Gowanus

Today's Metro takes a look at the planned Whole Foods in Gowanus, where construction has yet to begin despite its groundbreaking more than a year ago.

"What's the hold up?" reporter Amy Zimmer asks.

Well, for one thing, there is no building permit for the planned 68,000-square-foot store.  read more »

• The new 64,000-square-foot Park Slope Whole Foods is supposed to open next summer, though the construction site [above] isn't looking so good. Why does the place appear toxic? Because it is toxic. [Gowanus Lounge]
• Rochester is so hot right now: It's the only city in New York State to make it into the top-five list of hottest cities. [CNN/Money]
• Poor Atlantic City won't make it into that rarefied group anytime soon, but at least it's getting some help. An entire block of the famous Boardwalk will get facelifted, with new features recalling "seaboard pier architecture" and "art modern of the 1930's." [Interior Design]
• Trump's favorite designer, Costas Kondylis, is building a petite Upper East Side condo, whose glassy facade cost a cool $1 million to build. Better yet, something called "computer brains" will control each condo apartment's audio-visual components. [Real Deal] - Max Abelson
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Here's an image being used on a billboard on the Manhattan-bound Prospect Expressway in Brooklyn (just before the ramp up to the Gowanus Expressway) which was sent over by Michael Tobman, one of the operatives pushing the governor's education plan.

Between this and the dueling television ads about health care, it feels a little like statewide election season never ended. New York is becoming California.

