New York City calculates Sandy property damage

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Medvis

Following Hurricane Sandy’s savage attack on Lower Manhattan and the rest of the tri-state area Monday evening, real estate experts are now tallying the current and expected costs of storm on the City’s commercial and residential property stock.

In an analysis presented by Adam Pincus of the Real Deal, 17.3 million square feet of office space remains out of commission due to flooded basements from Sandy’s madness. These buildings will need a city inspector to give permission to reopen or a certified architect to deem the building as being able to pass inspection, meaning that, among other thing, there is no standing water in the building.

Graph taken from The Real Deal

Impact on New York City Residents

For New York City residents, however, the pain of losing their living spaces has been far more painful, with thousands, especially in Staten Island and Queens, losing their homes.

While still too early to give sound estimates of the level of home damage caused in the tri-state area by Hurricane Sandy, some experts have projected losses that range from $7 billion to $20 billion.

Damaged apartment in the Financial District

So far, AIR Worldwide projected insured losses at $7 billion to $15 billion while Eqecat has its estimates at $10 billion and $20 billion. The estimates of both firms now exclude residential flood losses which are insured by the federal National Flood Insurance Program.

Some in that program estimate that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will receive over 80,000 claims for Sandy-related damage. According to EQECAT, 30-40% of those 80,000 cost claims incurred by Sandy are expected to be from New York City damage with FEMA expected to cover up to 75% of the city’s losses.

Fort Greene real estate market stays Warm

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Medvis

152 Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, a four story brownstone townhouse, came short in setting a neighborhood sales record. However, the property sale was able to teach us all a valuable lesson: Despite a depressed national real estate climate, folks are looking to pay big bucks to live in Brooklyn.

In spring of this year, a five story Forte Green townhouse at 181 Washington Park closed for $ 3.28 million, raising the closing bar in Fort Greene to a new neighborhood record. This summer, the four story 152 Lafayette Avenue fell just short that record setting closing with a $3.1 million dollar bid.

fort greene real estate market 152 Laffeyette Avenue

Images from Brooklyn Properties, listed on NY Observer website

Brooklyn as a good buy

The once ragged Fort Greene real estate market has emerged in the last decade as both a cultured bulwark for West Brooklyn professionals and a real estate hotspot for brokers.

The value of New York City neighborhoods is especially acknowledged in a region in which real estate is ailing. Traditionally high-end real estate markets in Northern New Jersey and Connecticut are struggling to attract new buyers while formerly economically-challenged in areas such as West Brooklyn and Upper Manhattan are enjoying a large level of market demand.

The brick townhouse was purchased by its previous owner for $2.025 million in 2007 before a round of extensive renovations. Brooklyn Properties’ brokers Suzanne Debrango and Ian Johnson were able to secure the $3.1 million bid this summer after the townhouses owner sought only $3.05 million.

This five-bedroom, 2.5-bath home at 152 Lafayette is full of a lot of historic charm and a relevant market lesson: Real estate can still be sold for big money in New York City even amidst the lagging markets in other parts of the region.

Expected Residential Development for Hudson Square Real Estate Market

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Medvis

Yesterday (August 20^th), the City Planning Commission cleared the rezoning of Hudson Square to allow for new residential development to commence in the traditionally commercial district.

Tucked away between Tribeca, SoHo, and Greenwich Village, the Hudson Square real estate market is an easily overlooked portion of Manhattan. The primary reason for this is that very few people actually live there, as the three century old quarter is currently zoned for manufacturing.

Hudson Square real estate market community board 2 city planning committee residential development Hudson square connection

Historic Hudson Square Row Houses (Taken from Wikipedia)

Despite a rare and prized collection of Federalist and Neo-Greco style row houses in the Charlton King-Vandam Historic District, Hudson Square has traditionally been recognized as the “Printing District” due to its history of media-related manufacturing. In fact, Hudson Square, which is still home to WNYC Public Radio, Viacom, CBS Radio, and Community Media LLC, was home to the nation’s first African-American Newspaper, Freedom’s Journal.

