Brooklyn

The city has officially approved a $3 million streetscaping plan as part of the overall plan to create a cultural district on the border of downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene, according to Crain’s New York. The plan, which will transform public spaces along several streets including Fulton Street, Ashland Place, Lafayette Avenue, will include ripping up the existing sidewalks and replacing them with dark stone slabs embedded with a sprinkling of lights. There will also be new seating and landscaping along a number of blocks north of Atlantic Avenue where patrons of popular institutions like the Brooklyn Academy of Music and BRIC arts and media gather. The idea is to turn that area into a cultural epicenter in Brooklyn, much like Lincoln Center in Manhattan, but comprised of several independent entities.
Find out more about Brooklyn's new cultural epicenter here

Real Estate Trends

June 18, 2014

Jared Kushner and LIVWRK Make Plans to Buy a Gowanus Property, Possibly for Luxury Condos

Jared Kushner and LIVWRK could soon be making their way to Gowanus. According to The Real Deal, the pair are in contract to buy a 133,000-square-foot development site at 175-225 3rd Street, located right across the new 3rd and 3rd Whole Foods market and just around the corner from Lightstone Group’s 700-unit rental project at 363 Bond Street. Currently, the land has 600 feet of frontage and allows for commercial development of up to 300,000-square-feet, but sources say that one-million square feet of residential could be constructed if rezoned.
More details here

New Developments

June 18, 2014

Printhouse Lofts are Ready to Make Their Mark on the Williamsburg Real Estate Scene

By Dana Schulz

If you follow Williamsburg real estate news, you likely read about a lot of glassy waterfront towers and swanky hotels. It's refreshing, therefore, to hear about the Printhouse Lofts, a new residential development housed in a 104-year-old manufacturing building that seamlessly blends historic character with modern design. Located at 139 North 10th Street, the site originally housed a printmaking company and was later a toy factory. After failed conversion attempts by two different developers, Greystone bought the property last year for $15.8 million and undertook an adaptive reuse project that resulted in 36 fabulous apartments.
Take a tour through one of these stunners

June 17, 2014

PENSA’s DIWire Machine Lets You Bend Wires Into Sculptural Decor for the Home

By Patty Lee

In a day and age when printers give us the ability to create 3D models, we're surprised that it's taken so long for a machine like the DIWire to hit the market. Developed by the creative tinkerers of PENSA, this sleek gadget's seemingly simple job — to bend wires with a click of a button — is an absolute game-changer for DIY enthusiasts.
See how the DIWire works

June 17, 2014

Your Daily Link Fix: Million Dollar Condos Come to Bed Stuy; Working Out in the Streets

Everybody Loves Brooklyn… Except Brooklyn: The Observer talks about the fact that the name Brooklyn may be a top name everywhere else, but Brooklynites are so over it. Million Dollar Condos Come to Bed Stuy: Before you know it, we common folk won’t be able to afford Brooklyn. The Brownstoner has some details and beautiful […]

Uncategorized

June 17, 2014

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn: $3.18M Historic Brooklyn Heights Town Home Has a Garden

Someone just purchased a nice little income property in Brooklyn Heights, according to city records. This 4-family town home, located at 36 Schermerhorn Street, is an original 1840s brownstone in one of Brooklyn’s premier locations. It offers 3,000 square feet of living space and a garden for the lower duplex. Yes, a tree grows in Brooklyn. However, the best part of this unit, listed by Corcoran’s Vicki Negron, is that it already has tenants. Granted their lease expires in August, but minor details.
Take a Look inside this incredible BK heights building here

Growth Spurt: Brooklyn’s Tallest Tower at 333 Schermerhorn Will Soar Even Higher Than Expected

L to R: Williamsburg Savings Bank (One Hanson), The Brooklyner, 388 Bridge Street, Avalon Willoughby West, The Hub

June 17, 2014

Growth Spurt: Brooklyn’s Tallest Tower at 333 Schermerhorn Will Soar Even Higher Than Expected

By Ondel Hylton

Construction filings from the Department of Buildings have revealed that Douglas Steiner's mixed use tower at 333 Schermerhorn Street, dubbed the Hub, will soar 30 feet higher than previously reported; making it the top contender for Brooklyn's tallest building at 607-feet. For more than 80 years, the title of Brooklyn's tallest belonged to the 512-foot Williamsburg Savings Bank tower at 1 Hanson Place. With its beloved 4-sided clock tower and its majestic banking hall, the tower has stood in relative isolation since its construction in 1929. Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards centerpiece building nicknamed "Miss Brooklyn," was the first to challenge the tower's dominance and was slated to soar more than 100-feet above the bank building's dome. The proposal incited uproar from Brooklynites, leading to its eventual downsizing in 2006 to 511-feet, just one foot shorter than the neighboring bank building.
More about The Hub and Brooklyn's tallest this way

