Massive Condo Conversion Changing the ENY Landscape?

Somehow we missed a Daily News article from late last week about how the conversion of a massive apartment complex in East New York has transformed the area it’s in and lured a significant number of buyers from the neighborhood. The complex in question, MeadowWood at Gateway, has 1,152 units, and since it went on the market in 2006 about half its units have sold, with 85 percent of the buyers coming from the surrounding neighborhood. According to the story, 90 percent of those buyers are first-time homeowners. Starting prices are as follows: $120,000 for studios, $178,500 for one-bedrooms, $227,000 for two-bedrooms, and $299,000 for three-bedrooms. Here’s the block quote:

“When we took over people protested gentrification and feared renters would get evicted,” says [developer] Taconic vice president Dan McInerney, who handles the day-to-day operations at the complex for the company who recently sold 111 Eighth Ave. to Google for approximately $2 billion. “That was never the intention, nor did it happen. It took time to build trust, but what you have now is a strong group of homeowners who want their homes to appreciate in value and to live in a safe, clean and quiet place.” Some of that trust came after Taconic invested over $40 million in capital improvements, renovating hallways, lobbies, upgrading mechanical equipment, landscaping, installing playgrounds, and replacing roofs. They also installed over 8,000 new windows and hired a real estate team from Brooklyn-based Fillmore Real Estate. From the beginning, the sales strategy was to educate potential buyers on how and why to buy and to create high-quality home ownership opportunities for New York’s hardworking middle class. Homeownership seminars taking place in the on-site sales office draw as many as 80 people. On a recent Saturday, full families attended, asking questions on real estate tax abatements and common charges. A credit reparation person was ready in waiting.

The article also has a bunch of quotes from buyers who describe themselves as happy homeowners who feel like they’re living the American dream. The only question this story brings up—and it’s tough to find critical stuff to say about it—is whether Meadowood is truly changing this small section of East New York, a humongous neighborhood, for the better. For example, Stuy Town and Peter Cooper were basically always islands onto themselves, even back in the day, when some people wouldn’t go east of 1st Avenue in Downtown Manhattan. Still and all, there’s this quote from a buyer who considered purchasing in Sunnyside: “‘The prices in Sunnyside were ridiculous,’ she says. ‘I love living here, and I did all by myself. I explore this neighborhood and walk everywhere. I feel comfortable. I don’t know why people say these things about the area.'”
East New York Condo Conversion Becomes a National Model for Home Ownership [NY Daily News]