Sneak Peek at the Firehouse Condos on Dean
Remember when we said we’d let you know when we were shilling? Well, we suppose this qualifies, but we’re hoping there’s something in it for you. Namely, the first look that anyone’s had inside the Firehouse condos at 735 Dean. What’s in it for us? Listing broker Aguayo & Huebener is going to be taking…
Remember when we said we’d let you know when we were shilling? Well, we suppose this qualifies, but we’re hoping there’s something in it for you. Namely, the first look that anyone’s had inside the Firehouse condos at 735 Dean. What’s in it for us? Listing broker Aguayo & Huebener is going to be taking out an ad next week for the property. And so the world goes round.
Armed only with our camera and a healthy set of conflicts of interest, we crossed Atlantic early yesterday morning, headed up Underhill and hung a right on Dean. The original facade (not surprisingly our favorite design element of the project) is about all that remains of the old firehouse; the developer maxed out his as-of-right FAR in adding additional space atop the original structure to create seven units. In our opinion, the biggest selling points of the apartments–which include two duplexes, four simplexes and one triplex and range in size from 712 to 1,192 square feet–are light and outdoor space. We don’t get too excited about the finishes and fixtures that tend to dominate new condo offering promotional literature, but these looked decent enough to us (the word “European” kept cropping up).
Given the low density of the surrounding nabe, the terraces have good views, with the shabiness of some of the neighboring lots balanced out by the beauty of the cathedral on Pacific. Another consideration is the block-long group of affordable newish townhouses with driveways across the street. They are perfectly respectable as far as these things go but certainly don’t do anything to enhance the local ambience. Tavern on Dean is just a stumble away on the corner. As for convenience, if the C train is going your way, you’re in good shape. The offering plan is imminent, with Sunday the 23rd being eyed hopefully for a kick-off open house. From what we gather, asking prices are going to fall in the high-$600s to high-$700s per square foot, excluding what is in most cases significant exterior space. OK, time for a shower. GMAP
Well, I’ll add my two cents. I enjoy bstoner’s site immensely and a bit of shilling doesn’t bother me one bit as long as there is full disclosure. This site is not about “serious” journalism, it’s about having some fun, lively debates & discussions, and the voyerism of sometimes getting the inside scope on what’s going on in and about Bklyn r.e.
Conflicts will abound, it’s unavoidable. Bigger problem is how to allocate the shilling so as not to show any favoritism, least the other broker/advertisers get offended.
The “shilling” is not going to keep me away from this wonderful resource.
Nobody shills better than Business Journalists in my opinion. Henry Blodget and his ilk didn’t just pop themselves in to every story and television interview in the biz press did they? Who better to run up the stocks than the serious biz journalists that aren’t paid to analyze every SEC document about a company and are being fed BS from analysts prior to reg-FD. Come on.
We appreciate the candid input from the regulars who weren’t afraid to put their names with their criticisms, but the anonymous potshots from trolls mean very little to us. Until a blogger with a major trust fund comes along to supplant us, you’re not going to get a site with this much content and regular updating without art necessarily intersecting with commerce at some point. We’re going to try to walk that line as well as possible and, from what we’ve seen on this post, you can rest assured we’ve got enough virtual ombudsmen out there to staff an entire newspaper chain! Oh, and, for the record, we spent two years writing for a major business magazine in the mid-90’s without going to journalism school.
What about the fact that dopey warren lewis has a permanent advertisement here on the site and gets written up for property that they are selling? Isn’t that thwe same thing? Brownstoner doesn’t disclose that when he’s writing about their properties.
This site has no journalistic integrity to begin with. The ad conflict of interest is the last of my concerns. What about the fact that usually only one side of a point of view is raised, lies are told as if they are facts with no hint of fact checking and people and businesses are slandered routinely. This is not journalism. It’s cowardice and laziness wrapped up in the form of a vanity project for a banker who happens to like real estate and have been fortunate enough to have bought a place he enjoys.
You should consider going to J-School my friend. It’s not too late to undo your bad habits. And the fact that you have some sort of Greek chorus of people who seem to have nothing better to do than complain about real estate prices doesn’t mean you are pursuing some sort of higher meaning with your site. A house is a house is a house. It’s not like whether some guy is making condos and asking high prices for them is the same as say, uh, going to war in the middle east for no explainable reason. The press may want to scrutinize either subject matter, but doing it responsibly is imperative otherwise you are just some nut on a soapbox and putting other nuts on soapboxes in your comments section. This is fine (we like free speech too), but don’t confuse it with journalism. It’s just infotainment. Different story altogether.
Give the guy a break.
CREDIBILITY?
WHAT THE HELL?
BROWNSTONER IS NOT AN ELECTED OFFICIAL!
HE NEVER TELLS A LIE!
I’d pay 29.99 a year for my brownstoner fix.
Brownstoner, you have lost significant credibility. I’m also guessing you will lose significant readership. I suppose it was your business model all along to market this site as an open forum, develop a decent following, and then sell out to commercial interests. Good luck with your new business. This site is compromised beyond repair.