Downtown Brooklyn Development

[BrooklynRider]

The site for City Point (Flatbush at Willoughby) is almost entirely cleared. I was very pleased to see that the bulldozers are starting to push through that horrid Toys R Us.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/DSCN1652.jpg

This is a very satisfying demolition.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/DSCN1654.jpg

Bye-bye parking lot and Albee Square Mall.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/DSCN1653.jpg

[BrooklynLove]

down goes albee!

[philvia]

anyone know when they expect to start the cladding on toren?

[vixstar]

anyone know when they expect to start the cladding on toren?

i had spoken to a sales rep a few weeks ago and he had said it would be soon so i suspect it will be...soon.

[MidtownGuy]

Wow, when I was a kid there was a song by Biz Markie called Albee Square Mall that made it famous with hip hoppers. Then when I moved down the street from it in the 90's it was just a dive, except of course there was a Botanica in the bottom floor where I used to buy my Santería supplies...but that's a different story;)

[Verm]

Anybody know why there has been no activity at the Toren site for the past week? The crane "looks" like one of the two that fell recently. In today's news there are crane rules and guidelines posted for all cranes operating in the city. Could these rules have anything to do with the Toren's inactivity? I see the building of it everyday as I live nearby and it has been very quiet for the past week or so.

[BrooklynLove]

here's the NB permit for 384 bridge (finally) - a 49 storey jumpoff.

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/WorkPermitDataServlet?allisn=0001833177&allisn2=0001038748&allbin=3000413&requestid=1

[bklynite]

wow -- both Lawrence and bridge got permits in before the 421a deadline -- looks like they're a real go. is bridge condos or rental?

[BrooklynLove]

i don't recall but i do think that the info is out there.

more news for downtown today - nyu-tech merger is a done deal
http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/nyu-polytech-merger-approved

now that nyu owns the klitgord i think that we can expect them to start moving on some kind of development plan sooner than later, as well as numerous additional development plans sooner than later. this injection of private money is going to be great for the area.

[BrooklynRider]

NYU is a horrible developer and a really poor neighbor. I hope they are tightly contained in Brooklyn.

[philvia]

im hoping the merger will do a lot of good for the school... i just hope tuition increase doesn't happen till next year :X

hmmm and today their website is down? they have a "merger central" section i was hoping for some news but oh well

and maybe now i can use their pool :cool:

[antinimby]

Getting permits before the deadline is not good enough to meet 421a. You must have a foundation in place.

[bklynite]

true, but didnt these guys have foundation permits and work done long ago? if they hadn't gotten their superstructure permits, could have jeopardized the project, no?

[JohnC]

Hey guys, I was coming down Myrtle Avenue this morning and on the east side of Toren, right at the top of the base, where the tower section begins (floor 6?) they have begun cladding. Check it out if you can. It looks good! Can anyone get some pics?
John

[ap307]

Hey guys, I was coming down Myrtle Avenue this morning and on the east side of Toren, right at the top of the base, where the tower section begins (floor 6?) they have begun cladding. Check it out if you can. It looks good! Can anyone get some pics?
John

JohnC, how much cladding have they installed so far (and if you can tell from your limited data points, how quickly are they progressing)?

Also, does anyone know how many floors they have up?

[JohnC]

JohnC, how much cladding have they installed so far (and if you can tell from your limited data points, how quickly are they progressing)?

Also, does anyone know how many floors they have up?

Well, they haven't installed much, not even 1 floor worth, but the location of the cladding is on the top of the east side (Prince St Side) the base, before the actual tower section begins. It goes across the building, but some of it is covered by white tarp. It is really hard to explain, but if you get a chance to go over there, snap some pics!
John

[NYC4Life]

June 26, 2008

Toren (150 Myrtle Ave)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/GhettoRicanBx/Toren-150-Myrtle.jpg

[JohnC]

Wrong side of the building. East side, Prince Street, 6th floor. I walked over there today and they have 1 floor (the 6th floor) covered. Looks good. I wish I owned a camera!!
John

[BrooklynLove]

i saw the skin today - it looks absolutely beautiful. this building is going to be great.

[ap307]

i saw the skin today - it looks absolutely beautiful. this building is going to be great.

Have they added any cladding beyond what they've put up on the 6th and 7th floors facing Prince Street? I couldn't really tell what the building is going to look like from so little.

That said, it looks like they're preparing large sections of the building facing Flatbush for cladding (grips appears to have been attached to the steel superstructure), looking forward to seeing what that is going to look like...

[BrooklynLove]

^yep, the portion facing prince is what i saw.

[BrooklynLove]

obviously this would be a whole lot more easier to understand and visually pleasing if i could tell the story with pictures - i need to get on that. but in the meantime ... the few blocks in from flatbush and albee square are about to get it poppin. the large clothing store adjacent to the karl fischer hotel going up on duffield recently shuttered and its fate is pretty obvious at this point. this is a very large site. over on bridge between willy and fulton, once the cleaners moves to its new location in the new condo tower over on livingston, the entire block is getting leveled with the exception of once slender tower, and the landmarked building that runs along fulton from bridge to duffield, which is getting ready for its refurb. big things going on here.

[BrooklynRider]

It is such a great feeling to see that Toys R Us gone!

1.
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/Casey-Glamor021.jpg

2.
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/Casey-Glamor024.jpg

[BrooklynRider]

Avalon Bay moving along...

1.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/Casey-Glamor016.jpg

2.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/Casey-Glamor017.jpg

3.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/Casey-Glamor018.jpg

[BrooklynRider]

The first of Gene Kaufman's side-by-side hotels in Downtown Brooklyn continues to offend the senses.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/Casey-Glamor023.jpg

[BrooklynLove]

http://nyrej.com/24115
* 80 DeKalb Ave., an 80/20 project will receive $137 million for a building with 365 units; 73 will be for low-income tenants.

time to bring in the crane boys!

[antinimby]

Here's the rendering of 80 DeKalb Ave from that link:

http://nyrej.com/images/stories/2008/80%20DeKalb%20Ave.%20Brooklyn_opt.jpg

Looks like it went glass. The previous version was red brick.

[BrooklynLove]

i doubt that it went glass

[antinimby]

You don't think so?

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/6796/80dekalbxo3.jpg

[BrooklynLove]

added expense not justified here - remember that this is ratner.

[Clarknt67]

Forgive my laziness please, but which of the proposed towers is slated for the Toys R Us site? I'm a little confused on what's going where.

[BrooklynLove]

^ This lovely creature is going there - http://www.citypointnyc.com/

[Tectonic]

Question is, will all those buildings in the promo be built? Would be great if they were.

[BrooklynLove]

Thus far all announced towers (and more) are still a go as far as I know ...

[BrooklynLove]

Here is a little tour of downtown development work: http://picasaweb.google.com/KingsCountyLove/71308

[philvia]

nice pics thanks :) dt brooklyn is exciting

[BrooklynRider]

That's an excellent photo tour BL. Thanks.

[Stroika]

Many thanks, BL. I drive by half that stuff every night that I work late and take a cab home, and it's great to see a lot of it documented in one place. Keep up the good work!

[antinimby]

So is the building as seen on the left side of this photo, with the cornice and a water tower on its roof getting razed as well?

http://lh6.ggpht.com/KingsCountyLove/SHqkURpa5rI/AAAAAAAAAHU/Hj_Ht8AfZc8/DSC02217.JPG?imgmax=512

[BrooklynLove]

As far as I can tell, that building with the cornice is staying put thankfully. I really enjoy looking at it.

It's my pleasure to share photos with the forum - it's the least I can do to pay my way.

[antinimby]

I am very weary of this project. I don't like razing an entire block, a larger than normal one as a matter of fact, just for one single project.

There are a lot of diverse shops on that block that will be lost, in all likelihood, for more banks and chains.

Why couldn't they just build on that parking lot and perhaps a few of the one-story stores adjacent to it?

[BrooklynLove]

AN - When was the last time you walked the blocks of Bridge, Duffield and Albee running between Fulton and Duffield? Trust me - your energy is much better spent praying for the continued existence of buildings elswhere in the boro.

[brooklynheights]

I agree, BL. I walk through this area all the time. It's true that razing entire blocks shouldn't be done thoughtlessly since so much of what makes a neighborhood a neighborhood is variety of design and purpose (there are many lessons to learn from mistakes made with MetroTech, for example), but in this case, the Flatbush zone that cuts through (and divides) downtown brooklyn needs major overhauling. The crap that was on the site of the Toys R Us needed to go.

Even though some of the large towers that result will be bland, I truly think the consequence of the large scale demolishing and rebuilding along the Flatbush coridor will be positive, especially since there appears to be so much focus on retail at street level and imporovement to the pedestrian infrastructure/experience. Forte Greene/Clinton Hill/Prospect Heights/BedStuy/Navy Yard and beyond need to be fully tied into Downtown/Beorum Hill/Brooklyn Heights/Park Slope and beyond on the other side. A Flatbush Avenue that has lots of people living and shopping on it will accomplish just that purpose.

[BrooklynLove]

BKHts - If you're in DC much, check out the renewal going on downtown around Metro Center - very striking resemblance to what is going on now in the vicinity of Fulton Mall and FBx, and makes sense in both places for many of the same reasons. I think that you'll find it interesting.

[antinimby]

I wasn't talking about not redeveloping the block but was lamenting the huge footprint of the new building.

To better explain what I'm talking about, here's a quick sketch I did:

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/3448/footprinttv6.jpg

Generally, blocks with buildings that have small footprints are better and more interesting than ones where a whole building takes up an entire block.

[BrooklynLove]

you're deep antiN. just b/c they're razing all that area doesn't mean they're not going with multiple varying footprints.

[antinimby]

What are you talking about? It's one big project (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=166708&postcount=404).

[antinimby]

Get ready some more Gene Kaufman ugliness coming to 300 Schermerhorn St. according to Brownstoner (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/07/development_wat_262.php):


Another Hotel for Downtown Brooklyn

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/300-Schermerhorn-Street-0708.jpg

With the Nu just opened, the Sheraton recently topped off, and Indigo at the foundation stage, you might be forgiven for thinking that there was enough hotel capacity in the pipeline for Downtown Brooklyn. Well, at least one developer thinks differently. SM Hotel Management, controlled by the Mehta family, paid $11 million for the 80-by-197-foot lot at 300 Schermerhorn Street last October and has just broken ground on what will be a 14-story, 247-unit hotel being designed by Gene Kaufman. Do you think Brooklyn can absorb all this hotel capacity?

[philvia]

what is it people see in his architecture!?!

[BrooklynLove]

What are you talking about? It's one big project (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=166708&postcount=404).

So? It's not uncommon for one large project to comprise multiple distinct buildings - especially in times of tight money.

[brooklynheights]

what is it people see in his architecture!?!

My guess is that they see an opportunity to make a fast buck. If you essentially have one design that you vary only according to size of lot, height, and color of cinderblock (shall it be pukey green this time? Or brown mixed in with a dash of pink?), your costs are pretty low!

One can hope that even where responsibility to the community fails to take hold in a person or company, pride would at least still keep that person or company in check. But once you lose your own self-respect, or worse, once you actually take pride in your own lack of standards, all is lost.

I'm only speculating here, but I don't think it's an accident that Kaufman/McSam do so many hotels. No one's identity is at stake in a low-end hotel, except for the hotel company that puts its name on one of these abominations (which does, indeed, astonish me that hotel companies are associating with this guy). With office buildings, fine retail and residential buildings, there's at least a chance that an appeal to the sensibilities of the prospective tenants will be taken into consideration during design. We all have hundreds of counter examples, but it seems that hotels and public housing are fertile ground for wicked architects and developers. The reason might be that the end user has no power other than to go elsewhere, and only if they can.

Hotels are there for people who float in and out, and if you can build something on the cheap (both in terms of design fees and construction fees) in an environment where people are willing to pay a lot for a hotel room-- any hotel room!-- where you can put up grandma for your kid's graduation or whatever (as opposed to 5-star business travelers), then there are plenty of architects and developers who are willing to take your money without any regard to any larger considerations.

The sad thing with Kaufman, of course, is that he's not only cheap, he's tasteless and lazy. It's easy to imagine doing something with the same budget that is much less offensive, even if it doesn't inspire. Architecture, after all, is like fashion. You have two choices: either shine, or blend into the background. It's better not to be noticed than to be noticed for all the wrong reasons. And it's not expensive or hard at all to simply not be noticed.

