Brooklyn

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

By Aisha Carter

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

By Diane Pham

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

By Diane Pham

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

By Stephanie Hoina

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

By Stephanie Hoina

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

By Stephanie Hoina

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

By Aisha Carter

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

By Stephanie Hoina

Once upon a time there was a scrappy little warehouse district in Brooklyn that birthed some of the largest industrial firms in the nation: Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Astral Oil (later Standard Oil), Brooklyn Flint Glass (later Corning Ware) and the Havemeyer and Elder sugar refinery (later Amstar and Domino), to name a few. And along the waterfront, among the docks, shipyards, mills and refineries, breweries such as Schaefer, Rheingold and Schlitz dotted the landscape. While many of the factories still stand, most have been converted to luxury residential buildings, with Northside Piers being the very first residential development at the waterfront of Williamsburg. Toll Brothers’s full-service condominium takes full advantage of its location, offering residents a 400-foot-long recreation pier and stunning views of the New York City skyline. And this rare-to-the-market Two Northside Piers 4-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom duplex penthouse at 47 North 4th Street, with two large balconies, is just as dazzling.
Right this way to see the many sides of this exquisite penthouse….

Distinctive Homes

June 2, 2014

Your Daily Link Fix: Bed Stuy Says Goodbye to Lenny Kravitz’s Childhood Home; Rocket Joe’s Pizza Closes

By Aisha Carter

7 Galleries Amping Up The Art World: Galleries are slowly moving from a blank canvas that showcases art to a work of art themselves. Architizer explores some galleries that are enhancing their art through intriguing architecture. Bed Stuy Says Goodbye to Lenny Kravitz’s Childhood Home: The Brownstoner mourns with Bed Stuy locals as the musician’s grandparents home […]

Uncategorized

May 29, 2014

Green City: Eight of the Biggest Eco-Friendly Developments Happening Right Now in NYC

By Jason Carpenter

While going green has more or less become the norm in most modern day construction in New York, some projects have really outdone themselves from the ingenuity of design to the sheer scale of size. This is a city where the new police academy will harness the power of re-usable rainwater, and where the Barclays Center's arena roof is being covered with 130,000 square feet of new garden space. New York is placing itself at the forefront of green design and green construction, and here are just eight of the biggest green projects happening right now.
The top green developments in the city this way

May 29, 2014

Spruce Up Your Desk with Plant-in City’s Modern MINI Terrarium

By Patty Lee

Is your cubicle looking a bit dull these days? Quickly transform your desk from boring to zen with a stackable MINI terrarium designed by Plant-in City, a group that's looking to bring the botanical structures into the 21st century.
Click to see more pictures of the beautiful terrariums

May 28, 2014

Field Trip to the American Dream (Via the Bronx)

By Andrew Cotto

My English composition class at a CUNY school resembles a Benetton ad minus the posing and singular fashion aesthetic. I could run the numbers, but I don’t need to make like Nate Silver to prove my class is almost entirely of immigrants or first generation Americans from a wide range of backgrounds. This makes things particularly interesting when we study the 'American Dream', for it’s far more relevant to my students than it is to, say, me — all snug and secure in my status as a second-generation American not living with the hope for citizenship nor the fear of deportation of myself or my loved ones. One of the materials I use when teaching the American Dream is an article from September of 2013 in The Times about Marco Saavedra, a young man brought here illegally as a toddler in the early ‘90s by his Mexican parents who own and operate a restaurant in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. Under the auspices of his parents’ emphasis on education, Marco was able to thrive in the public schools’ of NYC and secure full scholarships to Deerfield Academy and then Kenyon College, from where he graduated in 2011. Impressive.
But then it all went south. Literally. More of Andrew's Story here

May 27, 2014

Condo at 149 Skillman Avenue Lets Its Light Shine!

By Aisha Carter

What kind of apartment needs custom blinds from the Shade Store? The kind with floor-to-ceiling windows flooding the unit with light! And we’re not talking any standard floor-to-ceiling windows. Architect Michael Muroff decided to throw us a beautiful curve ball by designing a wall-sized window in the living room accented with a giant, skylight – or more appropriately, an angled ceiling of windows. The result is a living space you could practically sunbathe in. An abundance of light isn’t the only thing 149 Skillman Avenue #4B has to offer. The 1,070-square-foot, 2BR/2BA unit has a few other surprises, including a steam shower and a private roof deck with a gorgeous view of the Manhattan skyline. That means a spectacular show for the apartment’s residents when the 4th of July fireworks return to the East River for summer 2014.
See what else this beautiful condo has to offer here

Distinctive Homes

May 23, 2014

Penthouse Loft at 185 Plymouth Street in DUMBO Sells for $3 Million

By Aisha Carter

Just in time for Alloy's penned Spring 2014 move-in date, the north penthouse (#PHN) at 185 Plymouth Street closed yesterday afternoon for $3.08 million, according to city records. All units in the former Brillo factory are officially now sold out. Units in the coveted DUMBO property hit the market March of last year, and after managing to sell eight units in less than a week without even listing the property, Alloy decided to raise the prices of the two remaining units, #PHN and #PHS, to $3.4 million and $3.95 million respectively. But that clearly didn’t slow buyers down from wanting to lay claim to some of DUMBO’s hottest new property.
Take a closer look at these lofts that are all the rage in Dumbo

Real Estate Trends

May 22, 2014

Memorial Day Events for the New Yorker Who Wants to Stay Local

By Katrina Otuonye

Memorial Day is just a few days away, and if you're like us, you can't wait to take a break from the daily grind. While many have made plans that will sweep them off to far flung places like Paris, for those looking to stay local, there are plenty of incredible events going on across all of NYC's boroughs — rain or shine. Keep reading for our top events to check out this Memorial Day weekend. It’s going to be a busy few days!
All the events this way