June 16, 2014

Windsor Terrace Home Gets Scooped Up by Unexpected Buyer for $2.2 Million

If you’re an older couple looking for a quiet place to tend your garden on Saturdays, you’ll love this quaint, recently purchased Windsor Terrace townhouse with a retro charm. This 2,090-square-foot town home is like your grandma’s house… made with love. The retro charmer has subway-tiled walls and original claw foot tubs to add to its vintage appeal. And it all starts when you walk through those nine-foot entry doors. A decorative archway greets you, ushering you into the sun-filled parlor with its 11-foot tin ceilings and original heart of pine floors. There’s also a working fireplace so you can read Chaucer while your cat Norman rubs up against your leg.
Take a closer look at this retro home here

June 16, 2014

Beautiful Clinton Hill Brownstone with an M.C. Escher-like Staircase Sells for $2M

Can you make sense of this staircase? We're not sure what's going on here, but the rest of this Clinton Hill townhouse is a sight to be seen. Closed today by the Corcoran Group for $2 million and some change, the 4-story, 2-family brownstone was recently gutted and renovated to boast a modern design with cutting edge appliances and sleek finishes. If you love wood detailing, high ceilings, or just want to snoop around a historic home that has a pretty incredible backyard, hit the jump.
Take a tour of 441 Classon Avenue

June 16, 2014

Wood-clad Windsor Terrace House Mixes a Modern Layout with Rustic Elements

By Patty Lee

Row after row of wood-framed houses fill the quaint, tree-lined streets of Brooklyn's Windsor Park neighborhood. Many are decades old and like this cozy home on Reeve Place, require a bit of a face-lift after many years of wear and tear. In 2013, the owners enlisted the architects at Brooklyn's Barker Freeman Design Office to give the semi-detached house a makeover, complete with a brand new wood-paneled exterior.
See how they mix the old with the new straight ahead

June 12, 2014

Crazy Futuristic Hotel at 55 Wythe in Williamsburg Now Under Construction, Developer Zelig Weiss Scores a $18.4M Loan for the Site

The new Level Hotel planned for 55 Wythe in Williamsburg wasn't much more than a rendering when it was revealed last month, but one of 6sqft's intrepid reporters swung by the site recently only to find that construction on the Jetson's-like building had commenced. Permits for the 320,000 square foot hotel were approved in early April, and according to locals, heavy equipment arrived on the scene a few weeks ago with groundwork now well underway. Now, further cementing Level's status as a hotel of the future, the hotel's developer, Zelig Weiss, closed on an $18.35 million loan from Madison Realty Capital to purchase the site for about $30 million, according to Crain's.
More details and photos here

June 11, 2014

Is Vinegar Hill the Next DUMBO? A Storage Warehouse Owner is Banking on It

By Annie Doge

In New York, if there is anything we talk about more than weather, it’s how “____ is the new ____”. Now, the owner of a storage building at 80 Hudson Avenue in Brooklyn is banking on Vinegar Hill becoming the new DUMBO. Globe Storage and Moving Co. just hired Dan Marks at TerraCRG to get the word out that […]

New Developments

June 11, 2014

Is Brooklyn the Shark That Can’t Be Jumped?

By Andrew Cotto

My wife and I took the kids to the Barclays Center in early 2013, during the Nets’ inaugural season in Brooklyn. There had been a lot of hype, not only about the Nets but also about the new arena. And there had been a lot of flack about both the Nets and the arena, respectively, as well. But after all the back and forth, over many years, both the stadium and the Nets were part of Brooklyn, and while we had been ambivalent observers during the whole imbroglio, we were anxious to check things out once matters were settled. The arena impressed. Spacious corridors and lots of polished surfaces. Professional and courteous service. We roamed around each level, sampling food and drinks from some of Brooklyn’s finest eateries and breweries. And, of course, a stop at the gift shop was mandatory for the kids to purchase Nets gear which had become the unofficial uniform of Brooklyn’s youth. By the time we sat down in our seats, we were definitely on board with the whole Nets/Barclays thing. The pregame production turned out to be top notch, too: dancers, acrobats, a DJ named TJ, a knight-of-some-sort who shot t-shirts into the crowd, and a super-stylish MC definitely on point, ratcheting the crowd into a pseudo-frenzy (it was only a mid-season game against Atlanta after all). And when the lights dimmed, and the music loomed, it was on for real: through the loud speakers came a familiar voice, smooth and deep, informed by a trademark flow... “Welcome to Brooklyn, y’all...” Oh my good-ness! That’s Jay-Z! “Birthplace of Michael Jordan.”
Read more of Andrew's story here