[brooklynheights]

So? It's not uncommon for one large project to comprise multiple distinct buildings - especially in times of tight money.

Hmmm...surely you are right that it's not uncommon for one large project to comprise multiple buildings. I'm not so sure I'd say "distinct." If you look at most large scale projects in this city, be it BPC or Atlantic Yards or the Hudson Yards proposals or Gowanus proposals or Williamsburg/Greenpoint waterfront developments or even Lincoln Center to a degree, the buildings might be distinct in that they have seperate walls and entrances, but they aren't architecturally distinct from one other within the same project. They are frequently (though certainly not always) designed by the same architect and built utilizing the same materials.

I do think the flatbush corridor needs a radical infusion of residents and retail, even if it means some big box retail-- and that's exactly what it's getting. And it is indeed crappy that some of the small and successful business owners are getting booted out against their will. I remain optomistic that overall, this is going to be a change for the better, but I see that the question AntiNimby seems to be raising is how it's done, not that it's done. And I can understand his concern that a little more creativity could lead to a significantly better result.

[NYC4Life]

NY1

Downtown Brooklyn Residents Protest Redevelopment Plan

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/images/live/144/287650.jpg

July 18, 2008

Residents near Downtown Brooklyn say the redevelopment of the area is hurting, not helping them and they're demanding change. Borough reporter Jeanine Ramirez filed the following report.

Community activists in Downtown Brooklyn tried to drown out the noise of the construction going on across the street Thursday as they protested the development.

Developer John Catsimatidis is building the tower on Myrtle Avenue, which he promised back in 2006 would include affordable housing. But now it's all luxury condos, angering a group of activists who are demanding that 50 percent be reserved for low-income families in the neighborhood.

"He's got an economic obligation, because he's gotten tax breaks and incentives and subsidies from the city,” said Reverend Mark V.C. Taylor of the Church of the Open Door.

But Catsimatidis says the city's tax free bonds are no longer available for the affordable housing component. He says he's now taking a wait-and-see approach in this hard economic climate. Meanwhile, he has already demolished the entire block, which used to include a pharmacy, a laundromat and a supermarket.

“It's wrong for you to tear down a city block with no plan in place and basically, shrug your shoulders and say I tried,” said City Council member Letitia James.

Now that the supermarket has been demolished, residents are demanding that Catsimatidis provide free shuttle service to and from a nearby supermarket until a new one is built in the area.

The developer says he plans to include retail on the site, including a new supermarket and pharmacy. Pratt Center for Community Development says the lack of services and affordable housing is not entirely the developer’s fault.

"It's not required. It's the city's fault that it's not required. If it was required, he would have to do it,” said Brad Lander of Pratt Center for Community Development.

The Pratt Center put together a report, which points out the flaws in the city's 2004 Downtown Brooklyn Redevelopment Plan. Among the problems listed are:


Lack of community input;
Understated impact of local business displacement;
More luxury housing than other development;
Few benefits to the low-income and working class in the area.

Surrounding the development are the Ingersoll, Whitman and Farragut Houses.

"There's been a community here. It's been here a half century. There are needs here,” said Rev. Taylor.

Protesters say one of their needs is the operation of a new community center across the street from the new development, which hasn't opened because of the city housing authority's lack of funds.

"We have a situation that is really upside down,” said State Senator Valmanette Montgomery.

It’s a situation activists and local lawmakers say should be fixed by first serving the needs of the existing community before wealthy developers.

– Jeanine Ramirez

[BrooklynRider]

Boy, Letiticia James is just proving to be unable to collaborate with anyone. She and her constituents keep bucking the guys with the money, instead of working with them.

[BrooklynLove]

She's an idiot and her relevance is following the trajectory of Indymac.

[Tectonic]

Downtown Brooklyn can use all the development it can get there's a lot of under used space, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed given the current economic conditions.
Any word on the Full Spectrum project at Fulton and Ashland Pl?

[BrooklynRider]

I do wish we'd get some new Movie Theaters. The Borough is overall sorely lacking the modern cineplexes that now pepper Manhattan.

[Tectonic]

I agree, that Court Street theater sucks and the building is horrid!

[BrooklynRider]

^ Just for the record, that theater building would be another ghastly project by Bruce Ratner.

Horrid.

[bklynite]

saw first floor almost complete at 111.

anything else shakin?

[antinimby]

80 DeKalb Ave. is also up to the first floor.

http://nyrej.com/images/stories/2008/80%20DeKalb%20Ave.%20Brooklyn_opt.jpg

[bklynite]

i do hope they go with that glass facade and not the other rendering.

[BrooklynLove]

Ditto, but I'm not holding my breath for it to happen. This joint is being almost entirely financed by govt debt.

[BrooklynLove]

Crane base is now in place for the Avalon tower at Flatbush and Myrtle. AVB doesn't mess around - they have really been flying on this place since excavation began. Anyone who is in the area should really check out the size of this footprint - definitely one of the (if not the) largest new building foundations I've seen go in the BK ground in my life.

[Tectonic]

This building scares me. Not very excited about this one, I think it may be the scar on the skyline.

Lets hope I'm wrong.

[BrooklynLove]

I think that it will be unremarkable at worst. Definitely not a scar.

[Tectonic]

It will block my dear Toren :(

[antinimby]

It will definitely be a hideous scar that will threaten to negate whatever progress the rest of Downtown has made in terms of better architecture.

It will essentially be a massive, taller version of the Avalon Chrystie...

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2005_02_avalon1.jpg

[Tectonic]

^:mad: Avalon Ft Greene will be a bigger insult.
Fill in the blanks

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/2783431678_5bb29984d0_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3295/2783431394_513d931fea_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3232/2783430982_21ce48d6ac_o.jpg

Toren from City Point site
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3148/2782576765_7e958193c2_o.jpg

Looking Northward on Flatbush
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3178/2782576249_dc45f63916_o.jpg

[BrooklynLove]

It will definitely be a hideous scar that will threaten to negate whatever progress the rest of Downtown has made in terms of better architecture.

It will essentially be a massive, taller version of the Avalon Chrystie...

You get the gold star for drama AN. It's really not that big of a deal.

[ap307]

You get the gold star for drama AN. It's really not that big of a deal.

And it's certainly an improvement over the gas station and car wash nearby (from a street level perspective)...

I'd give an arm and a leg to see the gas station and car wash closed...

[BK11201]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to introduce myself and contribute a picture.

It's not a definitive photo of the projects happening downtown, but I wanted to present a shot of the "goings-ons" in the area from an angle that I haven't seen before on this thread.

From my apartment window, I've been able to witness the near daily changes to the landscape since I moved in 8 months ago. The pace of change is really astonishing. As someone previously mentioned (BrooklynLove, I think), it's an exciting time to be in Brooklyn.

From this vantage point, you can see the new Boerum Place median improvement, the cranes for the 49-story Bridge St residential tower, a tiny sliver of the Toren, and the (god-awful) Sheraton.

Not a great photo by any means, but it's pretty amazing to see all these new buildings sprout up like bamboo. I'm anxious to see how the neighborhood grows over coming years.

Hope you all like the shot.

http://imgeasy.com/VIEWABE56http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp145/bk11201/DSC_0002.jpg
http://imgeasy.com/VIEWABE56http://imgeasy.com/VIEWABE56

[NYC4Life]

That is a classy view, but one view that can use a supertall :)

[sfenn1117]

I don't know my downtown streets, so is that the crane for the 49 story bridge st tower, or the 51 story tower on lawrence st?

Great view!

[BK11201]

I don't know my downtown streets, so is that the crane for the 49 story bridge st tower, or the 51 story tower on lawrence st?

Great view!

sfenn, I think you're right--the crane in the middle of the photo is indeed the 51 story Claret Group tower on Lawrence st, not 388 Bridge. It seems that you're much more familiar with downtown's streets than I am!

[BrooklynLove]

Yes - it's the Lawrence Street tower. crane was initially set a few weeks back - the tower girth and cab are massive - bigger than the set up for Beekeman Tower. This pappi is going to be huge.

In a few months we're going to have this crane as well as the Avalon and Bridge Street tower cranes all filling the sky at once.

[BrooklynRider]

August 22, 2008

Gehry Out as Architect of Theater in Brooklyn

By ROBIN POGREBIN (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/robin_pogrebin/index.html?inline=nyt-per)

The architect Frank Gehry (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/frank_gehry/index.html?inline=nyt-per) will no longer be a part of the project to build a permanent home for the Theater for a New Audience in the BAM Cultural District in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, the theater’s founder said Thursday. But the announcement came as a surprise to Mr. Gehry, who said he wasn’t told of the change.

Mr. Gehry had collaborated with Hugh Hardy (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/hugh_hardy/index.html?inline=nyt-per) on the theater building’s initial design. Now Mr. Hardy will be the sole architect on the project, according to the theater.

In an e-mail message sent via a spokesman on Thursday, Jeffrey Horowitz, the theater’s founder and artistic director, cited Mr. Gehry’s busy schedule and the need to finish the design within a few months, a process that included a site change in June.

For those reasons, Mr. Horowitz wrote, “Frank is unable to contribute to this final phase of design.” Mr. Horowitz added: “Frank Gehry has said to us, ‘I’m sorry that I have to withdraw, but I’m a great fan of Hugh’s, and Theater for a New Audience is going to have a terrific theater.’ ”

But reached by phone on Thursday, Mr. Gehry said his exclusion from the project was news to him. “I didn’t even know they were starting over again,” he said. “I suppose they didn’t need two of us.”

“He’s quite adequate for the job without me,” Mr. Gehry added, referring to Mr. Hardy. “I would guess there are financial reasons for this.”

In response to the architect’s comments, the theater provided The New York Times with a copy of its correspondence with Mr. Gehry’s assistant, in which the architect was said to have approved the language in the theater’s statement. “Frank told me he was too busy and was unable to continue with the project and that he had to withdraw,” Mr. Horowitz said
in a telephone interview. “We respected his wishes.”

The Theater for a New Audience is an Off Broadway company specializing in Shakespeare (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/william_shakespeare/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and classical drama. When designs for its new building were unveiled in 2005, the city said it expected the $48.5 million project to be completed in two years. Now Bruce Cohen, a spokesman for the theater, said the new building is “on track for breaking ground in the spring of 2009.”

The site shift in June was the third for the project. It will remain on a lot between Lafayette Avenue and Fulton Street but will now face Ashland Place to make way for a developer’s tower. It was moved in 2006 so that the site could become a gateway to the district.






Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[Derek2k3]

How is this good news? The previous design was nice with Gehry was nice. Hugh Hardy brought us the Zebra Building on 42nd.

Anyway 2 pics of the Oro.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3076/2793127402_66cde8a2fb_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3147/2793127922_28173c22d9_o.jpg

[krulltime]

Hey what happen to the second Oro? And 85 Flatbush?

http://i5.tinypic.com/16irvhf.jpg

[BrooklynLove]

here are the latest permits on Flatbush Flatiron and Oro 2. Both are still holes in the ground, although Flatiron has some foundation work in. A lawyer involved in the Oro 2 project had told brownstoner several months ago that work wasn't planned to commence before september.

FF:

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=1&passjobnumber=310083325&passdocnumber=01

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=1&passjobnumber=310083334&passdocnumber=01


Oro 2:

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=3&passjobnumber=302316848&passdocnumber=01

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=3&passjobnumber=310075021&passdocnumber=02

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=3&passjobnumber=302382455&passdocnumber=01

[Mitch Warner]

Hi, as far as I can tell and have heard, Oro I has come to a complete standstill over the last couple months. I believe it's completely unoccupied. My understanding is that it hasn't been able to receive its certificate of occupancy for some reason, but that can't explain why no work has been done to finish the first floor and entrance, can it? And does anyone know anything about what the people who bought there are doing or are allowed to do? After such a long time without being able to close, I would assume they've all been given the option of backing out of their contracts.

Does anyone have harder information or more informed speculation? Thanks.

[Mitch Warner]

Angry Oro buyers indeed (and understandably so):

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/4468-oro-condo-delays
http://www.brownstoner.com/forum/archives/2008/07/long_wait_at_or.php
http://www.brownstoner.com/forum/archives/2008/08/oro_condos_comp.php

[Eugenious]

Angry Oro buyers indeed (and understandably so):

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/4468-oro-condo-delays
http://www.brownstoner.com/forum/archives/2008/07/long_wait_at_or.php
http://www.brownstoner.com/forum/archives/2008/08/oro_condos_comp.php

not surprising at ALL, these condo's were built to attract gullible yuppies and it looks like a lot of them got suckered into signing....

