Search Results for: Brooklyn Heights

June 27, 2017

Brooklyn’s iconic ‘Watchtower’ sign coming down to make way for Kushner’s Panorama office complex

For nearly 50 years, the neon red 15-foot-tall ‘Watchtower’ sign has sat atop the former headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses luminously overlooking Brooklyn Heights. However, earlier this month, the religious group filed a permit application seeking to remove the sign. According to The Real Deal, this comes almost a year after developers Kushner Companies, CIM Group and LIVWRK Holdings purchased the spot at 25-30 Columbia Heights for $340 million with plans to convert the building into a 635,000-square-foot office complex, “Panorama.”
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June 12, 2017

Score a middle-income apartment in the Brooklyn Cultural District’s Caesura, from $866/month

Applications are currently being accepted for 49 middle-income units at The Caesura in Fort Greene, a rental expected to open late this summer. Located in the heart of the Brooklyn Cultural District at 280 Ashland Place, the 12-story mixed-use rental building sits just one block from the famed Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Designed by Dattner Architects and Bernheimer Architecture, Caesura features a landscaped rooftop garden and conservatory, fitness center, bike room, community room and a shared goods or “lending library” space. New Yorkers earning 80 and 130 percent of the area median income can apply to rent units ranging from $886/month micro-units to $2,715/month two-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify
May 22, 2017

From shipping hub to waterfront wonder, the history of Brooklyn Bridge Park with Joanne Witty

134 years ago, the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge transformed the Brooklyn waterfront, not to mention the entire borough, by providing direct access into Kings County from Lower Manhattan. The opening only boosted Brooklyn's burgeoning waterfront, which became a bustling shipping hub for the New York Dock Company by the early 1900s. Business boomed for several decades until changes in the industry pushed the shipping industry from Brooklyn to New Jersey. And after the late 1950s, when many of the warehouses were demolished to make way for construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the waterfront fell into severe decline. New Yorkers today are living through a new kind of Brooklyn waterfront boom, heralded by the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Ideas to transform the abandoned, run-down waterfront into a park seemed like a pipe dream when the idea was floated in the 1980s, but years of dedication by the local community and politicians turned the vision into reality. Today, the park is considered one of the best in the city.
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May 20, 2017

$625K Prospect Heights apartment with its own roof access is lovely as can be

This charming pad comes from the top floor of 786 Washington Avenue, a 16-unit prewar co-op in Prospect Heights. Interior details include 11-foot ceilings, exposed brick, and hardwood flooring throughout. But the real perk is exclusive rights to the portion of the roof directly above the apartment, which is currently outfitted with a deck and custom bench seating. This appealing combo of indoor and outdoor space, plus the nice Brooklyn location, is on the market for $625,000.
This way for a tour
April 18, 2017

INTERVIEW: Co-founder of the Brooklyn Home Company, Bill Caleo

The Brooklyn Home Company (THBCo) is a family-run cooperative of artists and builders that develop unique residential spaces in booming Brooklyn. Best described as white and wood but never cookie cutter, their work is always light and airy, and blend modern style with historic elements. It's this signature style that's made THBCo a favorite amongst both renovators and Pinterest enthusiasts alike. But what inspires their designs and how do they decide where to develop projects? Ahead, 6sqft speaks to THBCo's co-founder and Head of Operations, Bill Caleo, about the business. Find out how this family-run establishment firmly roots itself in working with local makers, how they've grown their business model to include sustainability, and why they always add a custom piece of art to all their homes.
our interview with bill here
April 13, 2017

Increased demand and new condos leads to record home sale prices in Brooklyn and Queens

Once enticing New Yorkers with their cheaper rents and mortgages, the outer boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens have set record sales prices during the first quarter of the year. As reported by Crain’s, Brooklyn had a record-setting median sale price of $770,000, more than 16 percent higher than last year. This was driven by an increase in sales activity, with nearly 50 percent more transactions taking place this quarter compared with the beginning of 2016. In Queens, the median sale price was $485,000, but one- to three-family homes set a new record with both average ($697,946) and median ($650,000) sales.
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April 1, 2017

