From the Forum: Tenants Driving Me Crazy
Okay, I admit this is venting, but here goes: I inherited tenants when I bought my building. They have a...More >Manhattan Market Contracts in Fourth Quarter
While prices were only flat to down across various categories in Manhattan in the fourth quarter of 2008, the graffiti was on the wall in the form of declining volume and much longer times on market. “The worst is yet to come; there is a blood bath coming,” said Matthew Haines, a founder of the real estate site Propertyshark.com who prepared the Corcoran report. Corcoran reported a 30 percent decline in the number of sales from the fourth quarter a year ago, while Prudential Douglas Elliman came up with an estimate of 25 percent. Price data was not as gloomy: The average co-op price was $1.1 million, 8 percent lower than the third quarter but 3 percent higher than a year ago. Looking at prices of properties currently in contract, however, paints a different picture: Jonathan Miller said that these numbers fell a whopping 20 percent between August and December of last year. While real estate pros have a hard time agreeing on what the future holds for sales, they probably all concur with one comment made by Corcoran honcho Pam Liebman: “A lot of brokers are making friends with lawyers and doctors and all those people who were left behind in the heyday of Wall Street, three months ago.”
Striking Declines Seen in Manhattan Real Estate Market [NY Times]
Reality Hits Home in Manhattan [NY Post]
City's Housing Market Hammered [NY Daily News}
NYT Real Estate Classified's Redesign a Real Letdown
Without any fanfare that we're aware of, the New York Times launched a new version of its real estate classifieds yesterday. The result? A mess, as we found yesterday afternoon as we tried to look for House of the Day candidates. Putting in a price range of $500,000 to $2 million yielded an error message; narrowing the list of available listings using the fields in the left-hand sidebar was a cumbersome, time-consuming and often error-prone process. As one reader pointed out to us via email, you can no longer select multiple property types at once; in addition, her saved searches and alerts were wiped out in the "upgrade." The list goes on. All we want from the site is to be able to select multiple property types and multiple neighborhoods within a certain price range and see the results. This is no longer possible. Why did they do this? Our best guess is that it has something to do with trying to broaden the geographic reach of the service, based upon the prominence given to the initial search box. Unfortunately, they may have jeopardized a much sought-after local monopoly in the process. Or, as the reader who wrote to us said, "I would imagine that others, like myself, will be very disappointed at their new real estate site and be less likely to use it in the future. [The new site] is not in the interest of regular readers and users of The Times real estate site and searches." Let's hope they can rectify the problems quickly.
Tuesday Links
Mayor's Housing Plan Delayed at Least a Year [NY Times]
Rigger in Crane Collapse Pleads Not Guilty [NY Times]
Keep an Eye on Treasuries This Year [NY Post]
PS 161 Not Exactly Sidwell Friends [NY Daily News]
Meet The "Real World Brooklyn" Housemates [NY Post]
Atlantic Yards Faces 'Multiple Uncertainties' [AY Report]
Photo by nicholas_carey
January 5, 2009
Monday Blogwrap
Trader Joe's. Photo by EastofNYC from the Brownstoner Flickr pool.
Coney Island's Current State [KINETIC CARNIVAL]
209 Reasons Brooklyn Is So Damn Badass [FIPS]
Brooklyn's Trader Joe's Seems Recession Proof [PMFA]
Burg Hipsters Lose a Place to Freeze Off Ya Ya's [Curbed]
Coney Island Developer May Buy Thunderbolt Site Too [Gothamist]
The Park Slopeification of Greenpoint: Mom & Baby Happy Hours [GL]
Closing Bell: Finally Get Rid of Your Christmas Tree
If you just can't wait until Mulchfest to get rid of your Christmas tree, have no fear: The Department of Sanitation will collect your tree for composting starting today through Friday, January 16. Just leave your tree on the curb (remove all decorations, of course) and feel good about helping fertilize parks, ball fields, and community gardens throughout the city.
Quote of the Day
We bought our wreck 21 years ago and all our worst fears (which you enumerate succinctly) came true. We are hostages, no, slaves, to this energy-devouring century-old heap, which delights in torturing us from its devious old mechanical heart to its leprous, flaking exterior. It has sucked every penny of disposable income from our combined labors while continuing to deteriorate before our eyes. We have made every imaginable mistake in attempting to "renovate" it, mistakes from which we seldom learn anything, because the next mistake arises from a totally different and unprecedented sort of calamity. Our so-called "investment" has kept us house-poor and chronically overwhelmed for what we laughingly call the "prime" of our lives. And unless someone gives us, oh, say, half a million dollars, it will never get any better. Needless to say, we love this pile of wretched wood and pipes with a passion so tender that to gaze upon it sometimes brings tears to our eyes, at least until a piece of woodwork or roofing falls off in plain sight.