I just feel sorry for people who have families who have to stay with their relatives or friends because they planned to move in in '07 and now getting the raw end of the stick...

[BrooklynLove]

not surprising at ALL, these condo's were built to attract gullible yuppies and it looks like a lot of them got suckered into signing....

I just feel sorry for people who have families who have to stay with their relatives or friends because they planned to move in in '07 and now getting the raw end of the stick...

Slow down the bus Eug. If you read through those threads you'll find mostly inexperienced buyers with unrealistic expectations getting egged on by trolls. The predominant issue has nothing to do with Oro - general slowdown of the RE market depressing prices.

[bklynite]

seems like oro is just waiting for its tco/co. that can take time, out of developer's control.

[D. Velop]

How is this good news? The previous design was nice with Gehry was nice. Hugh Hardy brought us the Zebra Building on 42nd.

Anyway 2 pics of the Oro.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3076/2793127402_66cde8a2fb_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3147/2793127922_28173c22d9_o.jpg

An architectural blow-up doll?!?

No not as much fun. Looks like a pumped up cardboard and acrylic model by a bad first year architecture student! :mad:

[philvia]

yea i see it from my window. i wish they would have just made it all glass instead. its no worse than any of the metrotech buildings anyways. yawn
:) thank goodness for the toren

[bklynite]

3 floors up at 111 lawrence.

duffield hotel getting brown brick facing.

coffee shop open in State Renaissance Court

even the elm & schermerhorn site is moving along, rebar and concrete being poured.

[BrooklynLove]

Word.

[NYC4Life]

Updated On 09/10/08 at 05:00PM

Oro closings finally expected to begin


http://s3.amazonaws.com/trd_three/images/31482/oro_articlebox.jpg (http://ny.therealdeal.com/assets/31482)
Oro Condominium


By David Jones

Oro Condominium, the Ismael Leyva-designed luxury tower in Downtown Brooklyn, has sent out 30-day notices to buyers that it expects to begin closings at the long-awaited development.

Oro has been the subject of much speculation in recent months as anxious buyers have waited for word of a closing date on the controversial project, which critics have accused of being out of character with the public housing projects and low density brownstones in nearby Fort Greene.

Prudential Douglas Elliman has sold about 45 percent of the 303 units in the 40-story building at 306 Gold Street, but many of those buyers signed contracts more than a year ago when the New York condominium market was still going strong. According to Streeteasy.com, Oro has 132 units for sale at prices ranging from $357,000 to $1.43 million.

Some buyers are openly questioning what the value of their investment and whether they can even obtain financing.

Sam Heskel, executive vice president of HMS Associates, a Brooklyn-based appraisal service, said that buyers who have been in contract for more than a year may face financing difficulties, as banks have tightened the screws on new consumer financing. Heskel said a number of projects in Downtown Brooklyn have been converted from condo to rental, as sales have slowed considerably.

“People who bought with the intention of flipping, will probably try to get their money back,” he said.

Oro officials said they expect to gain approval for the condominium plan from the attorney general's office and then acquire a temporary certificate of occupancy from the city's Department of Buildings.

“We’re hoping [to start closings] by the first couple of weeks of October, said Matthew Faris, vice president at Greenfield Partners, the developer of Oro.

The project, which costs more than $150 million, is the tallest new construction project in Brooklyn, rising 40 stories tall. Greenfield, a South Norwalk, Conn.-based private equity fund and majority investor in the project, recently bought out original developers, United Homes, led by Ron Herscho, and Palin Enterprises, run by Dean Palin.

The building, located steps away from the Manhattan Bridge, offers spectacular views of the island and amenities include a swimming pool, residents’ lounge, screening room and a fitness center with racquetball and basketball courts.

Herscho and Palin remain involved in the Oro II complex, located across the street from the Oro condo. Ken Fisher, a land use attorney representing United Homes, said that groundbreaking on the hotel and apartment complex has been delayed because the developers are still working to secure financing.

[kevykev6]

http://www.dearchny.com/

Projects --> Exterior --> 388 Bridge st

http://i7.tinypic.com/53pd5sh.jpg

I love making random discoveries. This would be Brooklyn's tallest for a while...it has a nice tapered top and would add nicely to the skyline.

ahh alas hopefully our next big project

[bklynite]

any news on the bridge st. building?

flatbush continues to rise (further out):

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/09/big_plans_for_2.php

[Derek2k3]

Hopefully this tower will get moving next year.
Born in Brooklyn: the Ashland Center

http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek08/0509/0509d_brooklyn.cfm

http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek08/0509/0509d_brooklyn2_b.jpg

[Tectonic]

Gosh torture, I'm nervous about all these projects.

[bklynite]

the projects with permits in place and foundations in should go forward in a similar form, even if they're sold to other developers. those should give critical mass. sure hope city point or willoughby park don't disappear.

[BrooklynRider]

Two thumbs up for the new Trader Joe's on Court Street. I understand it is the largest in the chain and, being in an old bank, the ceiling heights are wonderful.

[NYC4Life]

NY Daily News

School in old Brooklyn Family Court building is dangerously incomplete

BY RACHEL MONAHAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, October 6th 2008, 4:00 AM

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2008/10/06/alg_school-building.jpg
Ward for News
This former Family Court building in downtown Brooklyn has a new life as a school, but it still has major problems.

As soon as you come over the Brooklyn Bridge (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Brooklyn+Bridge) you see it - the once-dingy old Family Court building on Adams St. turned into a brightly colored public school building.

Workers toiled around the clock in the weeks leading up to the start of school last month, but the building wasn't ready for students, parents and students told the Daily News. Worse, they say, it's actually dangerous.

"They need to look at all the problems. They need to go back and do it correctly," said Evangeline Coard (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Evangeline+Coard), a parent at the highly regarded Urban Assembly School (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Urban+Assembly+School) for Law and Justice high school, which shares the building with a middle school and a special education school.

The school seemed almost booby-trapped from the start.

A brick fell out of the drop ceiling into a first-floor office in the last few weeks. There were broken windows and exposed wires when students arrived.

A door - marked room number 617 - was left unlocked and leads not to a classroom, but to a 10-foot drop onto the roof.

"They were supposed to have a [locked] fire door there," said School for Law and Justice PTA (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Law+and+Justice+PTA) officer Nikki Harris (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Nikki+Harris). Her son Troy (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Troy), 17, a senior, and other students were excited to move to the new building.

"I figured ... everything would have been perfect when they walked into the building," said Harris.

Instead, the fire alarm has mistakenly gone off repeatedly - six or seven times one day, said parent Frank Dow, whose daughter attends eighth grade at the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Urban+Assembly+Institute+of+Math+and+Science) for Girls.

"[Students] walked into a building where all the kinks haven't been worked out," said Dow. "I don't understand how they didn't get that corrected. Students are going to start thinking if the alarm goes off there's no fire.

There's the potential for all kinds of crazy things to happen."

Science labs for the high school aren't functioning yet, either. The gas won't be turned on for months, students said they were told. A haywire air-conditioning system makes some classes frigid and others boiling.

"It's been mad cold," said sophomore Symone Pritchard (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Symone+Pritchard), 14.

The roof leaked, displacing classes for a week from a high school room on the fifth floor while repairs were done. Water stains were still evident last week on the floor below - where classes had to be moved for a day.
"Each day a new piece of the roof was missing," said Tornelle Simon (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Tornelle+Simon), 15, a 10th-grader.

Education Department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Margie+Feinberg) insisted the building is "safe." Principals of the schools did not return calls for comment.

"The work is ongoing," said Feinberg. "We knew there would be work that we would have to complete after the building opened in September."



© Copyright 2008 NYDailyNews.com. All rights reserved.

[brianac]

Updated On 10/06/08 at 03:51PM

Newly formed GSLM closes first deal


http://s3.amazonaws.com/trd_three/images/52536/columbia-hicks-sm_articlebox.jpg (http://beta.therealdeal.com/assets/52536)
Columbia Hicks rendering


By David Jones

GSLM Capital Partners said it completed financing on the proposed $55 million Columbia Hicks apartment complex in Cobble Hill, marking the first development under GSLM's recently launched urban investment fund.

GLSM, a partnership of L&M Development Partners and Goldman Sachs' Urban Investment Group, established an $100 million urban investment fund in April to develop mixed-income housing in New York and other cities.

“We’ve been committed to rezoning and redeveloping this site with L&M into much-needed mixed income housing since January 2006,” said Carrie Van Syckel, a vice president at Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group. “This particular area of Cobble Hill is a unique community and the sites were prime to be redeveloped, having been underutilized with light industrial activity.”

Columbia Hicks is a 149-unit rental complex on Columbia Street, just south of Atlantic Avenue on the Brooklyn waterfront, which includes 50 affordable units. The project, originally proposed in 2007, was scaled down after a series of contentious meetings with community members near the waterfront site.

Community activists were initially concerned about the height of the building and potential zoning changes in the area. Part of the project sits on land that the developer acquired from the city, according to Seth Donlin, spokesman for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Citibank is providing the permanent and construction financing for Columbia Hicks. The city Housing Development Corp. provided about $20 million in bond financing and $6.4 million in low interest subordinate debt.

Ground breaking is scheduled to begin this month, with completion expected by late 2010. Pre-sales are expected to launch by mid-2009.

Goldman Sachs and Westchester-based L&M previously teamed up (http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/goldman-teams-up-with-developer-on-100m-real-estate-investment-fund-2) on several development deals, including the Aspen, a rental building at 1955 First Avenue and the Kalahari, a luxury condominium at 40 West 116th Street.


http://beta.therealdeal.com/articles/newly-formed-gslm-closes-first-deal

© 2008 The Real Deal

[BrooklynLove]

Avalon is jamming big time on their tower - boom crane is up and they're getting close to moving above street level - the crew there is huge. Those south facing windows in the Toy Factory condos have about a month or so of life left.

[BrooklynRider]

Dekalb is up to the third floor too.

[antinimby]

Speaking of which, here's a recent pic...

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/6837/img0193kq2.jpg

[antinimby]

235 Gold St.

http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/8529/img0216vx9.jpg


The 'rear' portion...
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/3641/img0217cq8.jpg

[NYC4Life]

NY1

BROOKLYN IS GOING FI$HING

SEEKS MANHATTAN BIZ


By RICH CALDER

http://www.nypost.com/img/sl/exclusive.gif

Posted: 3:37 am
October 15, 2008

Brooklyn is spoiling for a fight with Manhattan in a new push to lure businesses across the East River.

Taking advantage of the slumping economy, the public-private Downtown Brooklyn Partnership plans to kick off an aggressive marketing campaign early next year to attract Manhattan and New Jersey businesses to the cheaper rents in Brooklyn's business district.

The partnership plans a media blitz that includes advertising, direct marketing and promotions.

It hasn't decided on slogans yet or how much will be invested.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said he welcomes the campaign.

"The 'Brooklyn Renaissance' continues to transform Downtown Brooklyn into one of America's most livable downtowns - a vibrant, 24/7, live-work urban center - and I applaud . . . the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership for building on my efforts to show businesses 'how sweet it is,' " he said.

But lower Manhattan Councilman Alan Gerson said the partnership should concentrate on soliciting New Jersey businesses and leave Manhattan alone.

"Brooklyn and Manhattan should be working together to come up with common marketing strategies to keep businesses in New York rather than trying to steal from one another," he said.

Glenn Markman, an executive director at Cushman & Wakefield, said there's already been "a wave of leasing activity" in the last six months involving Manhattan companies gravitating to Brooklyn.

He said he believes the marketing campaign will help keep businesses in the Big Apple as Manhattan companies already looking to move could consider Brooklyn. He said the partnership's previous work has helped turn Brooklyn into "an attractive, low-cost option to the Jersey waterfront, Manhattan" and other locations.

Downtown Brooklyn went through a development boom after a massive rezoning by the Bloomberg administration four years ago.

But a thriving residential market has so far been the rezoning's downfall as developers built condos, luxury apartments and hotels instead of new office and retail space.


Copyright 2008 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

[Mitch Warner]

Has anyone heard any further word on closings at Oro? I live nearby, and am curious to know when people will actually be moving into the empty monolith my wife and I refer to as The Building That Time Forgot. Last we'd heard, closings were "definitely" beginning October 15; of course, after this many delays, there's no reason to count on anything. Anyone know anything?