However, the push for zoning underscores a growing demand for an increase of the neighborhood’s housing supply. Local policymakers at the Hudson Square Connection, a Hudson Square civic organization spearheading the rezoning efforts, believe the neighborhood would benefit from more residential complexes and a public primary school. Others also see residential rezoning as a means of attracting a wider variety of retail investors.

As reported by Mary Shell from Crain’s, this week’s certification by the City Planning Committee begins a seven month public review of proposed private residential development. At the end of this period, the New York city council will decide the fate of the residential development effort with a vote.

(Taken from Hudson Square Connection Website)

On October 18^th, Community Board 2 will decide on the individual development proposals upon City Council clearance. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer must review the plan before the council votes.

The Board has previously blocked both the expansion of NYU and the conversion of the old St. Vincent’s Hospital into residential condominiums. However, many expect the community board to pass the vast majority of the residential development proposals put forth while also pushing for more green open space considerations.

Red Hook real estate market warms up

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Medvis

Like many New Yorkers, my first reason for ever going to Red Hook was to pick up some very in expensive furniture from IKEA. However, during both my shuttle ride to IKEA and the water taxi back to Lower Manhattan, I realized that I had just visited a very unique and special New York City Neighborhood.

As reported by Ken M. Christensen of Crain’s New York, I am not the only outsider to see the great potential and value of the Red Hook real estate market and business district. Although serving as an industrial/port corridor for much of the 19^th and early 20^th century, Red Hook is becoming far less industrial and more residential.

red hook real estate market van brunt brooklyn real estate

Image taken from http://realtycollective.blogspot.com

The Rebirth of Red Hook

While the Red Hook real estate market is now becoming a “New York City well-kept city,” it was long considered to be a complete dead-end for the last 60 years by many New Yorkers. Up to this day one can still only use one bus line in order to connect to the nearest F train stop in Carroll Gardens. However, this relative isolation in the very shadow of Manhattan and the statue of Liberty seems to lend a great deal of geographical sexiness to the Red Hook Real Estate Market.

This one-time industrial skeleton is gaining noticeable consumer substance once again. In fact, the increased demand for Red Hook real estate has led to the MTA announcing a re-opening of a once suspended bus, in addition to the existing B61.

Following in the footsteps of major projects such as IKEA and the Fairway Market opened in a late 18^th century warehouse, Future development in Red Hook include an arts collective in a former warehouse and a renovated carriage house. This fall, the Municipal Art Society will host tours of the revitalizing community.

Right image taken from http://www.urban75.org

Van Blunt, the main strip in Red Hook has enjoyed the increased traffic from tourists venturing in from “far-way lands” such as Soho, and Murray Hill. Its eateries, delis, and restaurants are all posting upward trending revenues year after year.

The Red Hook real estate market offers new residents from more expensive neighborhoods a more affordable and slower pace of City life. However, the number of glamorous warehouse purchases and row-house renovations are still relatively few and far between. Moreover, the neighborhood is still zoned for industrial use, restricting residential development.

So for now, Red Hook can still be that underdeveloped NYC get-away. But of course, we at Blocksy aren’t at all opposed to a few new condominium developments in Redhook. After all, the more the merrier right?

John Legend closes on Nolita condo

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Medvis

Back in September of last year, John Legend, the famous R & B musician placed his Bowery Condo on the New York City real estate market. Fast-forward to this week, when John Legend just announced his new Nolita luxury pad.

Legend through his longtime Prudential Douglas Elliman broker, Jason Walker, closed on a baller one-bedroom, 2 1/2-bathroom condominium loft in Nolita’s Brewster Carriage House which sits at 374 Broome St. It is reported that the unit was purchased for just under $2.5 million.

The luxurious bachelor pad boasts a spacious living room with a fireplace, a masterful kitchen and spa-like washing rooms with soaking tubs and rainfall showers.

Meanwhile Legend’s two-bedroom, two-bathroom Bowery 1,359-square-foot condo at 52 E. Fourth St. is in contract with a mystery buyer. The asking price for this property which Legend bought for $1.9 million in 2009 was last listed at $2.795 million, down from its original $2.95 million.

john legend 374 broome street nolita loft

For John Legend and his fiancee Chrissy Teigen , it looks like a wonderful life

It seems as though the 13-foot ceilings, a private elevator landing a landscaped roof deck, a swimming pool and Andres Escobar interiors at 52 East 4^th street simply did not cut it for Legend and his model fiancée Christine Teigen.

