In unsurprising news, the Williamsburg Hotel is not penciling out as developer Toby Moskovits thought it would. It really is not clear if this building is even finished. Is Shitshow an architectural style?
Williamsburg Hotel is Headed for Receivership
Sales Trouble at 184 Kent?
Interesting tidbit (I assume about 184 Kent) in a piece on the sale of Paul Manafort’s Soho condo:
“I think there are buyers who wouldn’t buy it or would be less interested because of it,” Harkov says, citing difficulties with selling off a Williamsburg, Brooklyn, property owned by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Several prospective buyers said they didn’t want to be a party to putting money in the family’s pocket.
$24 Million Deal for Greenpoint Avenue Walk-Ups
Three buildings in the Greenpoint Historic District go for $8 million apiece. The new owner plans to gut renovate the whole shebang, which presumably means the 52 tenants and their families will be looking for new homes (three units are rent stabilized – no word on what is in store for them).
East Williamsburg, Queens
PS 71, East Williamsburg, L. I.
Photo: via ebay
Map
I’m sure Kalmon Dolgin was just fluffing their listing, as Gothamist said, but, there is a bit of historical accuracy to the moniker. Historically, there was a village just over the Queens border that was called East Williamsburg (Long Island!), as the above postcard will attest. This was completely distinct from the enlarged area of the town (and later city) of Williamsburg east of Union Avenue, which was annexed to the original town of Williamsburg (west of Union) in 1835.
Prime Northside Rents $1,600 Higher Than Neighborhood’s Southside
Yet another very good reason to move to the Southside.
The spate of rent “surveys” coming out about Williamsburg and Greenpoint are by and large nothing but linkage fodder for the brokerages putting them together. The n in the equation is usually pretty low, rendering the whole thing statistically suspect in the first place. In the case of this latest report, the comparison of Northside to Southside is apples and oranges in so many ways.
North Brooklyn Start-Ups Find Office Space Is Scarce
Though there are plenty of start-ups that favor Williamsburg and Greenpoint, developers, local officials and real estate brokers say there is a dearth of office space. Most landlords, lured by the promise of building lucrative apartments in the increasingly popular residential area, are reluctant to devote space to commercial tenants who can pay little and might wither as quickly as they bloom.
“Industry” in Brooklyn is booming, it is just not the smokestack-type industry that we all associate with Brooklyn. Whether start-ups, artisanal manufacturing, food processing, or film production, there is a huge demand for “manufacturing” space in North Brooklyn. And a huge need – the more jobs that can be made local, the less demand there is on our transportation infrastructure.
Although many buildings have retail space on the first floor, upper-floor offices are hard to come by, according to several people who have recently looked… Part of the problem is zoning: though parts of Williamsburg and Greenpoint are zoned for mixed commercial and residential use, the zoning tilts residential.
Ironically, this was among the objections raised in the community response to the 2005 rezoning – in converting hundreds of blocks of outdated industrial zoning to largely residential use, the city was turning a mixed-use community into a bedroom community.
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%).
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.
OkCupid Co-Founder Pays $1.6 Million for Williamsburg Walk-up
Nice fence. That and the eccentric configuration of the yellow vinyl siding is a pretty clear indication that the building is a lot older than 1910.
NYC Housing Construction on Slow Road
According to REBNY, the decade is starting out slow in terms of new housing construction.
Williamsburg seems to be holding its own, however. Walking through the Southside today, it seemed as though every soft site between Broadway and Metropolitan was under active development.