Thanks.

[bklynite]

new supermarket for 200 schermerhorn:

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/10/supermarket_aft.php

[Tectonic]

The much anticipated Avalon Fort Greene has emerged from behind the construction fence. I think I saw a sign that said 'Coming in Summer 2009'. Sounds like a fast track project.

[antinimby]

New Plans for Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn

http://newyork.construction.com/images/2008/10_Myrtle-Ave.jpg.jpg
Plans for the remaining buildings on Myrtle Avenue in
Brooklyn have been delayed due to the unavailability
of bonds, said developers Red Apple Real Estate.
The $26 million initial phase is being financed
personally by John Catsimatidis, chairman and CEO
of Red Apple as well as market rate bank financing.
Rendering courtesy of Dattner Architects.


October 2008 (http://newyork.construction.com/news/redevnews/default.asp#2)

Developers Red Apple Real Estate, Inc. has recently broken ground on the first phase of its Myrtle Avenue development project in the Fort Green, Brooklyn.

The project will include three low-rise buildings and a high-rise tower. The first phase of the project features 85,000 sq ft of market rate apartments and 22,000 sq ft of retail space. A drug store and supermarket will also be included.

Designed by Dattner Architects of New York, 218 Myrtle Avenue is a new nine-story residential and retail building at Myrtle Avenue and Ashland Place. “The exterior of the building is brick in several colors and patterns with metal panel highlights,” said a spokesperson for Red Apple. “Canopies and sunscreens shade public areas as well as adding scale. The first floor of the building at the street is a carefully designed retail storefront interspersed with the residential lobby to provide a neighborhood shopping experience on the lower two levels of the building.” The remaining eight residential floors will have 95 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments.

Amenities will include a physical fitness center, community room, an outdoor recreation area and parking facilities.

Plans for the remaining buildings have been delayed due to the unavailability of bonds, said Red Apple. As such, the $26 million initial phase is being financed personally by John Catsimatidis, chairman and CEO of Red Apple as well as market rate bank financing.

“Before Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and the host of other factors plaguing our economy we envisioned a much larger project being developed all at once on our three block property on Myrtle Avenue including a luxury condominium tower, additional condominium units and a retail ribbon spanning the length of this three block ‘superblock’,” said a spokesperson for Red Apple. “In recognition of current markets conditions we’ve split the project into four sites and four buildings. Previously they would have been connected by retail bridges. Now each being will be freestanding although we still envision this as one project and optimally would like to stage each phase one after the other so as to achieve certain synergies.”

“New Yorkers deserve the best quality of life possible and moving forward with a development that will include a neighborhood supermarket and a drugstore to meet the needs of this underserved community is the right thing to do,” said Catsimatidis. “I am pleased that we were able to structure a transaction that will allow this to happen.”

Rinaldi Group LLC of New York began construction work on the first phase of Myrtle Avenue in May 2008 and pending the development of the remaining phases, Red Apple is optimistic about completing the initial stage in July 2009 and immediately moving onto the next phase, the affordable housing component.

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

[BrooklynLove]

Let's see what he deems mkt - this location is a big time stretch for lux 2k studios. Subways not all that close, amenities not all that close, PJs very close. The walk home at night down Myrtle from fFatbush will be an exilerating one.

[ap307]

Let's see what he deems mkt - this location is a big time stretch for lux 2k studios. Subways not all that close, amenities not all that close, PJs very close. The walk home at night down Myrtle from fFatbush will be an exilerating one.

Between Oro, Toren, Avalon (over 1,000 units in those three buildings alone), the Myrle / Flatbush intersection should be relatively pleasant soon.

This is ingoring Citypoint, Myrtle/Flatbush beautification and other projects which are still planned but not 100% certain. The recession will delay progress, but enought resources have been thrown at the area that enought things should stick...

[ap307]

The Changing Downtown B’klyn Skyline by Linda Collins (linda@brooklyneagle.net (linda@brooklyneagle.net)), published online 11-03-2008
http://www.brooklyneagle.com/images/1x1.gif


By Linda Collins
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Despite the shocking newspaper headlines and the doom and gloom TV reports about the economic crisis, construction appears to be moving forward on several Downtown Brooklyn projects and, as Dennis Holt notes (see above), these projects will be changing the downtown skyline forever. The tallest, of course, are the 65-story City Point at Albee Square Mall and the 51-story Clarett Group building at 111 Lawrence St., both setting new records for “tallest” in Brooklyn.
These will be joining the almost complete and somewhat shorter 40-story Oro at 306 Gold St., the under-construction 37-story Toren at 150 Myrtle and the 40-story Avalon Gold at 343 Gold — all abutting Flatbush Avenue Extension — plus the 30-story Sheraton Hotel at 216-222 Duffield St., between Willoughby Street and Fulton Mall.
These do not include the Atlantic Yards project with its close to 50-story Miss Brooklyn planned for Atlantic and Flatbush. Although delayed by law suits, Forest City Ratner still expects to break ground for the arena component before the end of the year.
Following are summaries of these skyline-changing developments:
• City Point. Downtown Brooklyn’s largest project, it will be a mixed-use development that is anticipated to be 65 stories, will include retail, commercial and residential components and will add a dramatic new landmark to the Downtown Brooklyn skyline.
A joint project of Acadia Realty Trust, MacFarlane Partners, P/A Associates, Washington Square Partners and Rose Associates, the design is by GreenbergFarrow Architects. The old buildings and garage have been demolished and the site cleared awaiting the start of construction.
As reported recently in the Eagle, Cushman & Wakefield has already been hired to begin marketing the 350,000- square-foot, 17-story office component.
• 111 Lawrence St. The steel structure looks to be about five stories above street level on this 51-story, 491-unit residential mixed-use building, a project of The Clarett Group, which also built Forte at Ashland Place in Fort Greene. Completion is anticipated for early 2010. The architect is Gerner Kronick + Valcarel.
The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership reports there will also be approximately 7,000 square feet of retail on two floors.
• Oro at 306 Gold St. The 40-story development is a project of Greenfield Partners As recently reported in the Eagle, closings are already taking place for those with units on floors 1-30.
Ismael Leyva Architects designed the building, the tallest to be constructed in Brooklyn in the last 80 years.
• Toren at 150 Myrtle Ave. Sales at Toren (a Dutch word for tower), a 37-story, 240-unit building, have reached over 55 percent in just five short months, according to developer Don Capoccia, a partner with Joseph Ferrara and Brandon Baron at BFC Partners, who credits the great sales during these challenging times to “Toren’s quality, great location and prices.” The design is by Skidmore Owings & Merrill Architects.
• Avalon Gold at 343 Gold St. The steel structure can be seen above the fence for this 41-story, 627-unit residential mixed-use development, a project of AvalonBay Communities, based in Virginia. The design is by Perkins Eastman Architects.
• The Sheraton Hotel at 216-222 Duffield St. A project of The Lam Group, with design by Gene Kaufman Architect, the almost-complete 30-story, 300-room hotel will soon be joined by a 180-room Aloft hotel in an adjoining lot.

————————
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net


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[BrooklynLove]

Between Oro, Toren, Avalon (over 1,000 units in those three buildings alone), the Myrle / Flatbush intersection should be relatively pleasant soon.

I know this stretch and the surrounding area very well. It's a long journey down Myrtle from Oro, Avalon and Toren to this Cats building. It's going to be very tough for Cats to find residents willing to pay lux rents in that building until he fills in the gap along Myrtle with his other 3 buildings.

You'll see what I mean once you've moved into Toren.

Peace.

[NYC4Life]

mcbrooklyn

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Commerce Bank Disappears Overnight, Replaced by Canadian TD Bank (http://mcbrooklyn.blogspot.com/2008/11/commerce-bank-disappears-overnight.html)


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_GTU_nOCsE-s/SRJaqbG_0UI/AAAAAAAAEJ4/oNSfLtFenK0/s320/IMG_3403_TD_bank_MKMetz.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_GTU_nOCsE-s/SRJaqbG_0UI/AAAAAAAAEJ4/oNSfLtFenK0/s1600-h/IMG_3403_TD_bank_MKMetz.jpg)

Commerce Bank disappeared on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights Saturday, as it did at 575 other locations.

Green signs bearing the unfamiliar TD brand were quickly installed, and thank goodness, the clock was returned to standard time. It had been stuck in military time for weeks, and we were getting pretty tired of translating 1800 hours into 6 o'clock.

So who is this TD, and what happened to Commerce?

From BizJournals (http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2008/10/27/daily58.html):
"Headquartered in Portland, Maine, and owned by TD Bank Financial Group of Toronto, Canada, TD Banknorth bought Commerce's parent, Cherry Hill, New Jersey-based Commerce Bancorp in March for $7 billion."

According to a press release published in MarketWatch (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Welcome-TD-Bank-Americas-Most/story.aspx?guid=%7BFC367BBA-1245-40BE-9C6B-0AEE93F4DC3F%7D), the bank may have a new name, but "the brand positioning as 'America's Most Convenient Bank,' with its legendary focus on convenience and service, remains unchanged."

The legendary lines remain unchanged as well, we notice.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_GTU_nOCsE-s/SRJcsuhuhGI/AAAAAAAAEKA/4PIbSCxVqNY/s320/IMG_3405_lines_at_TD_bank_MKMetz.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_GTU_nOCsE-s/SRJcsuhuhGI/AAAAAAAAEKA/4PIbSCxVqNY/s1600-h/IMG_3405_lines_at_TD_bank_MKMetz.jpg)

Thank goodness the legendary change machine is still working! This is where we bring in all those pennies that we have been collecting to pay off our credit cards . . .

TD (http://www.tdbanknorth.com/InvestorRelations/) stands for Toronto–Dominion.

Photos by MK Metz

[bklynite]

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/11/new_building_pl.php

can anyone who knows how to read DOB filings confirm whether city point has indeed been reduced to 16 stories?

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=1&passjobnumber=310229295&passdocnumber=01


An acadia realty trust earnings call recently had the following to say aobut the project:

"As I mentioned earlier on the call, the debt markets for construction financing are highly illiquid, especially for loans over $50 million or so. In our pipeline, the one development that clearly falls into this category is City Point in Downtown Brooklyn and even in this case there maybe counterbalancing benefits with potential reductions in cost of construction, offsetting the cost of delay or increased capital costs. In fact, a 5% decline in construction costs should fully offset a one-year delay in the project assuming our current carrying costs.

Furthermore, it's very possible; in fact, it's likely that costs savings could be well in excess of 5%. But this might be offset by increased debt cost or potentially weakening fundamentals, nevertheless given the unique location, the fact that we have Target as our retail anchor and strong interest from other retailers, we wouldn't be surprised that our patience and persistence could be well rewarded in City Point."

http://seekingalpha.com/article/105085-acadia-realty-trust-q3-2008-earnings-call-transcript?page=-1

[BrooklynLove]

piecemeal permits ... and financing. patience.

[NYC4Life]

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

DOB Application for 16-Story Tower At City Point Not All There Is

by Linda Collins (linda@brooklyneagle.net (linda@brooklyneagle.net)), published online 11-13-2008 (livecall:11-13-2008)

Filing is For Class A Commercial Office Tower Only
By Linda Collins
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A Brownstoner.com item on Wednesday hinted that the new Downtown Brooklyn mixed-use development, City Point, could be “a lot shorter than previously planned.”

And it cited as explanation an application filed with the Department of Buildings on Friday for a 16-story, 268-foot-tall 900,000-square-foot building — although it did add, “It appears from the application that this is all commercial space.”

A spokesperson for Cushman & Wakefield confirmed Thursday that this application is for just one aspect of this mixed-use development.

“The plans submitted to DOB are for the office tower and Cushman & Wakefield serves as the exclusive leasing agent,” he said. “Interestingly, the leasing team is already seeing interest from a variety of office space users.”

As previously reported in the Eagle, this Class A office tower will be the first Gold LEED Certified office property in Brooklyn.

Also as previously reported, the overall project — being built on the site of the former Albee Square Mall — will, indeed, feature retail and residential components as well.

A joint project of Acadia Realty Trust, MacFarlane Partners, P/A Associates, Washington Square Partners and Rose Associates, City Point is situated on the former Albee Square garage site and across from the soon-to-be-constructed Willoughby Square Park.

