Interesting (as in reality-challenged) take on the state of the Williamsburg waterfront by Crain’s:

The seven-block stretch of Kent Avenue running from North Third Street up to North 10th along the waterfront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is making a comeback. Activity on the strip—which became one of the borough’s hottest areas for residential development during the boom years, and something of a ghost town during the recession—is picking up again.

With the exception of 111 Kent (the zig-zag condo at North 7th and Kent), there wasn’t a single stalled project on the Williamsburg waterfront. 175 Kent started post-boom, and has been progressing steadily; same with 157 Kent, the skinny condo next door to the north. For the record, 80 Metropolitan, 56 Metropolitan, 175 Kent, 184 Kent, 157 Kent, Northside Piers 2, Edge South and Edge North were all constructed during the recession; Northside 1 and North 8 were finished before the recession (and 184 Kent was a condo-cum-rental well before the bust).

Four years after the opening of the Northside Piers luxury high-rise—the first of Toll Brothers Inc.’s planned three-building complex—55% of the 180 units are sold or in contract. Sales also are perking up next door at The Edge, where deals on 160 of the 565 units have closed and 100 are in contract.

I had to check the dateline on the article, but it really is April, 2011 (and not April 1). Clearly the numbers they are running for Northside Piers are for tower #2, which opened in 2010; tower #1 (was it really finished four years ago?) sold out long ago.

(At the Edge, the innumeracy seems to run in the opposite direction – according to their math (swallowed whole by the Eagle):

160 / 565 = .5

(OK, they did say “almost” 50% – I guess 28%, rounded up, is closer to 50% than 0%).)

Things are looking up on the waterfront in other ways too:

other pieces of the new residential strip are also coming together—including a soccer field in Bushwick Inlet Park along the waterfront, which is expected to be available to the public shortly.

Who were all those people playing on the field all last summer??

To reach trendy restaurants and hip bars, however, the new crowd still must walk over to Bedford Avenue or North Sixth Street and mingle with the old crowd.

OK – you didn’t really go to Williamsburg, did you? Maybe this really is an April 1 dateline after all.