Year in Review: 10 Biggest Stories of 2013

A look back at the biggest stories of 2013.

1. Construction booms. New development is happening all over the place in Brooklyn, especially downtown, in Williamsburg, and along 4th Avenue. You can hardly go a block in Williamsburg without tripping over multiple new apartment buildings or buildings-to-be. And it’s not only apartment buildings: 2013 was a big year for Brooklyn Bridge Park (Squibb Park Bridge, Pier 2 and Pier 3, Pierhouse), Weeksville Heritage Center and Sunset Park’s Annabelle Selldorf-designed Sims Municipal Recycling Facility, among others.

2. Brooklyn prices surge. Whether rentals or sales, prices in Brooklyn jumped dramatically in 2013. Studios in new buildings in prime areas typically start at about $3,000 a month now, and sales prices for apartments and houses in some neighborhoods jumped by 40 percent or more in the year. The average co-op in the combined area of Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill and Red Hook, for example, now costs $937,000 — a 41 percent increase from the same quarter the year before. Areas that have seen the sharpest increases include former bargain spots  Bed Stuy, Crown Heights, and Bushwick. In Dyker Heights, Brownsville and Ocean Hill, the median sales price of homes increased more than 100 percent in the third quarter vs. the year before. One side effect of the real estate gold rush is that libraries, churches and hospitals are now looking to capitalize on demand by selling their land to developers and then either leasing or buying back a small portion for their own use.

3. Investment-backed foreign firms snap up townhouses to turn into rentals.

4. Witnesses sell off their property — extensive holdings in Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights — and move out of town.

5. The biggest deal of 2013: The Jehovah’s Witnesses strike a deal to sell six buildings for $375, 000,000 to partners Kushner Companies, RFR Holdings and LIVWRK. Altogether the cluster totals 1.25 million square feet.

6. Retail comes to Brooklyn. After being ignored for so long, finally Brooklyn is getting retail. Uniqlo, H&M, Swarovski’s, Lululemon, Intermix and, of course, Whole Foods, are some of the retailers who opened in Brooklyn this year.

7. Citi Bike. Dozens of Citi Bike stations roll out in the triangular area of Brooklyn closest to Manhattan roughly between Atlantic and Bushwick avenues. The mode of transport has proved especially popular with commuters in Dumbo and sightseers in Williamsburg.

8. In the last few days leading up to the holidays, the City pushes through approvals for big developments: Greenpoint Landing, 77 Commercial Street, and Rheingold.  City Planning kicks off the land-use review process for Domino in November.

9.  Chinese firm Greenland Group Co. buys a 70 percent equity stake in Atlantic Yards for $200,000,000.

10. Rezoning of Crown Heights. Crown Heights is rezoned to preserve the existing character of 55 mostly residential blocks in exchange for allowing new developments on Bedford and Franklin avenues. Affordable housing will be voluntary, but politicians acknowledge the need for more affordable housing in the area.