With approximately 350,000 square feet of office space, the 17-story green office tower will serve as the crown jewel of the City Point complex and be a dramatic new landmark in the Brooklyn skyline, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s Glenn Markman, who with Frank Cento and Danielle Zimbaro will comprise the company’s City Point leasing team.

Said Markman, “Corporations want to move key operations to offices in Brooklyn and with City Point we finally have the Class A space in which to house them.”

Designed by the architectural firm Cook+Fox, City Point will boast a number of high-end amenities including a health club, sky lobby, onsite parking, 24/7 security and a subway stop directly accessible from the lobby.
The residential component will include both affordable and market-rate rental housing.


© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008

[NYC4Life]

Brooklyn Paper

November 19, 2008 (http://www.brooklynpaper.com/sections/31/46/)

Albee darned! Square will get megabucks makeover

By Sarah Portlock
The Brooklyn Paper

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/assets/photos/31/45/31_45_albeesquare2_z.jpg
The Brooklyn Paper / Tom Callan
This area near the intersection of DeKalb Avenue and the Fulton Mall — just west of Flatbush Avenue — will get a $12-million makeover.


The city will close a part of DeKalb Avenue in order to nearly triple the Albee Square pedestrian plaza in Downtown, officials announced on Tuesday.

Officials from the Economic Development Corporation and Department of Transportation unveiled a $12.5-million design that would more than double the size of the somewhat-neglected plaza at the triangular intersection of Fulton Mall, DeKalb Avenue and Bond Street — an area that will someday be the heart of a revived residential and commercial district that includes a Target mega-store and CityPoint, a 65-story residential and retail tower that will be the tallest building in the borough.

The Albee Square makeover will include new street furniture, public seating, bicycle racks, lighting and trees. The city hopes to start construction this winter, and finish by 2011.

The changes are part of larger Fulton Mall renovations, explained Chris Hrones, the city’s Downtown Brooklyn transportation coordinator.

“We’re going for a more modern look on Fulton Mall,” Hrones added, pointing to inclusion of new glass bus shelters and metallic Y-shaped lighting.

The plan would require the closure of a block-long portion of DeKalb Avenue west of Flatbush Avenue. One-way traffic on DeKalb Avenue would be rerouted to Bond Street, then west on Fulton Street for one block and could then turn right onto Gold Street.

Community members were largely in support in the plan, although some were concerned about the effect on bus traffic, which would be rerouted to Fulton Street with no relocation of stops, Hrones said.

A landscape consultant who worked on the project, Mark Minkley, assured the audience that traffic congestion area would not overflow into the new space.

“This plaza will look very much like a plaza, and I guarantee it will not be used as a parking lot,” Minkley said.

There’s no question what side the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership is on.

Two years ago, the quasi-public agency put out a report that called for closing the one-block segment of DeKalb to “truly transform this space” or create a venue for events that would take advantage of the grandeur of the Dime Savings Bank building at the eastern side of the square.

The Department of Transportation will accept written comments until Dec. 17. Call (718) 222-7271 (livecall:(718)222-7271) for info.



©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

[Tectonic]

Alert! the Avalon Fort Greene monster is up to about 4 levels now.

[NYC4Life]

Brownstoner

November 28, 2008

Development Watch: Avalon Rising on Myrtle (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/11/development_wat_326.php)

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/Avalon-Myrtle-1108.jpg

What a difference a month makes! At the end of October, this (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/avalon-fort-greene-1008.jpg) is what the Avalon Bay site at the corner of Myrtle and Flatbush Extension looked like. Now? Well, they've got four stories up. Let's see where they are a month from now.

[Stroika]

Christmas Wish List:
-For Avalon Fort Greene not to be built
-For Avalon Morningside Heights to collapse on itself as a result of too many bored brokers sitting around idly inside
-For the Ramones to come back from the grave/re-unite and take apart Avalon Chrystie Place pre-fab piece of plastic by pre-fab piece of plastic

Or for Avalon Bay to go bankrupt (how have they not been hit yet?! They must be like the walking dead in a bad zombie flick).

[BrooklynLove]

If you live in downtown Brooklyn, you best make peace with Avalon or else you're going to be living a very frustrated existence going forward.

[Stroika]

That's like saying, "If you live in Nazi Germany, you'd best make peace with Hitler." Giving in to what is objectively bad is never the answer. People need to keep up their hatred for Avalon Bay till the end to prevent others from following its lead (obviously there are many already doing this -- the result of not enough people fighting back when developers make their neighborhoods look like Third World shitholes) or to keep the hope alive that one day it'll all get torn down and replaced by something better.

[BrooklynLove]

You sound unstable.

The Avalon building going up there is not awful and it's definitely a step in the right direction for the area.

[futurecity]

Its an OK filler. That is all.

[antinimby]

BrooklynLove, you obviously hate Brooklyn (despite what your handle may indicate).

[BrooklynLove]

I love Brooklyn. Never forget it.

[Tectonic]

Brooklynlove supports any new development in Brooklyn, even if may look like the Super Devil of skyscrapers.

[BrooklynLove]

It's a step in the right direction. Outside the bubble world perfection doesn't exist.

[Clarknt67]

That's like saying, "If you live in Nazi Germany, you'd best make peace with Hitler."

Godwin's Law. Google it.

[ASchwarz]

Avalon is great.

I hope they build on every vacant lot and parking lot in the city, spread prosperity and urbanism everywhere, and piss off the NIMBYs and blight-lovers on this site and everywhere else.

[BrooklynLove]

^Awesome.

[ZippyTheChimp]

... and blight-lovers on this site and everywhere else.So, people who don't like the Avalon are blight-lovers?

I suppose we could then broad-stroke you into the category of "I'll accept any crap that 's dished out, as long as it's a building."

[antinimby]

ASchwarz, I'm not a blight-lover but...

Avalon = permanent blight.

I'd think I'll take the less permanent ones (meaning open lots/dilapidated buildings) over the more permanent ones like Avalon, thank you.

[Stroika]

Soviet apartments = massive, cheaply built POSes = Avalon = X = urbanism

So if Avalon = urbanism, then I guess Perm or Krasnoyarsk are an urbanist's dreams, right?

Now all we need to do is find the missing link that shows that Avalon = urbanism. Since they build exurban office parks in cities, I would probably say they're anti-urban, but maybe ASchwarz knows the missing link ... or IS the missing link!?

[Tectonic]

ASchwarz, I'm not a blight-lover but...

Avalon = permanent blight.

I'd think I'll take the less permanent ones (meaning open lots/dilapidated buildings) over the more permanent ones like Avalon, thank you.

Nothing's permanent (with structures at least) the next generation, whatever they are called (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y), might tear down this beast. Trust, it wont be around as long as say Dakota. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dakota)

[antinimby]

A 40 story and a residential guarantees that it will be permanent. As long as the building's structural integrity holds up, no one will demolish it.

Not in this city. Looks don't count for anything here. You know that. They will not demolish it because it doesn't look good.

Sky, show me a large residential building that was torn down in this city.

You can't because there has been NONE.

[Derek2k3]

Right. Maybe when 40 story buildings are looked upon as today's walk-ups.
Best to hope for a reclad

The largest residential building I know slated for demolition is 220 CPS.
Only sky-high property values and the advent of constructing a building twice its size make the demo feasible. Evicting renters from existing buildings is a nightmare.

[Tectonic]

I see your points.
Something tells me a lot of these new buildings. 2005-present aren't very well constructed. I have no evidence of that so take it for what it's worth.

[Stroika]

They're cheap.

Maybe a few of these buildings will fall down and impel the sort of belated soul-searching, demand for change and reconsideration of the way we've been building and buying/selling real estate for the past 10 years that we've had with finance and the economy in the wake of the collapse of the financial system.

I hope that doesn't happen, but apparently crane collapses aren't enough to force that sort of questioning of what we're doing.

[BrooklynLove]

Argument goes both ways - cheap financing provides for higher margins and therefore more spend - on materials, construction, etc.

[antinimby]

Cheap and shoddy as the work may be, they are still utilizing modern construction methods and so they are not going to fall apart any time soon.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see all the Avalons fall into pieces but I don't hold out any hope that it will be.

That's why it's better to not have them constructed in the first place instead of hoping that they will deteriorate after they go up, which will take a long time.

[Stroika]

Argument goes both ways - cheap financing provides for higher margins and therefore more spend - on materials, construction, etc.

My point wasn't about cheap financing but cheap pre-cast materials and design.

[ZippyTheChimp]

The things that make some buildings look cheap and unappealing doesn't necessarily make them structurally unsound. Cutting corners to save money usually involves choice of cladding material and windows. Also in the interior, things like finish carpentry, fixtures, heating and AC, floors - all impact the cost, but have nothing to do with structure.

A contractor trying to save money by compromising basic building techniques is taking a big risk. And that is just as likely to occur at a building like 1 Beekman as the Avalon. Sometimes, what makes a building look good makes it structurally less sound. 11 Times Square has an appealing cantilever, but the design is less stable that a straight up and down box.

The Avalon will still be here in the next century. What may cause it to come down sooner is a change in living style that we can't envision right now. When the old row houses were built, no one thought at the time that they would be replaced by apartment towers.

[BrooklynLove]

My point wasn't about cheap financing but cheap pre-cast materials and design.

Stroika - did you actually read the quote you're responding to? Maybe not so I'll summarize - cheap financing provides more leeway for expensive materials and design.

[BrooklynLove]

The Avalon will still be here in the next century. What may cause it to come down sooner is a change in living style that we can't envision right now. When the old row houses were built, no one thought at the time that they would be replaced by apartment towers.

Or a major economic shift. For example, one time coveted highrise towers in Coney Island became shells due to the transformation of Coney in the 60s-70s.

[antinimby]

Stroika - did you actually read the quote you're responding to? Maybe not so I'll summarize - cheap financing provides more leeway for expensive materials and design.From my observations all these years, rarely does cheap financing result in expensive materials and design. Cheap financing just turns into cheap materials and design.

Cheap all around.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Or a major economic shift. For example, one time coveted highrise towers in Coney Island became shells due to the transformation of Coney in the 60s-70s.Major economic shifts take a long time to cause a building to come down. This area would have to reverse direction, go into decline, empty out, and then become attractive again for development.

Coney Island didn't happen overnight.

[BrooklynLove]

Scarily it was only about 20 years from zenith to nadir. By no means do I think BK is heading back that way but we should understand what is possible.

[BrooklynLove]

From my observations all these years, rarely does cheap financing result in expensive materials and design. Cheap financing just turns into cheap materials and design.

Cheap all around.

Definitely disagree. The reputable builders have put some high quality product. The cash drained highly levered have not. Contrast Silverstein with Boymelgreen. Contrast Rockrose with Guttman.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Scarily it was only about 20 years from zenith to nadir. 20 years?

What dates?

[BrooklynLove]

1955 to 1975

[ZippyTheChimp]

Coney Island was at its zenith before WWII, and was not close to rock bottom by 1975.

[BrooklynLove]

Your zenith point is way off - I have plenty of first hand accounts from 2 generations that grew up there. Take a 25 or 30 year window if you want - still makes the point.

[ZippyTheChimp]

For instance?

What improved since WWII? Where was all the desirable construction?

The most significant housing development in the area was Trump Village, built in the 1960s, the middle of your time frame.

[BrooklynLove]

I'll get my dad to write a response for you Zippy if you need specific items.

[antinimby]

Definitely disagree. The reputable builders have put some high quality product. The cash drained highly levered have not. Contrast Silverstein with Boymelgreen. Contrast Rockrose with Guttman.If those are your examples, then you couldn't be more wrong. Silverstein works mostly in Manhattan with high profile projects whereas Boymelgreen works primarily in Brooklyn and on smaller scale and smaller budget projects. Two entirely different markets.

With that said, Silverstein's Silver twins on W 42 St. look just like a taller version of Avalon Chrystie with their cheap looking, wavy glass and AC vents.

Never heard of Guttman. Probably some kind of small time developer. A dime a dozen in the outer boroughs. Rockrose, as big and "reputable" as they may be, puts up mostly garbage:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/172/399523302_36165ed81d_o.jpg
2 Gold St.


Looks your faulty "theories" need more fine tuning.

[BrooklynLove]

You're a tough cookie AN

[BrooklynLove]

Make sure to check out the second photo - decent rendering and nothing we've seen thus far I think.

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=5&id=25334

[sfenn1117]

Unusual request, but one day I saw a ground floor site plan for the Avalon Fort Greene that showed there will be a public plaza....I searched this thread and tried to search brownstoner but couldn't find it. Anyone have it handy?