-- Azi Paybarah

• Is Brooklyn a "Class A" kind of place? New York firms are leaving the "skyrocketing rents and scarce space" of Midtown and Downtown Manhattan for the "other" downtown. Thus Brooklyn is no longer "back office"--it's a "forward-thinking, hip, cool place to be," especially for uncool corporate types. [Real Deal]
• In similarly catastrophic-sounding news for the borough, thrift stores have been disappearing from Sunset Park. First there were six, then just a Salvation Army, now nothing. Where, oh where, will the Brooklynites get their hip tees? [Gowanus Lounge]
• Four posh retreats in the Northeast made a master list of 100 Vacation Dream Homes, but only two are in Manhattan. And yet the William Beaver House and Miravel Living [above left] don't strike the eye as "easy going." The scary-named Whiteface Lodge [above right] is more our speed. [Travel + Leisure]
• Tom Cruise Realty Quote of the Day: "The Dakota board loves Cruise, he wowed 'em. Plus, he's a hero to the Wall Street worthies on the board--Top Gun, Jerry McGuire, Mission: Impossible, etc.--they love that crap." [Gawker] - Max Abelson
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• Uptown is getting a leafy, "high-end" new condo, and it happens to have $100 million worth of affordable housing. Avalon Morningside Park broke ground this month at 110th Street and Morningside Drive. [Multi-Housing News]
• What do you call it when gorgeous works of graffiti--an art form based upon vandalism--becomes the victim of a vandal? Ironic. But it's also tragic, especially when Soho's quintessential street-art gets covered. [Gothamist]
• Based on some sort of 21st-century hunter-gatherer logic, Apartment Therapy estimates that every family of three deserves 750 square feet of interior home space. In Manhattan, that costs a paltry $600,000! [A.T.]
• Miscellaneous toxicity problems aside, the Gowanus neighborhood has been plagued by a sewage crisis [above]. Thanks to ever-spreading Brooklyn condo development, things have been getting bad during rainstorms. [Curbed] - Max Abelson
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• Oh me, oh my, how the Bowery has changed! The place you used to avoid at all costs, even in broad sunshine-y daylight like today, will welcome a Whole Foods in March. The fancy-pants grocer is supposed to open its doors at Bowery and Houston on Mar. 29.
[Curbed]
• Residential marketing in New York has always had that certain something--a sense of pizzaz, a sense of adventure. Now, it also has MySpace. Entire buildings are getting their own MySpace pages, complete with sexual orientations and favorite films and TV shows. At least one is trying "to meet serious thrill seekers. Someone who looks for the entertainment in life. Someone who wants to play, for the sake of winning. A heavy need for quality films and that can play pool."
[Gowanus Lounge]
• Brooklyn Heights used to have a much different promenade (see above). Before demolition in 1946, "to make way for the expressway, this arched viaduct, greenhouse and buttressed wall were accessible by the stone stairways that led down from the mansions above to the ferry landing below."
[Brownstoner]
• CNN/Money lists the 10 Richest Americans Ever (whitest list ever!). Though a few people listed have New York City connections (Astor, Vanderbilt, Rensselear), none made his fortune in real estate. Brokers, take note: Railroads and merchant banking--that's where the money is, apparently.
[CNN/Money] - Tom Acitelli
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• The bones of Brooklyn's Ikea have been erected, representing a long stride toward the borough's horrifying self-destruction. Doomsday is near, via inexpensive Swedish furniture. [Gowanus Lounge]
• Vanity Fair lovingly dubs The Bowery Hotel "funky." Why? Because the building "was literally built out of Styrofoam, with hideous aluminum windows." [VF, via Curbed]
• Apparently, Chinatown (an oasis of "whimsy, mystery, and grit") has singularly rebuffed the tide of NYC gentification. That means the area will never be as horrifying as West 27th Street's clubland [pictured above]. [NY Mag]
• The "sickest rental in Brooklyn right now" is a Park Slope brownstone. The owner won't sell, and won't break up the apartments either, and has generously opted to paint the whole house eggshell. [Brownstoner]
- Max Abelson
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• Flip of the Week: Courteney and David Cox Arquette bought their house in 2001 for $10 million, and have now put it on the market for $33,500,000. Apparently, Californians will pay anything for four bedrooms that belonged to two semi-stars. [WSJ]
• Prospect Park will have a new $25 million skating rink in three years. (By then, Prospect will officially have become the new Central Park--but with better-dressed ice skaters.) [Gowanus Lounge]
• After reading this morning's Times profile, Gothamist realizes that despite all his "horribly nondescript" architecture, New Yorkers should heartfully thank Costas Kondylis [above] for making sure Trump hasn't built a 90-story gold building in Manhattan. (He's opted for bronze instead.) [Goth]
• After paying a pretty penny for naming rights to Gehry's Atlantic Yards stadium, Barclays defends itself against the accusation (printed by Brooklyn Paper among others) that the company had been built on slavery "blood money." How does the B.P. editor respond? No retraction! [Brooklyn Paper]
• Can the winner of the Super Bowl be predicted via non-football statistics? Maybe. But the real question is: Can real estate be predicted via non-realty statistics? (Nope.) [Matrix]
- Max Abelson
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• It's a big deal when a rich writer gets robbed near his lush Park Slope home, and it's a bigger deal when the rich writer and his wife vow on blogs to ditch the borough ("It costs $2,000 a year to insure my wedding ring....We outta here.") But best of all is when the once-hidden vows are dug up in all their Brooklynesque glory. [Gowanus Lounge]
• Sure, crusading against Marlboros and French crullers is brave. But Mayor Bloomberg could "hit the trifecta and reap perhaps his biggest public-health bonanza yet" if he tilts his horns against Manhattan's "car-dominance." And bike-riding would be way more fun. [Streetsblog]
• Steve Case's cheesy Miraval Living (where "healthy eating facilities" come with the million-dollar apartments) makes Forbes' list for wishlist-level abodes. (And, illogically, it beats out a globe-trotting yacht.) [Forbes]
• Rental agents do not fear 2007's prices--or evil landlords or prissy renters--nearly as much as they fear other rental agents. [NY Press]
• Real estate murder mysteries are really hot right now. [NY Mag]
- Max Abelson
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Brooklyn politicos, including borough beep Marty Markowitz, broke out the spades on Wednesday at a groundbreaking ceremony celebrating the construction of a huge parking lot in Gowanus that comes with the added bonus of a Whole Foods Market -- the borough's first.

In addition to parking, the 68,000-square-foot store at the corner of Third Avenue and 3rd Street will feature "unique Brooklyn touches like egg-cream and gelato stations," according to a press release.

Thankfully, the national organic and natural foods retailer has not announced plans to include some cheesy Dominos-esque "Brooklyn Style Pizza" stand.  read more »

Read the full press release after the jump.

- Chris Shott

Ariella "Scoop" Cohen at The Brooklyn Papers reports that the 68,000-square-food Whole Foods gigantiplex due to open in Park Slope at Third Avenue and Third Street in spring 2008 will have a three-story 430-car parking garage.

Cohen quotes a traffic engineer as saying that as many as 1,800 cars could use the facility per hour.
It seems oxymoronic that a healthy-lifestyle brand such as Whole Foods would promote driving in a neighborhood such as Park Slope/Gowanus; but it's never been said that a little environmentalism gets in the way of capitalism in our Mayor's city.
Prepare for "health conscious" mamas eating from bags of Pirate's Booty while gunning their S.U.V.'s down Third Avenue.  read more »

