Brooklyn Buyers Dominating On Prospect Park Sales
It’s been a while since we checked in with ye olde OPP. So how’s it been going? According to the sales office, the House that Richard Built is 30 percent sold, more than had been expected at this stage (move-in’s not ’til Fall 2008). There was a cocktail party last week at which recent buyers…
It’s been a while since we checked in with ye olde OPP. So how’s it been going? According to the sales office, the House that Richard Built is 30 percent sold, more than had been expected at this stage (move-in’s not ’til Fall 2008). There was a cocktail party last week at which recent buyers got to mingle with bigwigs from the nearby cultural institutions. (Just think of all the potential donations!) Perhaps the most interesting fact we learned was that most purchasers have in fact been Brooklynites, clearly not what the developer Mario Procida anticipated given his decision to locate the marketing office in Tribeca. Does it surprise you that Brooklyn buyers are leading the charge? As for current pricing, there are a number of units listed on Corcoran (including this $6 million rock star pad) at per square foot prices of between $1,500 and $2,000. Quite something, then again there’s nothing like it.
On Prospect Park Listings [Corcoran] GMAP
I think this building is out of scale with the neighborhood in a good way: kind of like I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid at the Louvre, or even the new entrance and fountain at the Brooklyn Museum. It’s a welcome addition to a rejuvenated GRAND Army Plaza.
by looking at the rendering of the entrance and lobby, i think it will be quite welcoming to the surrounding neighborhood. it’s really going to open up that whole area along with the outdoor area being built in front of the library. anyone know when that’s done, btw??
with the new traffic improvements and green being added to the grand army plaza circle, i’d say that in two years this area is going to be a jewel on the brooklyn landscape.
classy, sleek, you’ve got the greenmarket, the park. lookin good to me.
Gargoyles are cool.
What is interesting is that these buildings (the Meier’s on the Hudson, the Gwathmey at Astor Place, etc) usually appeal to people looking for pied-a-terres. They are fabulous (in my opinion) and a great place to spend the weekend, or a week now and then, or when you have to work late and can’t back to Greenwhich or Bedford– but you don’t want them as your primary home. Which is why the fact that most buyers are Brooklynites is soo interesting.
What I like about it is that it’s not a flat box, it has setbacks, and the terraces are not all uniform and boringly aligned. The glass facades have a lot of texture and depth and the composition is balanced nicely.
Not that I would live there, I actually like thick masonry walls but I respect it for what it is.
Its not just a relief. It’s very good. AT least as good as the towers on West St.
i’d love to hear from an architect or two on their opinions on the place…
i think it does maintain a balance between being striking and at the same time fitting in with the surrounding neighborhood scale.
the previous poster said that he’d prefer to see it slimmer and taller, but this would have been far more dinstinctive (in a bad way) for this particular location
I gotta say, I walked by this place recently, and I don’t quite get it. I understand Procida’s vision of creating a super-high-class starchitect-designed residence on Brooklyn, similar to some of these places in Manhattan; and I understand that even in Prospect height it’s not too unreasonable to see ~$1500psf prices if such a building is successfully realized.
But I don’t think this is. Meier’s stuff on the West Side is tall, thin, shiny, beautiful. This building is squat, heavy-seeming, hulking, and dull aqua/blue all over. Even on the spectacularly sunny day when I walked by, it seemed dull and boring. The vision of the developer is fine, and the thirst of potential buyers is fine, but I think Meier himself really failed here. He had the opportunity to create something amazing, to stand next to the new museum facade and the soon-to-be-revealed library… but this isn’t it.
I could conceivably see paying ~$1,500psf for a Meier building in this location, but not this building.
Oh well: this is the new Brooklyn. It’ll sell out anyway.
I hate new stuff, but even I have to admit that the bldg is pretty cool-looking. But to live in it? I’d wind up huddled under a blanket inside a closet with a flashlight to read by. But then, I’ve never understood the Fishbowl School of Narcissistic Decor Display, even in those brownstones where you can (and I do) ogle in the ground-floor windows. Of course, my idea of heaven would be moving into the Lefferts Homestead and putting up cute curtains everywhere, preferably with ball fringe, so just ignore me…
Now, now, are you all really throwing stones a glass houses? Come to think of it, this being in Brooklyn and all, it’s only a matter of time til that’s a popular after-school activity…