A $1.5M modern condo lives inside this historic 1850s Brooklyn church

401 Hicks Street in Cobble Hill was originally St. Peters Church and Academy, built in 1858. In 2005, like a lot of churches around Brooklyn, the historic structure went residential. Now, this two-bedroom condo is up for sale here and you wouldn't necessarily guess it's located inside a former church. The unit lacks details like stained glass--which you often see in church conversions--and it's got a fun, modern aesthetic that feels more "Brooklyn" than "house of worship." It's asking $1.525 million.
Take a look
March 30, 2017

MAP: How old are the buildings in each Brooklyn neighborhood?

Photo via Brooklyn Historical Society One of the most exciting things about exploring Brooklyn is seeing the unique architecture of each neighborhood. Now, thanks to an interactive map from urban_calc, you can also learn the age of these structures in the borough with the oldest buildings in the city. Using the city’s OpenData project and Pluto dataset, urban_calc found the median age of buildings in each census tract. The oldest neighborhood is Ocean Hill at 1911, followed by Cypress Hill, Park Slope and Stuyvesant Heights, all with a median building year of 1920. On the other hand, the newest neighborhoods include Coney Island, West Brighton, East New York, Canarsie and Williamsburg.
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March 29, 2017

$660K pretty Prospect Heights co-op is on the 21st-best block in NYC

According to its listing, the historic limestone townhouse at 205 Park Place that holds this elegant one-bedroom co-op is "conveniently located on what Time Out New York has deemed the 21st Best Block in all of NYC." This bragging point is, in fact, accurate; though the Prospect Heights block's designation happened in 2006, we doubt the stately brownstones and pre-war apartment buildings have changed much since. The apartment, asking $660,000, also comes with the good fortune of having Grand Army Plaza and the 585 acres of Prospect Park just steps away.
See what's inside
March 28, 2017

Brooklyn cheesemongers to open their underground 1850s brewery tunnels for one night

Thirty feet below street level, Benton Brown and Susan Boyle of Crown Finish Caves age their deliciously moldy wares in the lagering tunnels of a former brewery beneath the Monti Building in Crown Heights, where 26,000 pounds of cheese ripens to perfection in one of the facility's 15-foot-high brick tunnels. This weekend Crown Finish is opening up one of the unused former brewery tunnels, seldom seen by the public, to host a cheese-and-wine tasting event to benefit the expansion efforts of Maple Street School, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens' cooperative preschool (h/t DNAInfo).
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March 15, 2017

Governor Cuomo’s $1.4B Central Brooklyn plan stokes gentrification debate

Governor Cuomo announced a $1.4 billion initiative last week to bring resources like health care services and new jobs to Central Brooklyn. According to the governor, the plan, called “Vital Brooklyn,” will bring 7,600 jobs and more than 3,000 new affordable housing units to Brownsville, East New York, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights. And while Cuomo’s administration found these neighborhoods to be some of the most disadvantaged in the state, residents worry about the possible gentrification and displacement effects (h/t NY Times).
Learn more about Vital Brooklyn here
March 3, 2017

$10.6M Pierhouse is Brooklyn’s most expensive condo sold to date

It may pale in comparison to Manhattan's $100 million record-setter at One57, but a unit at Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pierhouse just closed for $10,669,579, setting the record for most expensive condo ever sold in the borough. Curbed first spotted the sale, which took the top spot from the $8.8 million penthouse sale in Dumbo's 1 Jay Street in September 2015.
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February 13, 2017

143 chances to live in Downtown Brooklyn from $897/month, lottery open at 33 Bond Street

