Development Watch: Butt-Ugly on Smith
What can you say about this Bricolage piece o’ crap going up at 478 Smith Street at the corner of 9th Street? Not much really. Given the size of the three apartments, they presumably have been designed to sell as condos but it’s hard to imagine anyone deciding to sink their nest egg into this,…
What can you say about this Bricolage piece o’ crap going up at 478 Smith Street at the corner of 9th Street? Not much really. Given the size of the three apartments, they presumably have been designed to sell as condos but it’s hard to imagine anyone deciding to sink their nest egg into this, is it not? GMAP P*Shark DOB
surprised no one’s weighed in yet on the main problem for this corner – the permanent collection of dicey folks who park there all day. presumably you’d think they’re waiting to get the bus, but there seems to be an awful lot of full-time loitering there. most people in the area avoid the smith and 9th street stop in part for that reason (another: the skeevy, scary, multiple floor entrance to the stop itself) in favor of hoofing it to the carroll street stop several blocks away.
If y’all hate Mr. B so much, why do you keep reading the site? He’s just putting it out there for discussion. If you think he’s got some nefarious motive, why do you bother?
mos deaf, get yourself some kleenex
Yeah look at the piece of crap next door – a frame house with white vinyl siding, unevenly spaced windows, half height windows on the top floor, and an ugly-ass patchwork roof. The new brick building with big windows is a palace in comparison. So what’s the problem, I don’t get it?
ditto b stoner is lame! i have more talant in my sphincter than your wife has in the kitchen. nice corner building.
H
ditto b stoner is lame! i have more talant in my sphincter than your wife has in the kitchen. nice corner building.
H
o thank you bstoner for pointing out how ugly my hood is
i wish we all can live in beautiful brownstones
what would brooklyn be without you
I’m gonna defend brownstoner on this one…
Bricolage (Henry Radusky) is a notoriously BAD, TALENTLESS, and UNETHICAL developer who has a proven track record of bending and breaking rules, while plunking down miserable examples of cheap, poorly designed and poorly built structures around brooklyn, especially the slope & south slope.
There is nothing wrong with finding opportunities, turning a profit and developing in neglected neighborhoods, but when it is consistently done at the expense of ALL other considerations (especially building codes, zoning, quality and safety for workers/future residents and yes, aesthetics) why shouldn’t Brownstoner call him out on it?
And not to diss anyone living in this area or nearby businesses by any means, but with the convergence of the elevated F&G trains, Gowanus canal, BQE, the asphalt factory, metal junkyard and God knows what else, I’d have to think it can’t be a healthy place for human habitation or a monetary investment either…
I certainly hope they clean up the canal and make the area better, but really, is it actually possible to reverse the effects of 125+ years of heavy metal/chemical/petroleum dumping/spills all around there? would ANY of you posters buy into this building? I’ll bet not…
And I call bullshit on all of you who say the ‘Stoner is trying to hype clinton hill at the expense of other hoods. I’m not buyin’ it – if anything he’s doin’ y’all a favor by pointing out the flaws of this particular area.
So are you saying that because a neighborhood looks industrial the best it can hope for is bottom of the barrel design? Post-industrial sites like this one can be a catalyst for interesting architecture, one that both draws inspiration from it’s “gritty” context (through materials, articulation, massing) and the history of late 19th/ early 20th century Brooklyn.