Greenpointers has renderings for the new mixed affordable/market-rate development going in at the site of the former BRT trolley barn at 1133 Manhattan Avenue. I noted before the similarity of this project to 11 Broadway – turns out there is another connection in the architect (the design team behind 11 Broadway is now at Perkins Eastman).
Renderings: New Development at Manhattan and Box
Oslo Burned Out on Bedford!
Yikes – Oslo on Bedford Avenue is no more, gutted by a fire this morning. No one was hurt, and hopefully no one other than the coffee shop is out of a home (this is the base of a six-story apartment building). Very sad news on my old block.
Motorino Coming Soon
The pizza oven was just delivered to the new Broadway location (shame they had to get rid of the graffiti, though).
Williamsburg Home Prices up 174% Since 2004
Double digit increases in much of brownstone Brooklyn, but Williamsburg is the only neighborhood to break three digits (Greenpoint had the fourth-highest increase, checking in at 47%).
City is Seeking Long-Term Extension of Successful East River Ferry Service
The City has decided that the East River Ferry pilot program, started in June of 2011, has been such a success that they are going to make it permanent. To that end, they are issuing an RFP to find a a permanent operator – it is a competitive process, but they’d be hard-pressed to find a better operator than the one that they have now.
Meeting the requirements of the RFP could be a challenge, though:
Respondents to the RFP will be evaluated on the extent to which they can improve the existing service while significantly reducing or eliminating the need for public operating assistance. In addition, respondents have the opportunity to propose expansion of service, such as increased operating hours and new landing locations. [emphasis added]
Expanding service would be wonderful (personally, a ferry stop at Houston Street would be grand). But reducing public subsidies (currently about $3 million per year) would require a massive expansion in ridership (it is already exceeding all expectations), something that probably only happens when riders can make a free transfer to public transportation. More likely, reducing subsidies means raising fares (probably by at least a dollar a ride).
City’s Law Tracking Energy Use Yields Some Surprises
The City’s program to track energy use in large commercial buildings has some interesting results. Some new LEED buildings aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. In a city where buildings use far more energy than cars, and 2% of the buildings account for 45% of that energy expenditure, this stuff matters.
On the other hand, two venerated show horses from the 1930s, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building, sailed to an [Energy Star rating of] 84 and an 80 as a result of extensive upgrades of their insulation and mechanical systems.
By comparison, Lever House, a 1954 International Style glass tower, scored a 20. Keeping in mind that none of these buildings were built with energy efficiency in mind, it makes sense that a wall that is more than 50% masonry (as at Chrysler and ESB) will have better thermal properties than a wall of glass. (Lever House’s curtain wall was replaced within the past 10 or 15 years, so it is a somewhat apt comparison to the recently upgraded ESB – Seagram, which retains its original 1958 glass-and-metal facade, scored a 3!)
In Memoriam – 108 Cyclists and Pedestrians Killed in 2012
In 2012, victims whose lives were ended by reckless drivers ranged in age from 2 to 92. Two small boys were fatally struck as their horrified and helpless parents looked on. A high school football player with college prospects was run over by two drivers while riding his bike. A veteran UPS man on his regular rounds was crushed to death on a sidewalk. A grandmother of 22 who survived Auschwitz was killed by a driver in pursuit of a parking spot.
With murders at a historical low, the odds of a New Yorker being killed by a stranger with a car are probably greater than the odds of being “murdered” by a stranger.
Mapping Housing Segregation
Very neat ProPublica map analysis of housing segregation in major urban areas since the Great Migration, and how little impact the 1968 Fair Housing Act has had on that segregation.
The Biggest Real Estate Blunders of 2012
The Real Deal gives a nod to Isaac Katan for his failed bid to wring a few extra dollars out of the Domino deal, but somehow gives CPCR a pass.
New Affordable Development in Greenpoint
210 units of new housing will rise on the site of the former Brooklyn Heights Railroad Co. trolley barn at Manhattan between Box and Clay. The building (Crain’s says it’s a “tower”, but the R6A puts a 7-story cap on the whole thing) will have half the units set aside middle- and low-income residents, with the other half being market rate. I’m not sure if the income splits are exactly the same, but this mixed affordable/market-rate development scenario is a very similar set up to 11 Broadway.