A new 25-story rental building in booming Downtown Brooklyn is nearing completion at 33 Bond Street, just a block or two away from almost every subway line and a few blocks from BAM. Developer TF Cornerstone paid $70 million for the site, a former parking garage, in early 2014, partnering with Handel Architects on the rather standard, bulky, glassy design. In total, there will be 714 apartments, 143 of which have been set aside as affordable. These below-market rate units are now up for grabs through the city's affordable housing lottery and range from $897/month studios to $1,166/two-bedrooms for households earning 60 percent of the area median income.
Find out if you qualify
January 26, 2017

Live in John Catsimatidis’ curvy Downtown Brooklyn rental tower from $833/month

Way back in 1982, the CEO and owner of Red Apple Group, John Catsimatidis (you may know him better as the billionaire owner of Gristedes or for his failed Republican run in the last mayoral election) paid $500,000 for a 2.5-acre, four-block site in Downtown Brooklyn, on the western edge of Fort Greene. Thirty-five years later, construction is wrapping up on the final, and by far the tallest, of the four-tower development. The curving glass building at 86 Fleet Place was designed by Goldstein, Hill & West and will rise 32 stories/350 feet and house 440 rentals, 29 of which are set aside as affordable and have just come online through the city's affordable housing lottery. They range from $833/month studios to $1,247/month three-bedrooms and are available for those earning 45 to 60 percent of the area media income.
Find out if you qualify here
January 13, 2017

Third lottery opens at Pacific Park Brooklyn, apply for 303 affordable units from $532/month

Last spring, the first housing lottery opened at Pacific Park Brooklyn when 181 affordable units at SHoP's 461 Dean Street (the world's tallest modular tower) came online. It was followed a few months later by 298 openings at 535 Carlton Avenue, COOKFOX's entirely affordable building, and now the third set of apartments for low- to middle-income New Yorkers is open. SHoP Architects also designed an all-affordable building at 38 Sixth Avenue, adjacent to the Barclays Center, and as of today these 303 residences are up for grabs, ranging from $532/month studios to $3,695/month three-bedrooms. Households earning between 101 and 165 percent of the area media income (or up to $173,415 annually) are eligible for 198 of the units, while 105 units are set aside for those earning between 30 and 100 percent (as low as $20,126 a year).
More details and the whole qualification breakdown
January 11, 2017

Live in ODA’s new Crown Heights rental from $845/month, lottery opening for 24 units

It's been over two years since ODA Architects first released a rendering of their rental project at 1040 Dean Street (formerly 608 Franklin Avenue) in Crown Heights. Featuring the firm's signature glassy, boxy aesthetic, the eight-story, 133,582-square-foot project rose on part of the site of the shuttered Nassau Brewery, just a block away from hot-spot food hall Berg'n. Of its 120 units, 20 percent will be reserved for those earning no more than 60 percent of the area media income, and starting tomorrow, qualifying New Yorkers can apply to these affordable units, ranging from $845/month studios to $1,022 two-bedrooms.
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December 8, 2016

12-foot ceilings and a wall of windows at this $1.049M Prospect Heights apartment

Loft lovers will appreciate what this apartment at 535 Dean Street, in Prospect Heights, is delivering. The large, open living space--perfect for that flexible loft floorplan--boasts 12-foot-tall ceilings and wall-dominating windows. In addition, there are two bedrooms and a customized loft space built out by a local Brooklyn designer. This apartment, with its many built-ins and creative bedroom spaces, is now asking a hair over $1 million.
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November 23, 2016

Proposed towers could bring 500 apartments to Crown Heights, including 140 affordable units

Crown Heights is a neighborhood undergoing rapid change, but the western area south of Eastern Parkway has remained relatively quiet and unaltered by new development. However, it appears that could soon change. As The Real Deal reports, Cornell Realty Management is hoping to rezone two parcels at 40 Crown Street and 931 Carroll Street, just one block from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, to make way for a pair of towers that would house more than 500 residential units.
more here
November 21, 2016

