Redesign and Relaunch for 349 Metropolitan
The Metropolitan, the 42-unit building at 349 Metropolitan Avenue, was a little late to the Williamsburg condo party, ultimately going into foreclosure last year after a lack of mortgage financing and some questionable design decisions conspired to keep buyers at bay. Now, however, the development is getting a new lease on life: Curbed reported earlier…
The Metropolitan, the 42-unit building at 349 Metropolitan Avenue, was a little late to the Williamsburg condo party, ultimately going into foreclosure last year after a lack of mortgage financing and some questionable design decisions conspired to keep buyers at bay. Now, however, the development is getting a new lease on life: Curbed reported earlier this week that a new investor group had taken over and would be relaunching the project as rentals. (This is confirmed by a message on the building’s website.) As part of the makeover, the building’s being relieved of the yellow Jerusalem stone that marred dominated its facade, as this photo we snapped on Tuesday shows. No word as of yet on pricing.
Stalled Williamsburg Condo Getting a Facade Facelift [Curbed]
Rising Inventory Bad News for Burg [Brownstoner] GMAP
“has anyone even been inside? was this ever on the market?
you’re speaking like you know actual facts. if so – list them please – i’m interested. if not, what are you talking about? the color scheme?
with that said, it’s a strange situation because it appeared to be almost finished for a quite awhile. saw the brick going up for the last weekish. if it turns rental, then will probably fill up immediately probably just because of the location.”
wine_love, I’m a pretty strong Williamsburg supporter, but it’s posts like these that justify people’s accusations that you rah-rah anything Williamsburg, no matter the truth. I’ve actually been inside, way back in February ’08. It was one of those sign-a-waiver deals to visit, so I got a pretty good glimpse at the construction. It was bad. Floors were uneven, design was poor, few structures looked reliably sturdy. Just impossible to justify paying to live there. Renters generally care much less about this stuff, and there’s no telling what the new buyer is doing to address construction issues, but I wouldn’t be quite so confident that this will “fill up immediately.” There’s a decent amount of rental inventory in the area now after all.
Damn – this building sucks!!
WL – this project is beyond even your abilities of apologia. Look at how the facade was installed. Look at how quickly the facade failed. Poor material selection and poor installation – what does that tell you about how they put the rest of the building together? I know condo buyers like to think that because they only see the inside of the building the rest doesn’t matter, but you’re buying into the building – if its poorly constructed, you will be paying for it, one way or another. Why anyone would purchase in a new condo (or new conversion) without have a *very* close look at the entire building by a qualified engineer (not an inspector, an engineer) is beyond me.
And yes, it was on the market, even had about 2/3 of the units go into contract before the developer went belly up. A lot of people got screwed (no, I was not one of them). The atrocities on this project are well documented:
http://www.bobguskind.com/2009/02/24/development-notebook-burgs-349-metropolitan-sold-tagged/
http://bstoner.wpengine.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/07/development_wat_105.php
http://bstoner.wpengine.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/08/checking_in_on_12.php
http://www.brooklyn11211.com/archive/2010/06/349-metropolitan.html
http://www.brooklyn11211.com/archive/2009/12/349-met-snow.html
http://www.brooklyn11211.com/archive/2009/11/349-met-blight.html
http://www.brooklyn11211.com/archive/2007/04/out_of_plumb_on.html
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2007/01/05/williamsburg_crane_goes_tippy_the_photos.php
has anyone even been inside? was this ever on the market?
you’re speaking like you know actual facts. if so – list them please – i’m interested. if not, what are you talking about? the color scheme?
with that said, it’s a strange situation because it appeared to be almost finished for a quite awhile. saw the brick going up for the last weekish. if it turns rental, then will probably fill up immediately probably just because of the location.
Just who is into this Jerusalem aesthetic, anyway? I mean, outside of the actual Jerusalem, it really looks dreary.
Indeed – it’s a poster child for the excesses of the condo boom. Happily, no one died making this POS.
This is the falling-crane building too.
The Jerusalem stone fiasco should be an object lesson for all condo buyers. This facade was put up with less care than goes into tiling bathroom. No amount of Jerusalem stone, stainless steel or black granite can cover the cheap construction and poor workmanship that goes into so much new construction. Caveat emptor.
No way this building will be ready for tenants this summer (as per the website)