Horror Show Friday
From Bed Stuy (left) to PLG (middle) to Bushwick (right), the building boom’s bottom-of-the-barrel are looking like particularly tough sells now. Who’s going to buy one of these places now? Hard to imagine. $549000 2 fm, Short Sale [Craigslist] $729000 / 7br Parkside Ave [Craigslist] $729000 / 8br PRIME Bushwick [Craigslist]
From Bed Stuy (left) to PLG (middle) to Bushwick (right), the building boom’s bottom-of-the-barrel are looking like particularly tough sells now. Who’s going to buy one of these places now? Hard to imagine.
$549000 2 fm, Short Sale [Craigslist]
$729000 / 7br Parkside Ave [Craigslist]
$729000 / 8br PRIME Bushwick [Craigslist]
If anyone’s still reading this thread — can someone link some new developments in Brooklyn that they think are nice-looking and/or well-constructed? I definitely don’t like these ones, but I’m curious what people find attractive.
I’m going to have to believe Montrose Morris on this one. That was my gut instinct anyway and now she’s cited specifics.
Late to the party here, but not too late to jump in.
FSRQ is dead on, in so many ways:
-I am originally from southern Brooklyn, where this style of building has been a staple for so many years. I lived in such a house that was built in 1928, and it was doing just fine. There IS a building code in NY, and these homes are built to it. They will easily last 100 years, given the same level of maintenance that one would give to a brownstone. I’m an engineer, and know something of what I speak.
-FSRQ is also dead on re: the equivalent housing in Europe. I am truly amazed at the level of navel-gazing that goes on here. Given that I am an engineer who specializes in industrial products, my business travel has taken me to the “outer boroughs” in places like Milan, Italy; Penang, Malaysia and various cities in Japan. The homes shown in this post are PALACES compared to what is being built in these locales. Has anyone who condemns these homes ever had a chance to see what passes for modest-income homes in Milan, Italy, which is one of the wealthiest cities in Europe? The land of Michelangelo and DaVinci does NOT produce housing that will last the ages, as MM states. It builds the largest collection of schlock you’ve ever see. As FSRQ states, go away from the tourist areas and visit sections like Santo Sebastiano Sesto, on the north side of Milan, or go visit the suburbs of Tokyo like Chiba.
We’d all like to live in homes of the highest taste, but there is an economic reality. Homes in NY are expensive to build, thanks to our building code and land costs, and developers must cut corners to deliver a product that people can actually afford.
“I’m truly bored with you over this topic. This is too much serious posting for me for one day. Where’s Biff??”
Sorry, just got a little bit busy here at the Death Star. I’m back now.
“I have been exposed to architecture in more ways than I want to get into here.”
BRG, speaking of being exposed, you looked great yesterday strolling along the Promenade last night. I like your hair curly. Did you notice any odd characters on the benches? How was the Chocolate Room?
I work with one particular contractor whose entire business is now fixing up the mistakes/crap construction/and retrofit of these 3 family new construction wonders in neighborhoods like Bed Stuy, Flatbush and Bushwick. Most of her clients are middle income, minority first time homeowners, all of whom live in these houses, and rent out the other floors. None of these houses are more than 7 years old. The repairs/replacements are usually the following: roof leakage, poor window installation of cheap windows, leaks in cellar, plumbing problems, electrical problems mostly due to carelessness, poor tile installation in bathrooms and kitchens, sloppy wood floor installation, especially in corners and wherever cuts and careful attention was needed, cheap lighting fixtures and plumbing fixtures, crappy hollow core doors, thin walls and poor insulation. That doesn’t leave much.
My brownstone has a lot of age related issues, but it is 108 years old. If it had been as badly built as above, it would have been replaced by one of these beauties. Since it, and the entire neighborhood, has not, lends credence to the idea that they were better built, in all ways possible, in the first place.
What I’d prefer is a brownstone facade with a more modern interior (but not a big, open, ugly, boring, condo-esque interior … just something not so old). I can’t even install a friggin’ deadbolt without cutting and bruising myself. I can’t imagine trying to tackle the various projects that a brownstone requires, which means I’d have to call in contractors on a constant basis to fix up all the little stuff that goes wrong in a 100 year old house.
It just seems to me like there’s no reason you can’t build aesthetically pleasing, modern homes at a reasonable price. These buildings look like what they are: cheap.
I bet South Slope will be a good case study in the coming years.
Fsrq
Who said anything about government having a role in architecture????
Yes, I have traveled. I love architecture and design. I go out of my way to explore cities and leave nothing unearthed. My eyes see things from a trained designer’s point of view. I have been exposed to architecture in more ways than I want to get into here.
You can not equate a 700K brick box in Brooklyn to the slums of Europe.
‘For 50k two of these buildings can be made pleasant’
Gee, wouldn’t it be nice for new development not have to be modified to ‘make pleasant’
BTW – if you haven’t noticed, they’re available; you can snap one of those beauties up and ‘settle’ down.
I’m truly bored with you over this topic. This is too much serious posting for me for one day. Where’s Biff??
it will nickel and dime the owner to death with cracks here and there, this falling off of that, etc, etc, etc.
Sounds like a Brownstone!
again, show me a development of similar housing stock where “crappy modern construction” expenses caused the unit prices to move proportionally lower (or rise significantly less) then the ‘non-crappy’ housing in its immediate vicinity.