Homeless spending in NYC hits $1.6B; Brooklyn Brownstones selling at a premium

As shelter numbers continue to climb, Mayor de Blasio has spent a record $1.6 billion on homeless services since taking office three years ago, a 60 percent increase. [WSJ] Six Thanksgiving recipes from Brooklyn chefs. [Brooklyn Based] Historic Brooklyn brownstones are dominating luxury sales in the borough, especially in Brooklyn Heights. [NYDN] Housing and legal services […]

October 6, 2016

Developer of the world’s tallest prefab tower in Brooklyn is exiting the modular business

After boasting that it had “cracked the code” on modular construction, with plans for a Brooklyn factory, developer Forest City Ratner is exiting the prefab building business, reports the New York Times. The factory at the Brooklyn Navy Yard will be sold to Roger Krulak, a former Forest City executive, along with the technology used to construct the world's tallest prefabricated steel structure, the 32-story 461 Dean Street in the Pacific Park complex in Brooklyn. Construction on the building has just been completed and 461 Dean is weeks from getting its first residents.
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September 26, 2016

My 4000sqft: Inside artist Chad Lewine’s ‘minimal-vibrant’ Brooklyn Navy Yard loft

The artists lofts romanticized by Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock are long gone in neighborhoods like the East Village and Soho, but if you turn your gaze across the East River to Brooklyn, you'll find that these spaces are far less elusive; Just have a look at the home of multi-disciplinary artist Chad Lewine. One year ago, Chad, a serial loft-liver, went house hunting deep within the Brooklyn Navy Yard and came across a building filled with working artists. At first he took up a room on the top floor of the four-story structure, but shortly after migrated to the second floor where he now shares an incredible 4,000 square feet with a fellow creative. In addition to providing Chad with a place to rest his head at night, the vast full-floor apartment also serves as an office, production studio, painter's workshop, photo studio, party pad and a place to experiment with what he calls his "minimal-vibrant" style. As Chad says, "I've been on the hunt for this kind of space all my New York City life."
take a tour of the space here
September 1, 2016

Bright apartment in historic Stuyvesant Heights brownstone offers a lot of space for $1,850/month

With lots of space, a wealth of pre-war details and plenty of natural light, this third-floor one-bedroom-plus-office brownstone apartment at 513 Macon Street in the historic Stuyvesant Heights section of Bed-Stuy looks like a pretty good deal at $1,850 a month. It also offers a fully renovated kitchen and bath with new appliances and a convenient location near the A and C trains. Besides trees and townhouses, you're surrounded by the restaurants and cafes that have been making this neighborhood a new favorite.
See more of this cute Bed-Stuy pad
August 18, 2016

For $887K in Prospect Heights, Chilled Out ‘Fuzzy Nap Zones’ for Non-Celebrities

6sqft covered celeb mom/lifestyle guru Gwyneth Paltrow's infamous $14 million Tribeca loft with its luxurious lounge vibe and what she calls "fuzzy nap zones." Here in–arguably just as desirable–Prospect Heights, this surprisingly flexible two-plus-bedroom co-op at 130 Prospect Place is sun-filled and laid back, with plush chill-out zones of its own for a much less one percent-y price of $887,000. With 1,165 square feet of space, a brand new roof deck, and Prospect Park a few blocks away, this laid-back lair looks to be quite a catch.
Hang out, stay awhile
August 4, 2016

Oscar-Winning Actress Lupita Nyong’o Checking Out Apartments in Pacific Park Brooklyn

Things are heating up over at Pacific Park Brooklyn, the 22-acre Prospect Heights site anchored by the Barclays Center and containing eight million square feet of mixed-use development. Last month, an affordable housing lottery kicked off for 300 units at the COOKFOX-designed 535 Carlton Avenue, and now the architects' other residential building at 550 Vanderbilt Avenue is making celebrity headlines. The Post reports that Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o was looking at apartments in the 17-story luxury condo, specifically a $2.89 million three-bedroom, corner unit.
Get the scoop on her potential purchase