I guess moving on up for John Legend is synonymous and moving on down, south of Houston.

The Visionaire’s Last Call. One Unit Left.

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Medvis

The Visionaire is quite likely Manhattan’s greenest residential building and has been extremely successful in attracting buyers. This Battery Park City condominium development has been so successful in fact that it is down to its very last unit for sale. Last week The Visionaire made it’s last call for buyers. On the deck: $1.6 million penthouse.

Of its 251 units, one more Visionaire unit remains. Sitting at the top of 70 Little West Street in Battery Park City is a nearly $1.6 million penthouse in want of an owner. Aside from the standard fare of luxury found in a New York City penthouse, this 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom condo complete with prewired solar shades on both the floor and the ceiling windows, “sustainable hardwood floors” and fresh air filtration system, is sure to find a buyer.

Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, The Visionaire was constructed in 2007. Aside from its 34 floors of 251 units, The Visionaire complex was designed to incorporate a host of advanced environmentally friendly technologies which include centrally filted water, in building waste water treatment, rainwater harvesting for rooftop gardens and high efficiency fresh-air supply and exhaust system.

: Kitchen of The Visionaire PH 1F unit

In New York City, however, a $1.6 million penthouse sale is nothing too incredible. In fact, before you even finished the second paragraph, multiple leisurely offers for this unit have probably been placed for this property.

The real story here is the ongoing rebound of Lower Manhattan. With the Visionaire selling out so quickly and major infrastructure investments looking to be completed in Lower Manhattan, we at Batter Park Blog expect many more units to sell.

Condos on the rise while Brownstone’s stay flat

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Medvis

While many in Manhattan are cringing at the idea of micro apartments, others are savoring the expected increase in inventory for condos in the city of style.

Condos are Back

As reported by C.J. Hughes of the New York Times, it seems as though the the hunger for New York City condominium developments has returned as memories of the condo-collapse in 2007 recede from recent memory of both investors and potential buyers.

In a manner far more conservative than the development occurring in New York City before 2007, condominium development projects are back online as firms like RFR Holding develop at 530 Park Avenue, and others like the Stahl Organization push into Brooklyn.

Brownstones New York City condominium condo

One Madison Park

At the peak of the condo craze in 2007, there were 507 planned condo projects in Manhattan and Brooklyn alone, as recorded by the New York attorney general’s office, who regulates the planning and approval process for condominium development. Last year, there were just 255 in Manhattan and Brooklyn. This same figure is expected this year according to state records.

Market in Brooklyn

Meanwhile, about 1,500 new condo units are expected to hit the market each year in Manhattan according to Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. And even with this increase supply of condos, the per square foot value for each condo is also expected to rise from $1,400 a square foot to $2,000 per square foot.

However, while Condo prices and supply climb in Manhattan, brownstone availability in Brooklyn has dipped as prices remain flat in the second quarter of 2012.

Prized Brownstone real estate in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

“Pricing didn’t do a whole lot,” in the second quarter in Brooklyn, said Jonathan Miller, Miller Samuel president to the Real Deal. According to Miller, there was an 18 percent decline in inventory throughout Brooklyn in the past 12 months, a trend which has also happened in Queens.

A recent Prudential Douglas Elliman report illustrates an increased median sales price in the Brooklyn which is now at $586,000, up 2 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, for the brownstone market in particular, the median sales price, at $1.3 million, is up 9.5 % .

The Bottom Line: Buyers are still holding on to their wallets and are watching to see what prices do in the next couple quarters or so. With a recession in the balance and an economy in the balance, buyers are far more likely rent instead of buying.

NYC Condo and Co-op Tax Abatement are here to stay

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Medvis

Governor Andrew Cuomo and a group of NY state legislators are looking to make life a little bit more comfortable for many New York City condominium and co-op owners. Thus if you were considering that leap from a rental into NYC condo/co-op ownership such a move is still worth the investment.