[antinimby]

Why on Earth would anyone want to see anything related to that pukey Avalon Fort Greene turd?

Here it is anyway...;)

http://www.mossgilday.com/images/projects/Commercial/ComH.jpg

[sfenn1117]

^Thanks...that's what I thought, no frontage at all on the corner. Nothing about the design of this building makes any sense, what a waste.

[BrooklynLove]

Actually nicely staggers with Toren so the inset from the street works nicely, and provides a nice public plaza off Gold just a few plots up from the twin Oros. This whole area off FBX is shaping up very nicely.

[sfenn1117]

^Or a chance to make an inviting entrance to a building with retail from a three way intersection, a chance architects don't get too often in NYC. The building should have filled out its plot and not included a plaza, there are enough "plazas" in metrotech.

[antinimby]

That's why the Avalon Fort Greene is a turd.

Wait until the turd-like façade goes up on this POS. It'll really make us all puke. :mad:

[Tectonic]

The plaza should take away some of the grossness of this tower, a welcomed relief.

[sfenn1117]

No doubt the plaza will be more attractive than the tower, and trees will help cover it up, at least at street level. Driving south on the bqe this giant slab will ungracefully mar Brooklyn's image.

[antinimby]

And block the view of the only nice looking tower in all of DT Brooklyn, the Toren.

Avalon Bay sucks.

[Tectonic]

Let's see how it turns out then. If it's bad we'll be sure to verbally torch it.

[BrooklynLove]

That's why the Avalon Fort Greene is a turd.

Wait until the turd-like façade goes up on this POS. It'll really make us all puke. :mad:

Curious - when was the last time you were where this tower is going up?

[antinimby]

Curious - when was the last time you didn't like any POS tower going up in Brooklyn?

[Tectonic]

Oh oh here we go...the perfectionist and the capitalist are at it again.

[BrooklynLove]

Curious - when was the last time you didn't like any POS tower going up in Brooklyn?

The tower makes the quality of life for those who live here better in the long run. And it could be way worse - it's unremarkable, not vile. Or maybe you'd prefer another pit in the style of those that are currently multiplying throughout Manhattan.

[antinimby]

BrooklynLove, you must be dense or something. We've been down this road so many times before but yet you still don't seem to be able to retain.

There is no one more pro-development than me (I mean, check out my handle). But unlike you, I don't blindly support every project.

I take certain factors such as design, aesthetics, etc. into consideration. These things are very important although you don't seem to understand that.

Looks and appearance are very important in life. It can make a big difference in how people perceive you (or in this case), Brooklyn.

You seem to think that it's either choose between an ugly Avalon or an empty lot. I want all of these underdeveloped sites to be redeveloped too but I want them to do it right.

It doesn't have to come down to a choice of one or the other. You can have both. The Toren is a great example of how it should be done.

I don't expect Torens everywhere all the time. I understand that. I am not impossible.

I can even live with an Oro, which is as mediocre as you can get but you don't hear me complaining about it, do you?

Do you finally get it or will we have to go through this again later?

By the way, to answer your previous question, I was just there a couple of weeks ago. Before that I was there taking photos in October. Go back a few pages, my pics are still there.

[BrooklynLove]

AN - your problem is that if someone doesn't take your point of view then that person is one who doesn't get it. Get it?

[antinimby]

No. From your replies, it was obvious you didn't get it. I know you don't share my point of view. I have no problem with that. The evidence of that is as plain as the nose on your face.

I never quoted you. It was you that quoted me.

By doing so, you are saying you didn't get what I was saying. Just go back to your post # 1169.

[BrooklynLove]

Then maybe we just have different tastes b/c I don't think that the Avalon tower (taking the second Riverview in LIC as an example) is all that much worse than Oro.

[antinimby]

Yes we have different tastes but we also have a different philosophy:

You - build it, it doesn't matter how it looks like. Development is better than no development.

Me - yes build it but do it right. If they can't do it right, then it's better to let it sit until someone else can.

By the way, the Oro, while it is far from a masterpiece, is better than the Avalon Fort Greene in several important ways: the shape is not a huge, ungainly slab. The Oro is slender and not boxy.

Additionally, the windows don't have AC vents. While it is not exactly clear from the renderings that the Avalon will have them, but judging from their many other projects, they tend to have them.

These are important distinctions that makes a big difference in something that is acceptable (Oro) and not acceptable (Avalon).

[BrooklynLove]

build it, it doesn't matter how it looks like. Development is better than no development.

On a case by case basis however. I'm less willing to give up asthetics in developed areas b/c there is less to be gained from the marginal investment than there is to be lost from the diminished asthetics.

Avalon tower in LIC queenswest - ok. By tillary and FBX - ok. Next to Woolworth building - not ok.

[antinimby]

That is the wrong kind of thinking, man. Let me explain to you why that is:

Let's go back to before the time the Woolworth was built, shall we? With your thinking, the builder of the Woolworth shouldn't have needed to build something so nice because according to your logic, there was no Woolworth around for it to need to keep the bar high.

We are lucky the people in the past did not share your philosophy or else we would never have all the great icons that we have now.

[sfenn1117]

If it's ok in LIC and in downtown BK but it wouldn't be ok near Woolworth there's something wrong. Brooklyn and LIC don't deserve the same quality of architecture as Manhattan, like they are some backwater?

You compare it to the second LIC tower, except this one will have red brick, not tan. Have you seen the Avalon towers with red brick in New Rochelle? Or the Bowery? Or Avalon 1 in LIC? You don't have to wait it out, it's going to look cheap, and just rise like a slab 41 straight stories up. No ingenuity or creativeness at all.

[BrooklynLove]

it's about the economics. developers will not be willing to take on the added costs of elevated asthetics in undeveloped areas b/c the gross returns are going to be less in an undeveloped area. if an undeveloped area makes development comparably expensive to that in a developed area, the developer will go to the developed area where there is less risk and greater gross returns.

it's not about what brooklyn deserves, it's about taking progressive steps and then getting to a place where we are economically positioned to command the hightened investment that comes with elevated asthetics.

[sfenn1117]

^But your theory doesn't make sense when the Toren is built right across the street. The Toren is stunning enough to rise on any prominent site in the city.

[antinimby]

It doesn't make sense because his argument is flawed. He probably knows it himself but won't admit to it.

Avalon's site is hardly in an area that is "undeveloped." Like sfenn said, besides the Toren just right across the street, you've got the Metrotechs across Flatbush. It's also right in DT Brooklyn, so how "undeveloped" can it really be?

If anything, that site with its convergence of three major thoroughfares, is begging for something visually stunning but instead we get something grotesque.

Give it up BrooklynLove and admit it, you know you are dead wrong.

[BrooklynLove]

AN - down the block from projects and the BQE and bridge entrances in an immediate area recently formerly dedicated to car washes and storage that is entirely dependent on an influx of new residents and retail businesses following the new buildings. this area is the definition of risk for a developer - transformative development. btw this transforming area development strategy is avalon's NYC MO (LIC, new rochelle, LES, morningside heights) so maybe that'll give you some insight into the reasoning behind the general asthetics of their NYC developments.

i'll leave the architecting to you, you leave the valuations to me.

as for toren - BFC figured that they could push the price envelope and justify the hightened costs. and now they're paying dearly for that gamble.

[ap307]

AN - down the block from projects and the BQE and bridge entrances in an immediate area recently formerly dedicated to car washes and storage that is entirely dependent on an influx of new residents and retail businesses following the new buildings. this area is the definition of risk for a developer - transformative development. btw this transforming area development strategy is avalon's NYC MO (LIC, new rochelle, LES, morningside heights) so maybe that'll give you some insight into the reasoning behind the general asthetics of their NYC developments.

i'll leave the architecting to you, you leave the valuations to me.

as for toren - BFC figured that they could push the price envelope and justify the hightened costs. and now they're paying dearly for that gamble.

As somone who will hopefully be living in the area from this coming summer, I'm happy that Avalon Greene is coming up. Sometimes you need a catalyst to help speed along a process, and if Avalon attracts other, better looking, developments and higher end retail to the area, I'm perfectly happy with one (or more) mediocre looking buildings.

But I have to disagree with BL's last comment on Toren - when I went into contract, the prices on Toren's apartments (on $/sqft basis) were significantly lower than what was on offer at Oro, so it's not as if Toren is not price competitive. Plus, with competition from Oro, BellTell (and more tangentially, Forte, Bridge Street), Toren's rather distinctive nature - that no one on this board is arguing with - is probably one of the reasons it was able to reach 55%+ in contract in the nastiest economic environment in decades. Toren definitely mis-timed its entry into the market, but now that it finds itself in this position, it can at least rely on it's good looks and unique design to separate itself from the competition...

[BrooklynLove]

Sometimes you need a catalyst to help speed along a process, and if Avalon attracts other, better looking, developments and higher end retail to the area, I'm perfectly happy with one (or more) mediocre looking buildings.

YES


when I went into contract, the prices on Toren's apartments (on $/sqft basis) were significantly lower than what was on offer at Oro, so it's not as if Toren is not price competitive. Plus, with competition from Oro, BellTell (and more tangentially, Forte, Bridge Street), Toren's rather distinctive nature - that no one on this board is arguing with - is probably one of the reasons it was able to reach 55%+ in contract in the nastiest economic environment in decades.

The initial OP (and early amendment) pricing is not where the developer was planning on being - those prices are lower in order to prime the pump - they're not indicative of planned cash flow prrojections. Also apples and oranges - compare initial OP pricing among the buildings and let me know where you come out.

As for the 55+% figure - just pick a number - % in contract is all over the map everytime this subject comes up. The true story will be told once closing prices hit ACRIS. You need to understand that buyers are likely going into contract now (and for a few months now) below ask and some may even be able to renegotiate lower than contract price at closing if they can't get financing - that's prob BFC's choice (depending on the contract of course).

From my posts hopefully you realize that I'm a huge fan of Toren and the future of downtown BK. I just think that a larger dose of reality right now would go a long way toward bringing more buyers through the showroom and moving units.

[antinimby]

Build ugly because we don't want to spend too much because it's got projects nearby.

That's laughable and at the same time, so pathetic of an excuse.

BrooklynLove, you are really just an apologist for cheapskate developers with bad taste and a total disregard for the city/neighborhood in which they seek to profit from.

First, Avalon Bay's track record is full of garbage. They are not transforming. None of those areas are undesirable. This intersection won't be better with them. Another developer building the same size building would accomplish the same thing.

Neither is the St. John's site or LIC or New Rochelle or the LES. If anything, the areas would be better off without them and with someone else instead.

Someone else would have put up better designed, better looking buildings. Their crummy garbage brings down the neighborhood.

They're not adding, they're subtracting.

As for the Toren, let's keep separate the outstanding design and the economic times we are in. They are unrelated. They (or anyone else) have no control over how the economy goes. Still they have done well and I'm certain they are not having any sales problem. The superior design no doubt will have something to do with that as well.

It's the butt-ugly Avalon that should be worried.

[BrooklynLove]

AN - If we all could only live in your bubble world of endless resources and zero opportunity cost.

[antinimby]

It doesn't cost any more for better design. Show me how much more the Oro cost per buildable square foot than the Avalon and then you can make that claim.

The fact is that it just takes the desire/care from the part of the developer and from the architect, talent/vision, not money. That's just a baloney excuse.

A great example to use is the MTA and compare them with some other better run mass transit systems around the world in Europe and Asia. Those European and Asian agencies probably don't have nearly as much money at their disposal as the MTA but yet they can do so much better, it's not even funny.

The same goes for banks, companies, stores, or just about any entity.

The bad organizations always comes up with excuses: it's the money, it's the weather, it's the taxes, it's the air, it's the people, yadda, yadda. The good organizations just do their job well.

You have a poor man's mentality. Downtown Brooklyn could be so much greater than it is or will be. The Metrotechs, FCR's Atlantic Terminal/Center, Avalon, McSam/Kaufman twin hotel, 111 Lawrence - they're killing the place.

That's the opportunity cost that is lost. We will never know how great the place would have been if even those horrible projects were only one level better.

Sad that someone who supposedly loves the area so much would not want the best for it.