— by Brenda from Flatbush (whose 2009 Prospect Park calendar is now available here) in First Time Homeowner Anxiety
Today on the Brownstoner Backpages
On the Renovation Blogs, South Slope Reno now has an almost-completed but definitely working kitchen.
And here are some of the topics posted on The Forum today:
Need Advice on Wood Floor Repair
Where Would You Put the Kitchen?
Experience with Tankless Water Heaters
Where to Buy Solid Wood Shelves?
What Kind of Floor Would You Install Near Parquet?
Streetlevel: New Rotisserie Spot for Bed Stuy
Good news for chicken lovers out there: Roosters, a new rotisserie restaurant, has opened at 448 Lafayette Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant. The chicken is hormone-free, the seating is family-style, and the service friendly, according to the Bed Stuy Blog, which stopped in right before the new year. Anyone tried the food yet? GMAP
Development Watch: 155 15th Street
Driving through the South Slope last week, we noticed a new building going up at 155 15th Street that had heretofore escaped our notice. When we looked it up on Property Shark we found that the five-story structure was rising on the site of a former church. According to IMBY, the church was called the Polish National Catholic Church of the Holy Cross and was torn down shortly after a Queens-based developer paid $3,850,000 for the church, the adjacent rectory and an empty parking lot. Replacing it is a 21-unit residential building with 14 parking spaces. Bummer.
155-161 15th Street Losing Its Religion [IMBY] GMAP P*Shark DOB
From the Forum: Investing in Multifamily Props
Does anyone here own a small multi-family (4-8 units) as an investment property? I'd be curious to know about the...More >House of the Day: 69 St. James Place
We featured this brownstone at 69 St. James Place in Clinton Hill as an Open House Pick back in June when it hit the market with a price tag of $1,995,000; it was reduced in September to $1,895,000 and again in November to $1,750,000, where it remains today. The house is in beautiful shape, with lots of original details and a recently resurfaced facade. We'll see whether this will need another downward nudge to get a deal done. The fact that 298 Lafayette Avenue sold for $1,895,000 in August is encouraging, but that was pre-Lehman. Waddya think?
69 St. James Place [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
Condos of the Day: 330 Park Place
When the developer of 330 Park Place started butchering the charming house he had just bought back in the fall of 2006, alarmed neighbors wrote in to us about it. Their alarm proved to be justified, as the developer proceeded to lop off the second story of the hundred-year-old house in preparation for stacking four new levels on top of the existing parlor floor. Last year wrote this about the building: "Not only does the building feel more out-of-scale in person than on film, one can also see certain details which reveal the extent of the developer's slavish devotion to FAR maximization at the expense of proportion, design and neighborliness." Now the property is on the market as five condo units ranging in price from $695,000 for a 1,087-square-foot duplex to $899,000 for a 1,671-square-foot duplex with garden. Judging from the quality of the kitchen cabinets and the choice of baseboard heating, this conversion isn't exactly screaming "high end" to us.
330 Park Place Condos [Ahrlty.com] GMAP P*Shark
Overbuilt in Prospect Heights: 330 Park Place [Brownstoner]
330 Park Place: As Bad As Everyone Feared? [Brownstoner]
Developer Non Grata: 330 Park Place Destruction [Brownstoner]
Restaurant of the Day: Abistro
"[Chef and owner] Abdul Gueye, a former sous chef at Aureole, puts a Senegalese twist on the usual bistro menu: Roasted salmon comes with sweet-potato gnocchi in a peanut sauce; crab cakes are accompanied by pineapple chunks," Time Out New York writes about this BYOB spot.
"The Senegalese fried chicken, served with pineapple-infused jasmine rice cake, is savory but not as crispy as American palates might expect; the sublimely spicy bread pudding, however, served with warm caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream, may be among the more delectable versions you're ever likely to try," says New York magazine's Sarah Gold. Chowhound Mandu adds, "I always order the same thing -- the burger with the Senegalese salsa -- it comes with a onions, olives, chilies, and red palm oil sauce and is one of my top 5 favorite burgers in the city. They serve it with a mixed green salad and fries with chopped garlic and parsley."
Citysearch's Justin Hartung only has one complaint about ABistro: "the service can be a bit laissez faire." And Clinton Hill Foodie says, "It took quite a while for us to get any attention from the wait staff after we'd gotten our menus, then a good 45 minutes for us to get our food, and in between we asked a couple of times for water and coffee and had to wait 15 to 20 minutes for each." What's your take on this place?
