11211 brought word that pharma giant Pfizer has a deal in place to sell off the last of its big holdings in Williamsburg and that the buyers are not thought to be the coalition of community groups that wanted to see affordable housing built on the site. Today Crain’s reports the story out a bit more, though the identity of the buyers is still opaque: “The pharmaceutical giant said 306 Rutledge Street II LLC, a newly formed company representing investors who have experience in residential and mixed-use properties, is in contract to buy the site for an undisclosed price. …’The investors are committed to redevelopment of the property to provide employment and meet the needs of the local community,’ said Pfizer in a statement. ‘We anticipate that the buyer’s development plans will foster economic stability through new job creation that will benefit the vibrant Williamsburg community into the future. We believe this is a positive step in our longstanding efforts to achieve Pfizer’s community-based principles for the site.’” The two large plots comprise 4 acres. The community groups that wanted to develop affordable housing reportedly offered $10 million. Politicians and residents have talked about building housing on Pfizer’s former holdings for a long time, but the only real action has come via a developer that bought the plant and leased space to some food manufacturers.
Pfizer Sells, But Not to Local Groups [Brooklyn 11211]
Investor Group Swallows 4-Acre Pfizer Site in Bklyn [Crain's]
Photo by robot glue
04/18/2012 9:00 AM
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Williamsburg Pioneers Getting Booted From 338 Berry
Today the Post has a story about some residents of 338 Berry Street in Williamsburg, a former noodle factory that many artists moved into in the mid-1990s and who are now fighting off a landlord trying to evict them. Here we go, yo:
Most of the seven-story building is already vacant. All that’s left is 10 large lofts filled with dozens of pioneers who moved to Williamsburg in the mid-1990s, when it was still isolated, crime-ridden and full of factories. They paved the way for the subsequent hipster invasion — which sent property values skyrocketing. Seeing the writing on the wall, the residents of the building’s work-live lofts signed agreements with the previous landlord allowing them to stay until 2011. But in 2010 the state revised the Loft Law — to put such artist-occupied spaces under rent stabilization. The Berry Street tenants claim the legislation supersedes their agreement. But Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Bert Bunyan two weeks ago sided with the current landlord, Mona Gora-Friedman, who wants to show them the door. She finds the artists unpalatable, they claim, because they’re standing in the way of converting the building into luxury condos.
Last time this building was in the news, in 2009, it was because a very respected drummer, Jerry Fuchs, fell to his death after a malfunction with the property’s manual elevator. At the time, the building had code violations out the wazoo.
W’burg Has Art Attack [NY Post]
Site of Drummer’s Fall Lousy with Violations [Brownstoner] GMAP
04/17/2012 12:00 PM
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After Demolition, Burg Salvation Army Will Stay Thrifty
Last week we reported that demolition was soon to begin on the Salvation Army thrift store on the corner of Bedford Avenue and North 7th Street in Williamsburg, but the big remaining question was what would replace the building. As it turns out, it will be a new Salvation Army, according to Denise Richardson, the Salvation Army’s director of communications for the organization’s Greater New York division. Building plans have already been filed for a replacement structure. Major John G. Swires, who operates the store at 176 Bedford Avenue, says that “it will be replaced with new and improved Salvation Army Thrift store.” So take your Apple store rumors elsewhere…once again!
Demolition Starting Soon on Williamsburg Salvation Army [Brownstoner] GMAP
04/17/2012 11:00 AM
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Rental of the Day: 34 North 7th Street
This penthouse unit at the Edge is renting out for $8,500/month. Here’s the package: 1,805 square feet, three bed/three-and-a half bath duplex, balcony, and all the Edge amenities. What do you think?
34 North 7th Street [MNS Realty] GMAP P*Shark
04/16/2012 12:30 PM
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ruth2989
May 29, 2012 | 11:02 AM