[sfenn1117]

Bottom line BL, you, me and AN all call brooklyn home. We're all in favor of the project - 600+ new apartments that will inject some energy into the edge of downtown. But why shouldn't we demand quality architecture? Brick is fine, a box is to be expected. But there's no excuse for cheap exposed floor plates, wavy windows, and obnoxious visible hvac for a 40 story tower.

Avalon Bay is just a broken record with the buildings it throws up because no one waves a finger. We shouldn't have to settle with the "architecture" they present to us. And just a reminder, they are assembling a plot close to the CityPoint site....and that could be even larger than this.

[antinimby]

Holy crap! There's going to be another, bigger one? :mad:

There ought to be a law against this sort of Avalon scourge.

[sfenn1117]

November 25, 2008
United Land Unloading Bridge Street Site to Avalon Bay?


With all the retail tenants now cleared out of the Al Laboz-owned buildings at Bridge and Willoughby Streets, the way should have been cleared for Laboz's United Land to embark on a massive development project on the site. Or, as has been speculated, he could sell the cluster of properties to another group, which is what it's starting to look like might be happening. At the beginning of this month, it turns out, Laboz sold one of the buildings that sits smack in the middle of the footprint to none other than Avalon Bay, the national REIT that's already developing a large rental project at the corner of Flatbush and Myrtle. Avalon closed on 381 Bridge Street, a 3,800-square-foot tenement building, for $5,125,000, a price that looks expensive until you realize that it comes with an extra 26,000 square feet of air rights, courtesy of the Downtown rezoning. So far, there are no records of any of the other 10 lots in the footprint changing hands, but it's hard to believe that this isn't the first step in a larger transaction that would see Avalon putting up a project approaching 800,000 square feet next door to City Point. Mr. Laboz did not respond to our request for clarification.

Big Drill Gets Down On Bridge Street [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark
Massive Bridge Street Tower In The Works? [Brownstoner]

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/11/huh_laboz_sells.php

[Tectonic]

That Bridge Street site does look awfully quiet. An L shaped plot here around St Joseph would be bigger that Avalon Ft Greene.

Meanwhile 80 DeKalb rises

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3105/3137823002_3d15db5791.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3106/3137822424_c2df2b6a2f.jpg?v=0

[BrooklynLove]

Sad that someone who supposedly loves the area so much would not want the best for it.

I never said that I don't want every building to be a work of art - those are your words.

[antinimby]

With another Avalon coming, adding to an already long roster (Metrotechs, FCR's Atlantic Terminal/Center, Avalon Fort Greene, McSam/Kaufman twin hotel, 111 Lawrence) of garbage, DT Brooklyn is going to be one of sh*ttiest looking downtowns out there, right up there with Newark or Stamford.

[Tectonic]

Stamford isn't that bad, 70'sish but I like it better than Brooklyn's new stuff.

[BrooklynLove]

With another Avalon coming, adding to an already long roster (Metrotechs, FCR's Atlantic Terminal/Center, Avalon Fort Greene, McSam/Kaufman twin hotel, 111 Lawrence) of garbage, DT Brooklyn is going to be one of sh*ttiest looking downtowns out there, right up there with Newark or Stamford.

Lucky for you that you don't live there then. Lucky for me that I do.

[antinimby]

^ Even non-residents of DT Brooklyn have to look at those sh*tty buildings every time they go to/come from Manhattan.



That is very true Sky. Perhaps the fact that most of those buildings were built back in the 70's and 80's may have something to do with it.

It is sad though that 70's Stamford is neater looking than 2010's DT Brooklyn.

[Tectonic]

Even some basic glass towers a la Sheldon Solow (http://solowresidential.com/) would be better that the stuff DT Bk is getting now.

[BrooklynLove]

Sobfest. You people need something that's actually bad to cry about.

[ZippyTheChimp]

So you've never complained in this forum about the way anything looked, or just not anything in DT Brooklyn?

[BrooklynLove]

I probably spend most of my time complaining, complaining about AN. All love.

[Tectonic]

^ LOL! I'm just saying...glad it's being built but 111 Lawrence for example is not looking very good so far. It looks like its going to be some REALLY cheap architecture. Atlantic Yards in its original form was a big loss in more ways than one.

[sfenn1117]

^recent pics?

[BrooklynLove]

^ LOL! I'm just saying...glad it's being built but 111 Lawrence for example is not looking very good so far. It looks like its going to be some REALLY cheap architecture. Atlantic Yards in its original form was a big loss in more ways than one.

I won't spend my energy sticking up for 111 Lawrence. That's one where I'm just hoping for not awful. Problem is that it's so darn big.

[Tectonic]

I'm thinking because of the materials, it may be a lot worst than Avalon, which I'm softening my position on because of the 'front lawns' etc. Flatbush Avenue can definitely use some trees. BTW Sfenn see the 111 Lawrence thread.

This is Avalon Ft Greene

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3283/3140353140_04a0be8082_o.jpg

for now, in Toren's shadow
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3133/3139522855_c68c5670c4_o.jpg

[Tectonic]

Oh and here's

Be@Schermerhorn
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3283/3140353058_00f7863582_o.jpg

and Sheraton with Aloft just crawling out the ground.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/3140352754_91435d4dfb_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3128/3140352988_9a6b041cf8_o.jpg

[sfenn1117]

Nice job skylimitone. Admittedly, for a Kaufman hotel, Brooklyn dodged a bullet. It's mediocre, the best we could have hoped for. No crazy tri-color brick or dumb setback, not even hvac vents! It's acceptable, imo. antinimby?

[antinimby]

Agreed, it's bad but not horrifyingly bad and for a Kaufman/McSam, we should all be thankful for that at least. I even think the stepped-base is somewhat interesting.

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3971&d=1176587509

Sad though that it has come to the point--from seeing so much bad architecture--that we have to celebrate ones that are bad but aren't really, really bad. :(

[BrooklynLove]

AntiN - hurry up and book for the opening while there are still rooms available:

https://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1727

[antinimby]

You won't find me patronizing a McSam dump.

[BrooklynRider]

Downtown Building Boom Is In ‘Suspended Animation’
by Dennis Holt (Holt@brooklyneagle.net), published online 12-29-2008


Some Projects Have Come To a Halt, But Others Proceed
By Dennis Holt
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN — A review of the large number of building projects announced for Downtown Brooklyn suggests that projects accounting for about $3 billion are in a “state of suspended animation.”

These are projects listed in the portfolio of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, and the prediction is based on “best guesses” — very few public announcements have been made, chiefly because most developers don’t really know what to announce.

This uncertainty is unusual for Downtown Brooklyn in recent years. The boom seemed to boom on year after year, and looking ahead to a new year was not difficult.

This time, firm forecasts are hard to come by because of the drought in the credit flow and the ragged state of the economy. Most experts believe the credit crunch will begin to end in July, but no one really knows when the economy overall will begin to stir.

The $3 billion projection does not include projects in residential communities. For example, as the Brooklyn Eagle has reported, the Court-Union Street residential project in Carroll Gardens has come to a halt. The developer, the Clarett Group, has simply reported there would be a “delay.” (Clarett, however, is moving along with a major residential project on Lawrence Street in Downtown Brooklyn.) Two major projects account for more than half of the $3 billion number — the Atlantic Yards project and City Point at the former Albee Square site.

Atlantic Yards: Don’t Write Obit Yet

Opponents to Atlantic Yards have been trumpeting the lack of progress, with a local newspaper even preparing an “obit.” The legal issues, the last in an interminable list, are expected to be resolved once again in Forest City’s favor. What happens after that is up in the air, but many are convinced the city will not permit the loss of a major league professional franchise — the Nets.

The City Point project site, which would anchor all the development projects in the old Downtown business core, is ready for construction, but nothing has happened on the site for some time. The public building projects will most likely continue, and interestingly may benefit from the Obama economic initiatives. These include the complete overhaul of the Flatbush Avenue Extension, a makeover of the Fulton Mall area, several open space projects — parks and plazas — and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

There is sufficient funding to complete landscaping of Piers 1 and 6 on the waterfront park as well as work on Pier 5.

Two other major development activities need mentioning. The rezoning plan for Gowanus will continue and be completed in 2009. No capital money will be needed for changes on pieces of paper; that will come later.

The mystery of Coney Island may well remain that through the year. While the city has produced a development plan, its execution depends on making a deal with developer Joe Sitt, who owns the core property in the planned entertainment area.

For the first time in more than a decade, observers of the Downtown scene will be keeping track of projects that don’t make it, compared to past experiences of wondering what new building will come next.

Whatever the case may be, 2009 promises to be an interesting year, maybe even a surprising one.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008

[Tectonic]

Antinimby this ones for you, sorry:





January 7, 2009

Avalon Buys More Bridge Street Props from United Land (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/01/avalon_buys_mor.php)

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/avalon-bridge-street-0109.jpg
Based upon two recent closings, it seems all but certain that Virginia-based Avalon Bay (http://www.avalonbay.com/) is in the process of purchasing a large cluster of properties at the corner of Bridge and Willoughby Streets in Downtown Brooklyn from Al Laboz's United Land (http://unitedaland.com/) that could result in the construction of an 800,000-square-foot building. The deal first caught our attention in November when the two parties closed on the transfer of 381 Bridge Street for $5,125,000. Now, public records show that Avalon purchased another two parcels from United Land in December: 379 Bridge Street (aka 88 Willoughby) for $6,283,000 and 387 Bridge Street for $11,639,000; the two properties come with total buildable square feet of 36,000 and 72,000, respectively.
United Land Unloading Bridge Street Site to Avalon? (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/11/huh_laboz_sells.php) [Brownstoner] GMAP (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=379+Bridge+Street,+Brooklyn&sll=40.682721,-73.990409&sspn=0.00812,0.013089&g=379+Bridge+Street,+Brooklyn&ie=UTF8&ll=40.692597,-73.98526&spn=0.008119,0.013089&z=16&iwloc=addr)
Photo by Scott Bintner for Property Shark (http://www.propertyshark.com/mason/nyc/Reports2/showsection.html?propkey=120836)

[BrooklynLove]

Keep watching this location.

[Tectonic]

This is not a bad location.

[BrooklynLove]

that is an understatement. huge value to this spot. may even need to go out and buy me some avb.

[bklynite]

http://s3images.coroflot.com/user_files/individual_files/43170_vbJHozLyevOapbuZWpbe9cTX7.jpg

and, they're off...

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/01/more_evidence_t.php

does that graphic say EIGHTY stories? EDIT: it's 60... not 80.

[antinimby]

Looks like a taller version of the be@schermerhorn, which is bland but considering that it's an Avalon Bay product, we should be grateful it isn't horrid (like Avalon Fort Greene).


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3283/3140353058_00f7863582_o.jpg

[BrooklynLove]

Kinda reminds me of the W downtown that's going up right now.

AN just placed some buy on open orders with his stockbroker. AVB baby.

[Tectonic]

Doesn't look too bad at all. Looks like it would brighten the area up. There are enough reds and browns in Downtown BK. Based on the rendering it beats Avalon Morningside Park as the best 'AVB' development I've seen. Oh and Brooklynlove I'll keep watching....

[Stroika]

We'll have to see what it looks like when it's built. I don't trust Avalon Bay to do anything but cheap out and build something hideous. The existing building, if cleaned up, would be a much sexier number than this clunker, IMO. Better bones, as they say.

[BrooklynLove]

The existing building, if cleaned up, would be a much sexier number than this clunker, IMO. Better bones, as they say.

You're aware that the existing "building" is a collection of 3 story walk-ups, right?

[sfenn1117]

But the Brownstoner post indicated the architect was not Perkins Eastman, which Avalon Bay has ALWAYS used in NYC. (Yes, arquictectonica was involved on the bowery, but those are perkins eastman designs).

Why would this be different? And then why wouldn't it look the same as the rest? I'd be thrilled if I was wrong.

[antinimby]

Maybe they heard me and are now trying to do better?

(If that is the case, then Brooklyn and the whole city owes me big time.) ;)

Anyway, going from Perkins Eastman to SLCE is not too big of a leap (in quality of architecture), if at all.

[Stroika]

s
You're aware that the existing "building" is a collection of 3 story walk-ups, right?

Yep. That's what makes Brooklyn Brooklyn, and not Dallas, DallasLove. :)

[BrooklynLove]

but this is downtown brooklyn not clinton hill. jerseylove.