Essential Info
Abistro
- Address:
- 154 Carlton Avenue
- Phone:
- (718) 855-9455
- Nabe:
- Fort Greene
- Cuisine:
- African, French, Brunch Spot
- Median Entree:
- $19
Development Delays in Boerum Hill North
The section of Boerum Hill that sits to the north of Atlantic Avenue has seen its share of development in recents years, as a mix of large and small buildings have sprung up to transform the stretches of State and Schermerhorn Streets between Smith and Bond. Now, reports The Times, some of the same developers who first made bets on this area in the early years of this decade are having to press the pause button on the next wave of projects. Developer Abby Hamlin, who, along with partner Time Equities, built the highly-praised 14 Townhouses and the 217-unit Schermerhorn House (pictured), says plans for three other contiguous sites are on hold for at least 6 to 12 months. One block east, the development company Ibec, which put up the State Renaissance Court back in 2006, says it will have to hold off building anything on two adjacent lots. “Unless we have firm commitments from buyers, we wouldn’t even start developing,” said Ibec partner Samy Brahimy. “Banks at this point are not going to give you a construction loan.” While many locals aren't thrilled with the development purgatory, one old-timer, who picked up his State Street townhouse for $62,500 in 1976, is unfazed. “I know it’s inevitable they will build at some point,” he said. “And I’m perfectly happy to wait.”
A Block That Wanted Development Has to Wait [NY Times]
From the Forum: Updated Certificate of Occupancy
What is involved in closing/updating a Certificate of Occupancy? We are well into the process of getting a mortgage and...More >Penthouse Bedrooms or Bulkheads at Cobble Hill Mews?
Highlighting a fight that's been going on for the past year between some Cobble Hill residents and the developer Two Trees, The Times examines the issue of what to call the structures on the roof of 200 Atlantic Avenue and whether they should count in the height calculations for the recently-built rental building. On the one side, the Cobble Hill Association and others claim that the shed-like structures are actually big enough to fit a bed and are being marketed as such. Bully, says Two Trees, they're just stair bulkheads for roof access. The CHA, which wants the structures dismantled, has taken the fight to the Department of Buildings, which in turn told Two Trees it planned to revoke its permit, despite the fact that the building was already occupied. (Back in November, we reported that 19 of the 32 units had already been rented at prices ranging from $2,500 to $3,500 per month.) Two Trees has since presented its own argument in writing to DOB, which is in the process of reviewing both sides of the issue.
On the Rooftop, Mystery Huts [NY Times] GMAP
Checking in on 200 Atlantic Avenue [Brownstoner]
10 Feet for Trader Joe's Building Preservation? [Brownstoner]
The Last Old-School Street Sign in Brooklyn?
The blog Ephemeral New York snapped this photo of what it thought may be the "last old-school street sign in Brooklyn." Presumably it's located just to the south of the Cumberland Diagnostic and Treatment Center. In the comments, however, Kevin Walsh, of Forgotten NY fame, says there's an even older one a few blocks away on Willoughby Street. Similar signs, he adds, can also be Coney Island Avenue and Homecrest Court, Rewe Street and Ivy Hill Road and 68th Street and Madeleine Court. Any others readers can think of?
UPDATE: Denton, of South Slope Reno fame, sent along a photo of the Willoughby Street sign. Click through to check it out.
Last Old-School Street Sign in Brooklyn? [Ephemeral New York]
Continue reading "The Last Old-School Street Sign in Brooklyn?"
One Hanson Remainders Go Rental
While most of the 190 or so units at One Hanson Place have sold by now, there are still a few left, and the developers have decided they'd rather earn some income on them than have them just sit empty. So as of Friday, there are now 19 apartments available for rent from the developer through Stribling, ranging from $3,400 to $4,900 a month. (Three other units have been for rent by owner since the fall.)
Who Needs Brownstones When You've Got The Smith!
Young lovers, beware of the brownstone! This, apparently, is the fable of this week's Habitats column in The Times. “I will never live in another Victorian brownstone,” Serine Hastings told the paper of record. “I have had two failed relationships while living in them.” So what's a modernist-leaning empty-nester to do? This devoted Brooklynite decided to trade in her Fort Greene brownstone for a sixth-floor two-bedroom at The Smith, in part because she found that it had the best finishes of the other new construction projects she was looking at back in 2006. She also has some perspective on how her decision must look from the outside: “I know people must drive by and think, I could never live in that cookie-cutter building,” she said. “I used to be one of those people.”
After All Those Brownstones, a Blank Canvas [NY Times] GMAP
Latest Restaurant Additions
-
Abistro
added January 5, 2009 12:00 PM in Fort Greene -
Wing Wagon
added December 30, 2008 12:00 PM in Prospect Heights -
Babouche
added December 29, 2008 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
La Maison du Couscous
added December 23, 2008 12:00 PM in Bay Ridge -
Sotto Voce
added December 22, 2008 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Pedro's
added December 19, 2008 12:00 PM in Dumbo -
The Moxie Spot
added December 18, 2008 12:00 PM in Brooklyn Heights -
Kiku
added December 17, 2008 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Bocca Lupo
added December 16, 2008 12:00 PM in Cobble Hill -
Maggie Brown
added December 15, 2008 12:00 PM in Clinton Hill