Events & Things To Do

May 22, 2014

The Heights: One of Brooklyn’s Most Talked About Condominiums is Sold Out

By Aisha Carter

The Heights is sold out! According to city records, the penthouse, and last available unit of the Brooklyn Heights condominium, has officially sold for $4.95 million. This extraordinary apartment at 30 Henry Street, listed by Corcoran Group's Deborah Rieders, touts one of the most expensive prices in Brooklyn, at approximately $1,730 per square foot. Getting a glimpse into this apartment is like trying to spot a rare bird, but from what we’ve gleaned, it’s pretty splendid. The luxury building replaced the home of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and has been the subject of a lot of speculation from the day the filings were discovered. At one point it was rumored that BKSK Architects was planning for the building to have a waterfall! From what we can see, it appears the waterfall ultimately became a fountain in the courtyard but hey, what’s a legend if not the subject of grandeur?
Take a peek inside this elusive penthouse here

May 21, 2014

Call Me Halal: Palatable Advice Straight from the Streets of Downtown Brooklyn

By Andrew Cotto

One of the saddest things I heard in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 was told to me by the wife of an acquaintance. She said, with a smug sense of pride, that her family — in an act of patriotic protest to the recent attacks on America — would be ending their long-standing Thanksgiving tradition of serving assorted meat and vegetable pies from Damascus Bakery on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. It was a heartbreaking statement of staggering stupidity, offensive on so many levels, not the least of which was personal. I lived next door to Damascus Bakery in my first Brooklyn apartment. This was before Barney’s, Urban Outfitters and Trader Joe’s arrived. It was when that section of Atlantic Avenue was overwhelmingly Arabic, and I frequented the eateries as often as I could, feasting on delicacies from the Middle East, learning some geography and culture and a little Arabic along the way. And, of course, I met many wonderful people, including the family who owned and operated Damascus Bakery.
Read the rest of Andrew's story here

May 20, 2014

Kirkman Lofts at 37 Bridge Street in DUMBO: Worth Getting on a Soapbox About

By Stephanie Hoina

In 1915, when this classic factory building was commissioned by the Kirkman & Son Soap Company in a gritty industrial section of Brooklyn, it’s doubtful anyone could have envisioned its reincarnation as a high-end luxury condominium with its locale now fashionably referred to as DUMBO. Quite frankly, with its simple brick façade, one still might be hard-pressed to equate the 7-story brick building at 37 Bridge Street with any kind of residential grandeur — but you know what they say about judging a book by its cover.
See the results of its stunning conversion

Distinctive Homes

May 20, 2014

Catsimatidis’s 30 Year Development Plan on Myrtle Avenue is Finally Underway

By Aisha Carter

Patience is a virtue; one that billionaire tycoon and former mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis clearly has in droves. Cats demonstrated this when he had the foresight to purchase a block of land on Myrtle Avenue in Fort Greene, over 30 years ago, back when the street was appropriately nicknamed Murder Avenue. Not many people would have seen the value in property in an area where Cats jokes that he had to carry two guns “just in case one of the guns runs out of bullets”. However, Cats saw it as a worthy investment. And boy was he right. A few decades and a change of zoning laws have allowed Cats to turn this once terrifying spot into the building site of 4 residential skyscrapers with retail stores on the ground floor. Not a bad deal for a piece of property purchased for under a million dollars says the understatement of the century.
Learn more about Catsimatidis' development project here

10 New York Neighborhoods for Artists Now

Update: Check out our 2017 edition for the latest!

May 20, 2014

10 New York Neighborhoods for Artists Now

By Dana Schulz

It’s become all too common in New York City — artists move into a neighborhood, make it trendy and culturally vibrant, and then are forced out by rising rents. It happened in Greenwich Village, Soho, the East Village, DUMBO, and Williamsburg. Do not be disheartened, though, there are still plenty of artist enclaves with thriving creative communities. Ahead are our ten current frontrunners — some may surprise you!
Where the artists are flocking

Events & Things To Do

May 20, 2014

Park Yourself at this $32M Brooklyn Bridge Penthouse and You May Never Leave

By Stephanie Hoina

In a city where parking is always at a premium, one might consider this $32 million penthouse at One Brooklyn Bridge Park for the two deeded spaces alone — although fortunately, that record-breaking price tag comes with a tad more to pique your interest. There's a long list of reasons to never leave this beautiful one-of-a-kind residence at 360 Furman Street in Brooklyn Heights, so let's just start with the view — or should we say "views". The Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, New York City's glorious skyline... take your pick. Because in addition to the terrace's breathtaking panorama, you'll enjoy incredible views from just about every room in this sun-drenched 11,000-square-foot, 6BR/6BA home located on the waterfront.
See why a picture is worth a thousand words

Distinctive Homes

May 19, 2014

Magical Garden at 645 Carlton Avenue Is Hard to Keep Silent About

By Stephanie Hoina

A few years before this limestone duplex was built, Prospect Heights was enjoying the success of one of its very own, the original “it” girl, famed silent film actress Clara Bow. And just as Clara became synonymous with the “Roaring Twenties”, the residence at 645 Carlton Avenue is typical of the classic row houses one finds throughout the tree-lined streets of its Brooklyn environs. From the moment you first enter through the gorgeous Palladian arch, there is no mistaking the timeless details that make this carefully restored 2BR/2BA parlor/garden apartment something truly special.
See why this duplex will make you

Distinctive Homes

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