The Shame of Fulton Hitting Market
We’re loathe to give exposure to anything as reprehensible as 1067 Fulton Street, but the occasion of its first showing tomorrow seemed like a good reason to revisit what we have referred to in the past as the biggest lost opportunity for Clinton Hill certainly since we’ve been documenting its progress. We’ve seen some ugly…
We’re loathe to give exposure to anything as reprehensible as 1067 Fulton Street, but the occasion of its first showing tomorrow seemed like a good reason to revisit what we have referred to in the past as the biggest lost opportunity for Clinton Hill certainly since we’ve been documenting its progress. We’ve seen some ugly new buildings in our time, but this one takes the cake for its sheer ad-hoc butchery and complete disregard for any kind of consistency. Someone once described this building process to us as looking like its construction was dictated solely by whatever materials were on sale that day at Home Depot. The development company that built this monstrosity, New Start LLC of 50 Greene Street, whose principals include Alfred Thompson and Paul Galvin, should be ashamed of themselves. There’s an open house for the apartments tomorrow from 12 to 1:30 and, man, would we be excited if someone could snap a photo of any of them. These guys should be embarrassed to walk down the street in the neighborhood. It would be great if none of the apartments sold and they were bankrupted; in our dreams, then, someone could tear it down and start over. Sadly, though, the apartments are priced cheaply enough (from $150,000 to $420,000) that some poor souls may be suckered into buying; ironically, it will probably be the people who can least afford to make a bad investment.
1067 Fulton: The Plague Spreads [Brownstoner] GMAP
Development at Classon and Fulton [Brownstoner]
New Build at Classon and Fulton [Brownstoner]
Well, I’m still not going to take part in the bashing. Money doesn’t buy good judgement or taste and from reading the brownstoner forum, I see that lots of folks here are “getting ripped off” too. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that middle income folks, not lower income…will buy these. Will it be a bad investment? Possibly. But these people are adults and can make their own decisions. Look how many mafia (sorry about the derogatory remark!) mcmansions there are. I despise them…but someone is buying them. Let nature take it’s course and stop worrying so much! Life is too short.
Bricolagism is the new Post-Modernism. pastiche without the irony
This is one case where you can judge a book by its cover. I would have thought, by the way that the doors leading nowhere with the steel bars would be illegal in any case.
Truthfully it doesn’t matter at what price they’re listed- paying 20$ for something this bad is still too much. And the design of the place is an insult to the neighborhood. So like others have said, what happens when this building starts to fall apart, or endanger tenants because of construction not up to code? For a low income family to be able to buy is a big deal for them and often represents years of hard work and a degree sacrifice that upper income levels usually don’t have to deal with. These apartments may not be a lot of money to most of us, but it is everything to them. If you look closely at the construction in several areas you can see where they jerry-rigged all those mixed materials to fit. You can do a lot of things on the fly but architecture and construction are not 2 of them.
Thank you Brown Bomber. ‘Nuff said. It’s too bad you can’t stand outside and warn people not to spend their hard earned money on this crap. Consider it a timely intervention, a prevention of disaster.
Pete and Jamzer–
I would bet money that this developer costructed this POS from odd-lot materials that you often see for sale at auction–that would help explain the mishmash style. Yes, there are no Fedders boxes, but I’m sure there’s no central air either–so the building will be even more beautiful with window A/Cs everywhere!
I feel like we should take turns standing in front of this building and imploring potential buyers to get thorough inspections before signing anything. CHP is right–people who buy here because it’s “affordable” will likely have a really bad investment on their hands.
And it is totally possible to build quality, attractive affordable housing–just look at the work of Martin Dunn or the Fifth Avenue Committtee in NYC, or the many quality low-income developers across the United States.
Petebklyn, I’ve been inside the buildings and CHP is absolutely correct – the quality of construction inside this building is far worst than the exterior, e.g. cracked and crooked walls, unleveled flooring, improperly installed windows and building code violations too numerous to mention. The developer, New Start LLC, cut a lot of corners!
The developer had a special “invite only” open house back in December 2005. You had to submit an application and get pre-screened to attend. I was looking to buy a couple of investment units on pure spec because the offering price was so attractive. This was prior to the completion of the facade so I still held out hope that this would be quality development project. After attending the open house I was so embarrassed for the developer and the onsite sale agents. The units were God awful and the construction work was very shoddy. The building is going to have a lot of problems in the future and there will surely be litigation. I wouldn’t touch this property with a ten foot pole. Yes, the units are relatively cheap but you’re essentially overpaying for junk and will have a very difficult time selling these units at a profit in the future.
This building is not an artistic statement at all. It was built using leftover materials from other construction projects. The pictures, though fugly, are too flattering. You have to see it in person to truly understand the magnitude of this hideous monstrosity.
Pete and Jamzer – No one here, or in the neighborhood – are arguing that affordable housing is not needed, but if you have actually been to this building, or saw it going up, you likely agree with us. It’s pretty bad. Honestly, as much as I dislike a Fedders building, a plane Fedders box would look much better here. On the west side of the building on the top floors, there are exterior doors that lead to nowhere (no balcony even, just metal bars so you don’t accidentally walk out the door and fall six stories). It honestly seems to have been, at workst, adesign as you go building, or at best use what cheap materials were available during construction, even if they do not match (i.e. run out of bricks, use some cement and paint it red…)
As for thin sheetrock, you can get it in less the the standard 5/8″ thickness. Who knows if they did that, or if that is to code in any event, but I think the poster above was trying to make a point re cheap construction. If you did not know about different sheet rock thicknesses, then that proves his/her point re people getting duped when they don’t know better.
Again, inexpensive and affordable does not have to mean slapdash and ugly.
I don’t know, it is not pretty, but it is good for the neighborhood and the city that non-investment bankers, lawyers and trust fund babies will be able to afford a home in this city.
My gosh, the sky is falling drama. Yeah, from photo pretty ugly. But lets not go overboard. Leftover material from other job site? I doubt it. Some pathetic attempt to add style on the cheap yes. But to project that basic construct of bldg is cheap and will fall apart/become slum is too big of a jump. Thin sheetrock? where to you get that one?
HomeDepotish fixtures maybe – but so what? Whats it take to change a light fixture or upgrade to appliance you like (or kitch cabinets)? Why pay triple markup to developer for today’s trendy ‘stainless steel, maple cabs, granite counertop’ when you could install whatever you want for 1/2 the price? (in my opinion must condo buyers today are basically no-nothings with renter mentality just looking for ‘equity’). Not so long ago pretty much all new construct came with very basic assuming you’d put in what you want.
Yes, I would wish more stately look to exterior…but at least no Fedder’s AC boxes.