Author: Halden

Things Get Worse at Domino

03/21/2012 | Comment

Crain’s reports this morning that the partners in the Domino project are in court, with Isaac Katan, the long-silent partner in the deal, alleging mismanagement, “misdirection and inaction” on the part of CPC Resources. According to Katan, CPCR has nothing to show for the over $100 million in equity and financing that the project has received. Now CPCR is trying to restructure the project’s $120 million in debt, in a deal that (according to the plaintiff) leaves Katan out in the cold:

Last month, CPC Resources told Katan it would enter a Letter of Intent that would allow Pacific Coast to restructure its debt. Under the arrangement, Pacific Coast would be able to convert its loan into an equity interest in the project, therefore reducing Katan’s interest in the project to 8% from 50%. Katan said in the filing that it never consented to such an agreement. Also, the new structure would give the lender the right to remove the current partners in the development from the project at any time and without reason.

But, at the same time, leaves CPCR with a guarantee of something:

But CPC Resources would still be paid an annual management fee of about $750,000, plus expenses.

Suddenly, even CPCR’s supporters seem to be having second thoughts:

“The tenants associations and the area residents, who worked hard to support Domino with its 660 affordable housing [units], are shocked that this project is now in jeopardy of collapse because of the spending spree and unaccountability by CPC,” said Isaac Abraham, a Williamsburg community leader and housing advocate. “Residents hope and pray that 660 affordable units and the entire Domino project doesn’t go up in the refinery smokestack.”

Of course, the 660 units were never guaranteed, and are certainly not part of the entitlements that CPCR has been looking to protect.

Sweet Movie

Aaron Short interviews the makers of the Domino Effect, a (still) topical documentary about the New Domino approval process. I’ve seen the picture in preview, and it is very well done and quite powerful.

Heart the G

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is joining the effort to continue the G train extension. Unless the MTA decides otherwise, the extra stops on the Crosstown Local into south Brooklyn are scheduled to go away very soon.

Now that the construction is nearing completion, the M.T.A. is considering discontinuing the G-train extension that enabled riders in Greenpoint to go all the way to Kensington without switching trains.

heart-the-G.jpg


[Via Brownstoner]

Stapleton is the New Williamsburg

Correction: March 18, 2012

In an earlier version of this article, a timeline misidentified a Williamsburg diner in a photo from 2000. The restaurant was Relish, not Miss Williamsburg Diner.

Lured by Profits

03/15/2012 | Comment

Charles Bagli has an in-depth piece in today’s Times on the fall of Community Preservation Corp. There is not much in here that I hadn’t been hearing in bits and pieces over the past few months, but still, seeing it all together is jus incredible. Real estate deals like Domino (though Domino is far from the only one) have almost shut down one of the most important conduits for funding affordable housing in the NY region. As I’ve said in the past (and despite their claims to the contrary), CPC is a funder of affordable housing, not a builder of housing – clearly they lost focus on their core mission.

For anyone who thinks CPCR (the for-profit arm at the root of the problem) is going to do the Domino project, let along do it as the community was promised, this has to be pretty sobering.

Whole Foods Confirmed

Aaron Short – who is clearly on a roll – confirms the Whole Foods on North 4th Street rumor. Commence the all-out Williamsburg-is-over discussion.

50 Best Blocks in Brooklyn

03/14/2012 | Comment

The L Magazine has published its annual list of the best blocks in Brooklyn – an eclectic and fun 29-page clickfest through the entire borough. Some annotated local highlights:

11. Best Example of Gentrified Ugliness: North 3rd between Berry and Bedford. Quadriad’s development on the south side street (fully rented out on the retail side, but still no one living there – even though parts have been completed for over a year). “Looks like a public high school airlifted from the Des Moines suburbs, c. 1996.”

12. Best Example of Gentrified Perfection: Wythe Street [sic] between Metropolitan and North 3rd. A block away from #11, and a good choice. But I would have gone with North 3rd between Wythe and Berry – a great mix of new buildings, converted lofts and strong local retail throughout (which the L tags as one of the 5 best blocks in Brooklyn to live on, so I guess we kind of agree on this one – but what’s up with the photo of Wythe?).

13. Best Block for Illustrating the Multiple Stages of Gentrification: South 2nd street between Wythe Avenue and Kent Avenue. A lot going on here, from Stage 1 through endgame (though the preschool dates to the pre-gentrification days of the neighborhood, and the “Soho-esque trattoria doubles as a job-training facility for local residents).

17. Best Block for Accidental Voyeurism: Grand Street between Driggs and Roebling. True. Excellent picture choice too (William H. Gayor’s ca. 1888 Tuttle Department Store, a cast-iron beauty that has absolutely nothing to do with the accidental voyeurism in question).

25. Greenest Block: Grand Street between Bedford and Driggs. Never thought of it that way, but I guess it works.

And my favorite of the 50:

1. Best Dead-End Block: Central Avenue between Cooper and Trinity Cemetery. Perfect.



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Passing the Sugar

Aaron Short does some good reporting to advance the Domino story. Among the enticing new nuggets is word that the owners had a deal to sell the project for $200 million back in December. According to Short, that deal fell through after some of the 15 investors on the buyer’s side “got skittish about the project’s finances and zoning variances”.