City Living

June 11, 2014

Chinese Property Company Taps Fortress Investment Group for $165M for the Oosten Williamsburg Condos

Back in 2012, Chinese company Xinyuan Real Estate Co. purchased a $54.2 million, 92,000-square-foot, Kent Ave. site in Williamsburg for its first development in the U.S. — which they said, of course, would be slated for a luxury condo building. Now it looks like their dev team is ready to kick it into high gear and Xinyuan has enlisted the help of Fortress Investment Group in the form of a $165 million loan. An interestingly enough, the project is the beautiful Oosten condo development designed by Dutch architect Piet Boon.
Details and Renderings of Xinyuan's development here

New Developments

June 10, 2014

NYC’s Oldest Buildings: What Are They and Where Are They? Test Your Knowledge

By Jason Carpenter

New York has a lot of old buildings. Perhaps surprisingly, many of those buildings are actually houses (yes, like real houses). These remnants of the early Dutch farming days can be spotted throughout the five boroughs, as can churches, apartments and "skyscrapers" from earlier times. We've rounded up some of the city’s oldest structures. Test your knowledge and see how many you're familiar with ahead. And while you're at it, make plans to visit one of these historic landmarks the next time you're out and about.
Your blast from the past this way

Architecture And Design

June 10, 2014

Anne Hathaway Puts DUMBO Clocktower Loft Back on the Market for $4.25 Million

It looks like Anne Hathaway is ready to try selling her DUMBO loft again. We’re not sure why the star would want to part with her gorgeous 2BR/3.5BA unit at 1 Main Street, the site of DUMBO’s Clocktower building. She just purchased the building in February of 2013 and after apparently not even moving in, she was ready to unload the loft by September. According to records, she took the loft off the market in December. But if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. 6 months after removing the listing from the market, Ms. Hathaway has put 1 Main Street #9B back on the market, this time with Town Residential listing agents Steven Gold and Chris Whelan.
More details about the stunning pad here

June 10, 2014

Light-Filled Greek Revival Townhouse in Brooklyn Heights Finds a Buyer for $6.8M

Brooklyn Heights is one of the city's most coveted neighborhoods, and it's no wonder why. With its beautiful tree-lined streets, historic architecture, and that certain light which seems to bring a calm and peace to the streets, it's managed to draw everyone from best-selling authors to bankers to even Hollywood starlets. The latest and most notable sale for BK nabe is 19 Monroe, which just sold for $6.8 million through a listing held by Yolanda Johnson at Corcoran. The property hit the market back in March for $7.3 million, and while the interiors were admired by many, the ask made more than a few jaw drops. But let's not forget that this is NYC, and it never hurts to be overly ambitious...
Take a peek inside this unique townhouse

June 9, 2014

Brooklyn Navy Yard Gears Up for Expansion, 1.8 Million Square Feet to be Added

Over the years, the Brooklyn Navy Yard has become a modern manufacturing pole, and it has grown to host spaces for everyone from furniture makers to photographers to even financial services companies. Demand for space has grown tremendously, and in response, the Navy Yard has announced plans to create another 1.8 million square feet of space for both future and current tenants looking to grow their businesses.
More of what's in store this way

June 7, 2014

Heritage Equity Partners Continues Its Gentrification of Brooklyn: Next Stop, Crown Heights

With its beautiful brownstones and tree-lined streets, Crown Heights was once among the city’s premier neighborhoods prior to WWII. And though much has changed in subsequent years, Heritage Equity Partners is betting on its posh roots, acquiring a controlling interest in a new development project at 564 St. John’s Place. The deal values the property at close […]

Uncategorized

June 6, 2014

Williamsburg Loft Has Private Rooftop Deck, Panoramic Views, and Cool Industrial-Style Details

When this steam factory was built in 1900 one might have been hard-pressed to convince anyone it would house elegant loft-style living over a century later -- with a monthly rent nearly 8x greater than what most New Yorkers made in a year! Preposterous! Yet, here we are in 2014, totally bowled over by this simply gorgeous Williamsburg penthouse at 500 Driggs Avenue in the heart of the North side.
See how early 20th century charm meets modern day living