-Matthew Grace

• The Jack Parker Corporation is trying to rezone north Tribeca--from manufacturing into residential--so that it can put up a hefty, dense apartment building. If you live in the area, you're probably complaining about damage to "low-rise character" or to waterfront views. And you're probably rich, too: the neighborhood proudly claims the "city's wealthiest zip code," even though just 18% of the land is zoned for residential housing. Jack Parker is salivating. (New York Sun)
• The Gowanus Holiday Inn is open, so everyone can get his $139-per-night Gowanus fix! The Times halfheartedly points out that "most people still aren't calling [the area] Park Slope." Mightn't that be because Gowanus is (still) not Park Slope? (New York Times)
• The Hamptons won't be officially dead until the H-word is no longer meaninglessly dropped in the lede sentences of big Post articles on international business deals. Or maybe the Hamptons has already died and gone to Purgatory. (New York Post)
• New York says "you might want to spend some time in" in the avant garde-heavy, friendly bar-happy 'hood below Hell's Kitchen. Why? Because it's SoHell. (New York)
• It's old news, but it's good news: New York does not qualify as a "wellness community." This has something to do with "germs" and "full-body age assessments," and possibly people named bubble sitters. (CNN/Money)
- Max Abelson  read more »
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Call us curmudgeons, but we never really liked it anyway. Too damn hot and trash-strewn in the summer; and winters, with the stiff cold air off of the Atlantic and the desolation, made it feel like we were lost in the Kessel off the Volga waiting for Stalin's minions to come and finish us off (there are Russians there, right? ... so the comparison, no matter how tortuous, holds).

But it least it ain't Atlantic Yards ... right? Right?
Blooger Gowanus Lounge has the goods on Thor Equities barfalicious plan to destroy another little bit of New York culture.
Sayeth Gowanus:

A lot of words come to mind to describe all of this and, unfortunately, none of them are good. Instead of offering an exicting vision worthy of Coney Island's storied past, this glimpse of the plans reveals a pedestrian, cookie-cutter kind of future that springs from an idea of what faux funky resorts are supposed to be. It offers offers little more than window dressing to disguise what is otherwise a shopping mall with some highrises. Steeplechase or Luna Park, it ain't.

And remember: Thor Equities is the same firm that bought the old Sugar Factory in Red Hook adjacent to the Ikea site. At the rate they're going, Vineger Hill's next!  read more »

-Matthew Grace

• Forget Lebanon. The really significant battles are being fought in "an all out war for the soul" of Brooklyn. Time Out New York generously breaks the violence down by battleground: Prospect Heights, Williamsburg, Gowanus, Red Hook, and four more. Better yet: a guide to the bloggy Brooklyn blogs. (TONY premium)
• Canarsie, on the other hand, is a peaceful "suburban oasis" at the end of the L line. (Though a local official mourns: "there's been a population explosion"). (NY Daily News)
• The Port Authority board approves $2 billion for a "massive" train tunnel beneath the Hudson. ($2 billion down, $4 billion to go.) Authority chairman Anthony Coscia calls the project "our generation's George Washington Bridge," referring to the A/X Generation of badly tanned, oily haired rascals who still listen to Z100 and hit up The Shore for Spring Break. (AP via Crain's)
• The Department of Homeland Security looks out for New York, and so its tearing down the Intrepid's Peir 86, wasting $31 million on building "a staging area for federal authorities [to use] in the event of another terrorist attack." For surveillance? A military armory? A "hidden room"? Maybe. (Newsday)
• The top-secret $16 million renovation of Washington Square Park has been halted--because the city "didn't adequately inform the public" about it. The Parks Department argues that it's been seeking out Greenwich Village's input for two years, which explains those plans to move the park fountain 20 feet, and to add a "45-foot water spray." (NY1)
• Who knew Jordache Jeans could buy you a full floor on Park Avenue? It helps if that floor was once owned by Cem Uzane (a businessman who happened to default on some multibillion-dollar loans) and then sold on-the-cheap by Uncle Sam. (NY Post)
- Max Abelson  read more »
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Via the Gowanus Lounge, the Park Slope Courier reports that Senator Chuck Schumer has funds coming out of the Senate Appropriations Committee that are earmarked for an Army Corps of Engineers feasibility study to assess "environmental problems and potential solutions in the Gowanus Canal."

The canal, which connects the Red Hook waterfront to the Park Slope-Carroll Gardens nabe (a.k.a. Gowanus), is currently a pollution-saturated, industrial nightmare. It's got a certain beauty and charm, though, and once--if ever--it's cleaned up, real-estate values in that area are certain to soar.
The money is for a study only, but the city's D.E.P. says it'll upgrade the canal's flushing tunnel soon--beginning in 2008 and continuing for three to four years--which will hopefully get fresh water into the canal, making it more habitable for wildlife.
Kudos to Chuck. Sure wish he knew someone to tackle our traffic problems.  read more »

-Matthew Grace

While one-quarter of The Real Estate was down south swigging mescal and speaking pidgin Spanglish, the lords of landmarking, the L.P.C., did not rest. So we're a little late in announcing these designations, but hold strong .... We'd feel remiss if we just let them pass by without comment.