[BrooklynLove]

City Spends Almost $40 Million on Two Downtown Lots (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/01/two_big_buys_do.php)

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/408-Albee-Map-0109.jpg
http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/willoughby-park-0109.jpgThe action keeps getting hotter in Downtown Brooklyn. In recent days we've reported several significant transactions between United Land and Avalon Bay on the block bounded by Bridge, Willoughby and Duffield. Now comes news of two mega-deals one block east between Duffield and Albee Square. At the end of December, the City of New York paid $23,500,000 to buy 213 Duffield Street, a 16,500-square-foot lot with about 200,000 square feet of buildable floor area; in a separate transaction, the city also dropped $15,000,000 for a contiguous 8,746-square-foot lot at 408 Albee Square with about 100,000 square feet of air rights. All told: $38,500,000 for 300,000 buildable square feet. Anyone know what the city has up its sleeve? Update: As per the first commenter, this does look like where the city is planning to create Willoughby Square Park (http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/dwnbklyn2/dwnbklynplan12.shtml); there is, we believe, also supposed to be a parking garage underneath the park. Thanks, Zinka.
408 Albee Square (http://propertyshark.com/mason/nyc/Reports2/showsection.html?propkey=120864) [Property Shark] GMAP (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=408+Albee+Square,+Brooklyn&sll=40.663322,-73.960884&sspn=0.011117,0.010192&g=408+Albee+Square,+Brooklyn&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=addr)
213 Duffield Street (http://propertyshark.com/mason/nyc/Reports2/showsection.html?propkey=120859) [Property Shark] GMAP (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=213+Duffield+Street,+Brooklyn&sll=40.691032,-73.983488&sspn=0.011112,0.010192&g=213+Duffield+Street,+Brooklyn&ie=UTF8&ll=40.691865,-73.984315&spn=0.011112,0.010192&z=16&iwloc=addr)
Posted by Brownstoner (http://www.brownstoner.com/profile/Brownstoner) at 10:01 AM (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/01/two_big_buys_do.php) | Comments (11) (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/01/two_big_buys_do.php#comments)
Categories: Development (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/development/), Downtown Brooklyn (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/downtown_brooklyn/)

[ASchwarz]

s

Yep. That's what makes Brooklyn Brooklyn, and not Dallas, DallasLove. :)

You think a three-floor building is NYC, and a highrise apartment building is Dallas?

Have you been to Dallas? It's 99.9% lowrise sprawl.

If you want Dallas on the Hudson, you would want to preserve the lowrise crap on the site.

If you want NYC, you would want to build apartments and get some appropriate density, especially next to transit.

[Stroika]

I don't think Avalon is capable of "giving" this city either something that is characteristically "New York" or something that advances or improves New York. I don't want to idealize three-story Downtown Bklyn tenements; a 70-story building here would be fantastic, if it were designed well. But I don't think Avalon will design anything well. They'll design it cheaply -- Brownstoner's rendering is a bit small so it's difficult to judge it, but it could easily look like something I'd expect to see in a South American favela or South Korean city's outskirts. Meanwhile, fairly lowrise tenements give Downtown Brooklyn its distinct identity Maybe brokers don't understand the worth of that, but having a unique, marketable sense of place is actually economically valuable.

Here's what Avalon cut its teeth on. This one's in Jersey, but they have literally hundreds of these cookie-cutter exurban-sprawl developments across the country, many in Southern California's Inland Empire, one of the epicenters of the Building Boom From Hell that we've just been through.

http://www.avaloncommunities.com/avaloncore/images/mainpics/mainpic_123.jpg

[BrooklynLove]

You think a three-floor building is NYC, and a highrise apartment building is Dallas?

Have you been to Dallas? It's 99.9% lowrise sprawl.

If you want Dallas on the Hudson, you would want to preserve the lowrise crap on the site.

If you want NYC, you would want to build apartments and get some appropriate density, especially next to transit.

Don't try to make sense of it. The whole "high rise buildings don't belong in brooklyn sentiment" is completely without logic when applied to downtown bk. Smacks of selfish nimbyism lacking any comprehension of the boro's historical development or opportunities for economic growth moving forward.

[Stroika]

Read the above. I'd hardly call it NIMBYism. It'd be fantastic to see something like the Piano design for City Tech built here.

I'd just rather not see Downtown BK not look like a 1980s South Korean city

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/36/123271513_a3f3a2b8de.jpg?v=1144169000

which is what that rendering borders on (generic, boxy white building).

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/avalon-willoughby-square-0109.jpg

A concern for quality and not giving Brooklyn this (on the left)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1165/1024819310_c9b449941d.jpg?v=0

instead of this

http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek08/0509/0509d_brooklyn2_b.jpg

(which still could be improved greatly, e.g., by not having crappy-looking balconies) isn't NIMBYism, especially since I live nowhere near here.

It's called having the sense to realize the city should push developers -- especially profit-hungry exurban-sprawl builders like Avalon -- to deliver something a little better. Because Avalon, if left to its own devices, drops turds. Just because somebody has an opinion about architecture and thinks that architecture has the power to greatly impact a city and the life of its residents doesn't mean he's a NIMBY. Why shouldn't private individuals speak out and demand that developers do better, show the market actually has standards rather than just accepting whatever garbage is given to it (and demand Brooklyn be Paris, not the banlieux; San Fran, not Oakland; today's Berlin, not Honecker's East Berlin)? Avalon Bay doesn't give a rat's ass about what they're turning Brooklyn into; they just want to sell 75% of these apartments and get the f$*# out.

[BrooklynLove]

Now you're backtracking and speaking more generally.

Your statement was that this:
http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/avalon-bridge-street-0109.jpg

would be better than this:
http://s3images.coroflot.com/user_files/individual_files/43170_vbJHozLyevOapbuZWpbe9cTX7.jpg

right about dead center in the middle of downtown.

[Stroika]

I don't know what the second "this" is -- either the image file was corrupted or my browser isn't showing it. But if it's the Avalon tower, then yes, I stand by my words. I'd rather have the three-story apartment building than the Avalon mess. I know what Avalon does. It's uniformly crap. Housing projects for bankers. Although now that they're all f&$%ed, I don't know who'll be in these housing projects. Maybe they'll be subsidized housing -- real projects. You take what's there now, clean it up, put a garden on the roof, take the bakery up a notch in class, put in an Intermix or Scoop and a bar with sidewalk seating in the summer and you've got a winning recipe. There's potential in that building. In Avalon all I see is generic boxes, a half-block long TDBank and a half-block long Duane Reade. I'd say dashed dreams, but I don't think there were ever any dreams in this mix to begin with. Sad stuff.

[BrooklynRider]

I can't see it clearly, but it does look like we would gain a new MODERN subway entrance on that corner. That's a nice perk, considering we have crap stations in Brooklyn.

[BrooklynLove]

Yeah, that's definitely another Lawrence Street R entrance - nice catch.

[BrooklynLove]

Stroika, Antinimby - here is your chance to get in while the deals are still H-O-T. http://www.avalonfortgreene.com/

[antinimby]

Yeah, I'll get in there all right--to set the Avalon Fort Greene on fire and burn it all down ala the trader at 7WTC (except I wouldn't get caught). http://www.acura-legend.com/vbulletin/images/smilies/angryfire.gif

[BrooklynLove]

More here. And more to come. What was Hannibal's line from the A-team?

January 29, 2009

City Secures Rest of Willoughby Square Park Properties (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/01/city_secures_re.php)

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/willoughby-square-park-0109.jpg
It looks like we were on to something when we reported the city's acquisition (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/01/two_big_buys_do.php) of two properties in the Willoughby Square Park (http://www.dbpartnership.org/lookingahead/improvements/parks) footprint earlier this month. Now the rest of the pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place: Public records show that the city has taken title to nine properties through the process of eminent domain. The properties include 392, 402, 404, 406, 416, and 418 Albee Square as well as 223, 225 and 229 Duffield Street. Based on our understanding of how the eminent domain process works, the owners will not receive full compensation from the city until appraisals are completed. A few of these buildings still have some rent-controlled tenants in them who are being relocated by HPD. As for the city's plans for the project, the RFP process (http://www.nycedc.com/Web/AvailableProjects/RFPsRFQsRFEIs/WilloughbySquareParkandUndergroundGarageDevelopmen tOpportunityRFP.htm) for both the landscape design of the 1.25-acre park and the development of the 700-car underground parking garage have been completed but the contracts have not been awarded or announced yet. Update: The Underground Railroad property is not part (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/11/breaking227_duf.php) of the park parcel.
City Spends Almost $40 Million on Two Downtown Lots (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/01/two_big_buys_do.php) [Brownstoner]
Willoughby Square Park Plan (http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/dwnbklyn2/dwnbklynplan12.shtml) [Department of City Planning]
Parks & Open Space (http://www.dbpartnership.org/lookingahead/improvements/parks) [Downtown Brooklyn Partnership]




Posted by Brownstoner (http://www.brownstoner.com/profile/Brownstoner) at 11:29 AM (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/01/city_secures_re.php) | Comments (4) (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/01/city_secures_re.php?comments=10#comments)
Categories: Development (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/development/), Downtown Brooklyn (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/downtown_brooklyn/)

[Derek2k3]

The Albee Square site is a giant black hole.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3336/3246583966_d36e69f1c1_o.jpg

At least there's plenty of "light and air" for the surrounding blocks.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3322/3245755507_694e122def_o.jpg


Oro
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3528/3246583944_63356acce5_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3374/3246583952_7efce4f2f5_o.jpg

Toren
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3452/3246583960_71ed00a63f_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3495/3246583938_508978fd46_o.jpg


AFG
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3458/3246583914_6c88c30485_o.jpg

[BrooklynLove]

The Albee Square site is a giant black hole.

Patience. All in due course.

[Derek2k3]

Avalon Willoughby Square

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3310/3248371486_e56000842b_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3110/3248371490_400cd470c1_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3353/3248371494_5eaf7e3216_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3102/3248371498_7fa59fd37a_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3422/3248371506_da4756aa9c_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3497/3248371512_9a7d245d0e_o.jpg

This is a loss in my opinion.

[Derek2k3]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3519/3248399290_78e02f5cbb_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3087/3248399296_3fb8c581d3_o.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3356/3248399322_08aa35f386_o.jpg


Have they been doing anything here at 388 Bridge Street?
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3450/3248399298_a1ba90e151_o.jpg

[speedy1979]

It appears that whatever was going to built there has fallen victim to the economy.:(

[BrooklynRider]

My trek through the city today seems to have followed the path of Derek.

Starting at Atlantic Ave...

The LIRR Terminal is in its 10th or 11th year of construction. They must have blind guys in wheelchairs building it. The pace is excruciatingly slow...

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2656.jpg

80 Dekalb is pushing it way upward next to the Forte.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2653.jpg

This crane is waiting for some action sitting behind the buildings at the apex of Flatbush and Fulton Street...

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2657.jpg

[BrooklynRider]

80 Dekalb is picking up speed, but is not moving anywhere near as quick as Avalon Ft. Greene.

80 Dekalb...

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2658.jpg

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2659.jpg

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2661.jpg

[BrooklynRider]

Avalon Ft. Green will surpass the height of Toren (ugly wins this race).

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2665.jpg

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2674.jpg

The monster...

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2666.jpg

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2668.jpg

[BrooklynRider]

Gene Kaufmann... cough.. cough... hack... hack...

His first Brooklyn baby nearing completion. I reluctantly admit that he's designed worse buildings than this. I'm not sure if I should find some sort of satisfaction in this or not. It's like trying to figure out if whether you should be thankful you've been kicked in the stomach out of appreciation for the fact that they missed your balls.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2664.jpg

The ugly step-sister rises, soon to become a siamese twin...

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2675.jpg

I saw it and automatically thought of a wound...

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2676.jpg

[speedy1979]

I guess the good news is that the people working on that project still have jobs!

[BrooklynLove]

This crane is waiting for some action sitting behind the buildings at the apex of Flatbush and Fulton Street...
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/NYC%202-7-2009/DSCN2657.jpg

I think that's the crane that was being used at 80 Dekalb - they moved it over when the biggie went up. Maybe Ratner is sticking it here for later use with the arena ...

[zinka]

I think that's the crane that was being used at 80 Dekalb - they moved it over when the biggie went up. Maybe Ratner is sticking it here for later use with the arena ...

I don't think so. This is the site that Dermot bought last year. This mini-crane has been here for a while, but I don't think it has anything to do with 80 Dekalb, which has different ownership.

[zinka]

Avalon Ft. Green will surpass the height of Toren (ugly wins this race).


They'll be the same height.