Irresponsible Developers Try to Dump New-Build
This building on the corner of Grand and Greene, the poster child for the wave of cheap, ugly developments that are selling short the futures of many Brooklyn neighborhoods, is finally on the market. While it was being built slapped up, we documented the poor craftsmanship while one reader called it a shit sandwich. Earlier…
This building on the corner of Grand and Greene, the poster child for the wave of cheap, ugly developments that are selling short the futures of many Brooklyn neighborhoods, is finally on the market. While it was being built slapped up, we documented the poor craftsmanship while one reader called it a shit sandwich. Earlier in its construction, the developer had received a Stop Work Order for shoddy excavation. Basically, he’d dug the foundation without an engineer using unlicensed labor, so big surprise that the structural integrity of the adjacent building was compromised. Now these jerks are trying to cash in and dump the place off on some unsuspecting soul. Hopefully, the gas lines and electrical meters that adorn the facade will be a red flag but maybe someone will fall for the sales pitch touting “original stone from Jerusalem.” And that front door: They must have spent, what, $25 on it? What a load of crap.
4-Story 2-Family [Craigslist] GMAP
LP, are you sure it’s ConEd that has the automated meter readings or is it Keyspan? I have the Keyspan auto-read gas meters in my buildings but not electric. Trust me; I hope that you’re right because I would convert in a nanosecond!
As for the building, I agree, it’s hideous and it certainly hurts the adjacent homes and the greater nabe. Nothing short of expanding the historic district can save Clinton Hill from further travesties. Same goes for Bedford-Stuyvesant. It’s really a shame. Too many prime brownstone blocks are left ripe for the taking by unscrupulous developers with no concern for neighborhood aesthetics or historical significance.
With that being said, here’s my question: who’s the targeted buyer? I would assume that if someone had the means to afford and save the down payment, had the means and credit worthiness to secure a home mortgage and understood the desirability of living in hip Clinton Hill, that this person would certainly have some level of sophistication and class. Why would someone of this ilk, presumably educated and upwardly mobile, pluck down his or her hard earned money on this POS?!?!? The market will eventually correct itself in that the shoddy “luxury†development market will no longer be profitable for shady developers as substantial mark downs will be the only way to move these dumps.
Odd thing re outside electric meters I thought people would like to know.
I had ConEd tell me that they were changing all of their electric meters to wireless remote readers (i.e. no black things on the outside of your building with wires running to the meters in the basement). They insisted on upgrading mine (I resisted because mine worked properly after months of incorrect readings by ConEd). In the end I had the upgrade…
Point of my story is that I do not know why electric meters are on the outside of these developments. The remote reader is simply a replacement of the clear glass portion of the the meter. It can be read through walls wirelessly as mine is. Why, then, do developers put the meters on the outside if the new meters ConEd prefers can be read through walls, from a ConEd car on the street!!!!!!
This is in Clinton Hill, across the street from the boundary of the landmarks district (southeastern cornr of greene and grand). Another example of why the landmarked district needs to be extended to prevent the few remaining open lots in the nabe from having this sort of crap built on them.
Ok, this one takes the ugly cake, along with ice cream and candles. Yeeesh! Your local Fedders looks like McKim, Mead, and White next to this. This has to be the fugliest townhouse I’ve seen on this blog, and we’ve had some winners.
Seriously, standards in building practices have hit rock bottom lately. Between this one and the sheet rock special the other day, there seems to be no quality left, whatsoever. What really upsets me, and this DOES affect other people’s property values, is that Bed Stuy is becoming the Deadwood of new construction. You can obviously just roll into town and put up any old POS, and open for business. Any destructive jerk could easily do some serious damage to those gas pipes, and who in their right mind would want to live next door, or across the street. For that matter, who would want to live THERE? To the people who think Landmarks is some kind of Big Brother fascist organization: THIS is why it exists.
Unfortunately the 311 number is now a blanket between city folk and the people who are supposed to protect it. The numbers I used to be able to call no longer work and I’m told, call 311. Still, try the blue pages of the phone book- ya never know.
Kevin- pffftt! (A Bronx cheer to you)If you only pick up on the negative. maybe that’s all you’re capable of seeing. I see a blog of people passionately in love with Brooklyn and things brooklynese- the fact that you think it’s disgusting or only concentrates on fedders, then you obviously can’t read very well.
As for troll- sure you know. I thought it odd that in your first post, with a Typekey id you claim to be a Manhattanite and in the second you say, “Regardless; your slanders are not of my concern, but the improvements of our community.”- which is it? or to quote the infamous one “busted.”
Bottom line is this…If I see something like this going up on my bstone block…I’m going balistic.
Lets work together people…right now.
Aside from 311, is there a DOB complaint hotline that anyone knows of?…I’m dead serious.
This ish has got to stop, booming market or not.
Okay I just erased a whole posting about Kevin. This building, it sucks. I think it is evidence that there could be a valuable service to be done to let developers know what design is and why it is valuable. Quite frankly, and I know this is going to sound snooty, it is simply a lack of education. Many of these developers are self-made men (sic) who simply have not been taught how to appreciate good design.
If you don’t like it, buy it and tear it down. It’s for sale, right? What’s the big deal? Gather the neighbors together, pool some cash, and turn it into something beautiful!
“How can a site be surrounded by thousands of exemplary buildings and still come out like this? Because architecture schools train their students not to imitate sucessful models, but rather, to be creative”
Did they even use an architect for this? 🙂
the problem is not that they are trained to be creative, but novelty-seeking for the sake of novelty.
with regards to the stick issues of an owner having a right to do with his property as he pleases -no there are zoning laws, there are historic districts, there desginated historic buildings. There are covenants in deeds too, but these are often disregarded.
But i think it’s safe to say that for example, on a brownstone row street – a house like this brings down the value of the other homes…and neighborhoods, i think have a right to think about the long term value of their neighborhoods and the quality of life…that is until some greedy developer bribes the ESDC 🙂