P.S. 64, at 605 East Ninth Street, was built in 1906 by Charles B.J. Snyder, and it's an example of the H-plan building that was a popular design for public schools in the last 100 years. This particular building is at the center of an ugly fight between developer Gregg Singer and the surrounding community. He wants to tear it down; the community wants it as is. The L.P.C. designation means it's probably going to stay up, although Mr. Singer has vowed to go to court if the L.P.C. does what it did. See our previous coverage here. Also, The Village Voice reports that Mr. Singer might lose up to $20 million in tax breaks if he removes the building's terra-cotta trim (he's allowed to in spite of the landmarks designation because it was approved three years ago).  read more »

Mac vs. PC   MAC: Hi, I’m a Mac!   PC: Hi, I’m a PC!    read more »

Here's the newly redesigned Real Estate.

We think it's pretty. And for the first time on The Real Estate, you can tell us what you think, too.

One of the new features is a comments section. We haven't formed a policy about it yet--we'll see what you guys make of it first. But our brother site, The Politicker, has dealt a lot with comments issues and you can find some ideas of what may come there.

Keep watching this space to see us iron out embarrassing glitches and roll out more new features in the next week--category-driven archive searches; more external links; and other beautifulness.

I owe many drinks and many thanks to Randi Hazan, proprietress of the Gowanus-based design firm Multipod, who designed this site (and of all the Observer's new web designs); and to Will Rahilly, resident Web genius. They got this to look and act like the real thing. Soon enough we'll catch up with them and it will be.

And to the small and exquisitely formed Jake Brooks, the Observer's Web editor, for whipping this whole project into shape.

And to you all, for reading.

- Tom McGeveran

While condo conversions of industrial buildings are all the rage, Brooklyn Community Board 6 took a stand against the latest attempt at gentrification in the Gowanus neighborhood last night at its full board meeting, denying a variance for 255 Butler Street, at the corner of Nevins.

The planned $27 million development would create 53 market-rate apartment units in the 90,000 square foot building, owned by Nathan and Benjamin Akkad, at the foot of the Gowanus Canal. Currently, the Akkads are moving their business to facilities in Red Hook, leaving the Butler Street building empty.

Community Board 6 district manager Craig Hammerman told The Real Estate that the board ultimately rejected the application because it didn’t meet several criteria necessary under the city zoning code to gain a variance: The developers’ hardship claim was suspected of being self-imposed; there was no genuine effort to find an as-of-right use for the property; and the building wasn’t unique in its design and zoning.

While the community board’s vote is merely advisory, it carries great weight with the Board of Standards and Appeals, which will make a final decision on the variance request. The hearing has not yet been calendared.  read more »

-Matthew Grace

Strolling through waterfront neighborhood today, The Real Estate found several developments worth noting.

First up, as reported earlier at Brownstoner, via Redhooky, the long-delayed condo project at 160 Imlay Street--right next to the new cruise-ship terminal--will be delayed even longer. It seems that a suit filed in January 2004 to stop the development--by the Red Hook-Gowanus Chamber of Commerce, which argued that the building should be used for industrial uses--was dismissed on a legal technicality (the developer of the property, wasn't named in the suit). But on Oct. 25, Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye reversed the dismissal, relying on a legal provision that allows such actions "if justice so requires." So now the $90 million, 145-unit project, by developer Bruse Batkin, sits fallow while the lawsuit once again wends its way through the courts. (Hat tip to the Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill Courier for breaking it down.)

But other projects are getting off to a better start. For example, a new housing development continues apace on Wolcott Street, off Van Brunt, on two buildings that'll add 60 units of low- and moderate-income owner-occupied condos. The $17 million project's been spearheaded by the Fifth Avenue Committee, with help from the Housing Partnership and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and financing comes via Citibank, among others. Interested applicants can stop by the F.A.C.'s headquarters to get on its mailing list.

Further down Van Brunt Street, Greg O-Connell's 115,000-square-foot condo development with a Fairway on the ground floor is slowly progressing. The Real Estate stopped by the site and asked a construction worker when the store would be opening and was told "the end of January." He said the condos would be ready "probably earlier."  read more »

(Photos, from top to bottom: 160 Imlay Street; Greg O'Connell's condo/Fairway development; interior of the Fairway store--forgive the blurriness, we had to take this in a hurry because the security guard hates us.)

-Matthew Grace

The Mayor is cracking down on speeders. This is an extraordinary development! Historic, even!  read more »