Distinctive Homes

June 6, 2014

New Yorker Spotlight: Natalie Vie, the Bushwick Artist and Olympic Hopeful

By Susan Cohen

“New York is the meeting place of the peoples, the only city where you can hardly find a typical American.” - Djuna Barnes Natalie Vie is an Olympic hopeful, a sculptor, and a resident of Bushwick. On any given day, she can be found fencing epee at Fencers Club in Chelsea, sculpting in her studio in Bushwick, curating a show, or out and about in her neighborhood's coffee shops and bookstores. What's interesting about Natalie is that she sounds like a native New Yorker; able to masterfully pursue multiple undertakings in a single day. However, she is actually a native of the desert. Natalie, 28, grew up in Phoenix where she earned a B.F.A in Sculpture at Arizona State University, and was on the University's club fencing team. She possesses a deep love for her home, but set her sights on New York. The city is home to a number of top ranked Women's Epee fencers, and Natalie wanted to train alongside them. Almost three years ago, she moved cross-country and immediately felt right at home. Fencing is referred to as physical chess. It's complex, rhythmic, and demanding. Epee, one of three fencing disciplines, has an entire body for target. Natalie can score a touch on the hand, the leg, or even the foot. When she fences, she must analyze her opponent's every move to find an opening and make a touch. Currently, she is in the midst of the World Cup season.
Our interview with Natalie here

June 5, 2014

Brighten Up Your Floors With AVO’s Bold Graphic Rugs

By Patty Lee

It's not often a rug becomes the star of a room, but when it's as stunning and unique as the graphic mats from AVO, we guarantee it'll quickly become a a topic of conversation. The gorgeous leather rugs are hand-painted by Brit Kleinman, a Rhode Island School of Design grad now working out of Brooklyn. Kleinman — once a handbag designer at Jack Spade — is founder of The Way We Carry, a website that looks at how we transport our everyday things, and her travels from around the world are also reflected in the designs of her Painted Plains collection.
Take a look at the entire collection

June 5, 2014

Jamestown Properties Wants to Turn Sunset Park’s Industry City Into the Next Chelsea Market

If you renovate, will they come? It’s been less than a year since Jamestown Properties, the developer behind the successful Chelsea Market, acquired a 50% stake in the mostly abandoned industrial warehouse complex in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park known as Industry City. Along with investment partners Belvedere Capital and Angelo, Gordon & Company, Jamestown plans to translate the success of Chelsea Market on a scale six times the size – 16 buildings encompassing over 6 million square feet formerly known as Bush Terminal. But while Brooklyn is currently the darling of the five boroughs, Sunset Park doesn’t quite have the cache of Chelsea – yet, and the viability of such an enormous undertaking is ten years in the making.
Watch a video interview with the developers this way

Real Estate Trends

June 5, 2014

Sunny Williamsburg Loft Has Views for Days

There’s no doubt this apartment knows what its best asset is: it's her eyes. The two-story unit features a wall of windows offering amazing views and flooding the sizable living room with light. 52 Ten Eyck Street #3B has a Swedish feel with its Nordic minimalist design. The kitchen marries stainless, wood and granite in a sleek and modern way, and it includes a dishwasher, a luxury a true New Yorker appreciates. And speaking of New York luxuries, this 1,100-square-foot, 2BR/2BA pad comes equipped with a washer and dryer, so you can put those quarters away. The main level also has a spacious master bedroom with a giant window boasting southern vistas and legroom for a large bed and furniture.
Take a look inside this cool pad here

Distinctive Homes

June 4, 2014

A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On: Is the City’s Development Leading to Its Destruction?

By Andrew Cotto

I sat under a canopy of blue sky on the elevated platform of the Sutter Avenue stop in Brownsville, Brooklyn. I like elevated subway stations because they’re, you know, elevated as opposed to that subterranean scene that transpires underground. What I wasn’t liking so much that particular day, high above the busy avenue, was the way the platform slightly vibrated with each passing vehicle below. It was somewhat unsettling. And then the ground really started to shake, so much so that I looked to the distance to see if Godzilla bore down on Brooklyn, smashing cars and pounding through buildings, breathing fire and squawking that awful squawk. But it was only the 3 Train rattling in from East New York. The platform continued to shake more and more until the train, thankfully, came to a stop. I got on board, but I wasn’t all that happy about it. And then I started to think about my dog.
Andrew, on cue from his dog, questions the physical stability of NYC

June 3, 2014

Two Northside Piers: Every Side of This Williamsburg Duplex Penthouse Is Its Good One