Heroic Williamsburg Condo Owners Reminisce on “Wild West” Days of 2011

Via Gawker, an excerpt from a message board for parents at the Edge:

Believe it it not, two to three years ago when many of us moved into our apartments, we were pioneers and this section of Williamsburg was still the Wild, Wild West. We were surrounded by warehouses, vacant lots, empty retail stores and half-finished/abandoned condo projects.

Believe it or not, some of us can remember when the Edge was a garbage dump (literally), the waterfront was closed off to the community, and people in Williamsburg fought to make the waterfront open to all.

Good times.

Stores Go to the Edge

The Wall Street Journal has details on the new retail that is coming to the Edge. These include a name for the grocery store we learned about last month (“Brooklyn Harvest Market, which will focus on organic produce” – seriously, who doesn’t focus on organic produce in Brooklyn?), a bike store and a “contemporary Italian restaurant, espresso bar and bakery called Fabbrica, run by Alberto Baudo, owner of the Acqua restaurant and wine bar” in the Seaport district.

For Williamsburg Renters, Look But Don’t Swim

Renters in the affordable housing components of the Edge and Northside Piers pay rents well below market rates (some as low as $398 per month, according to the Times). But they don’t have access to the amenities on the luxury side of the development.

The Edge’s New Math – Now Over 50% Sold!

04/05/2011 | Comment

Earlier this week, I questioned the numeracy of the Edge’s PR team. This was based on an article in the Brooklyn Eagle, which said the Edge was “approaching 50 percent sold” with only 160 of 565 units sold (which works out to 28% sold in the real world).

Today, Brownstoner reports that the Edge has sent out a press release announcing that they are now over 50% sold. Sounds like a good week for the Edge.

Well, not that good.

The latest numbers include contracts signed as well as closings (presumably the Eagle’s numbers should have included contracts as well). Adding contracts (100) to closings (165 now), the Edge says that it has “sold” 53% of its 500 units.

So, if you count your chickens before they hatch and lower your denominator, you too can increase your sales from 28% to 53% in a matter of days!

(Clearly, it is the Eagle’s math I should have been questioning, not the Edge’s.)

Two Northside Piers is 50% Sold

I keep hearing about how great sales are at the Edge, but next door, Toll Brothers’ Northside Piers project is quietly selling a lot of units.

Two Northside Piers, the second phase of the much better-looking waterfront development, is now 50% sold (one Northside Piers sold out ages ago). If my numbers (and theirs) are correct, Northside has sold more than 310 of about market-rate 450 units, or about 69% overall. Next door, the Edge has sold about 38% (“nearly 40%”!) of its 565 market-rate units.