At the end of June, 16 year old tax abatements on many NYC condominium and co-op property taxes expired, infuriating and distressing many condo-co-op owners. To dig the political hole even deeper, New York City officials made a tremendous error of including the 17.5% tax break on bills sent out on for July 1st, giving owners the impression that their bill would be business as usual instead of at the latest and higher tax rate, which ion some cases could go as high as 30%.

“Tax Compromise”

Governor Cuomo asked that New York City officials handle this issue administratively in a way that would allow for the existing 17.% abatement.

Meanwhile, as reported by The Queens Courier, a key group of lawmakers in Albany have come to an agreement to extend tax abatements through legislation which would be voted upon at the end of the year.

Under this agreement, lawmakers would increase tax abatements for middle-class condominium and co-op owners but would gradually eliminate the abatements for owners whose NYC condominium or co-op are not their primary residences. This last clause presumably goes after the city’s filthy rich residents who have an affinity for house hopping.

: I doubt this condo owner needs the abatement

This compromise almost neutralizes the argument of many New York City policy makers that the current tax cut system for condo and co-op owners is one which disproportionately benefits NYC’s upper middle class and down-right wealthy residents while costing the city over $400 million every year in revenue in property taxes.

However, for policy makers like Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, this agreement helps the majority of condo and co-op owners who already bare a disproportionate share of the New York City’s property tax burden.

When the anticipated tax compromise is enacted later this year, the new tax cut will be enforced retroactively back to July 1st.

So go ahead and close that condo deal you were nervously sitting on as you watched this saga play out. It seems as through this sweet NYC deal is here to stay.

Delinquent residents feel the Squeeze

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Medvis

While over in Brooklyn, Andy Chau ordered in mean biker gangs to scare off his hipster tenants, building managers and condominium boards across the way in Manhattan are finding more civil tactics to put the squeeze on delinquent residents.

As reported by Kim Velsey of the New York Observer, the board of the East 82nd Street Wellington Tower decided to send a strong message to residents who fell behind on their common charges.

While delinquent residents weren’t paying for the amenities offered by their building, they were able to still enjoy them. This seemed proper to neither the board nor residents who were up to date on their payments. So the solution? Cutting the “free lunch short.”

delinquent common charges wellington towers

Amenities such as the luxury pool in the Wellington Towers will become inaccessible to residents with delinquent common charge accounts

“We decided it really wasn’t fair to allow them to use the same amenities,” said board president Rebecca Sheinberg to the Observer. “Other people in the building don’t want to be subsidizing people who aren’t paying.”

Building doormen no longer accept parcels for residents who are more than a few months’ behind, and they can no longer open the doors to the pool, the gym or the playroom with their key fobs.

Other buildings have purportedly taken more drastic measures such as restricting elevator use for delinquent common charge account holders. 20th floor high rise tenants…ouch! Another method employed has been a public noticeboard that lists the names of residents who owe common charges, shaming them to the rest of the building.

Cost of Delinquents to Building Managers

The costs of delinquent accounts seem to justify such tactics however. While common charges are often collected before the mortgage holder in Co-ops, condo boards have no guarantee for ever receiving the fully owed balance on a delinquent account. Moreover, by having delinquent accounts, fully paid residents face higher common charges to meet the full balance of building amenity costs.

Different buildings have had differing levels of success in getting delinquent accounts in paying up after being publicly shamed and practically inconvenienced. However, in every case, we all are reminded of the never ending social desire of New Yorkers to live fabulously, even when their checkbooks can’t afford it and their condo board has little legal recourse.

New York City landlord goes gangsta’ on Williamsburg Hipsters

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Medvis

Anyone who lives in New York City knows the main objective of any landlord or building management company: minimize costs and maximize revenue.

However this postulate used to just mean that your most recent email about the dripping faucet you’ve had for almost a month would be ignored (like the last three emails) or that your common charges would increase for a 5th year in a row with the same underwhelming array of amenities in your building.

Well it seems as though one Brooklyn landlord has decided to turn straight gansta, going from scummy tactics to even scummier ones.

Biker Gang unleased on Williamsburg Hipsters

andy chau forbidden ones 13 thames street 15 thames street loft law brooklyn lofts

(Taken From Real Deal) 13 and 15 Thames Street buildings

Hipsters living in two East Williamsburg apartment buildings, 13 and 15 Thames St., are accusing their landlord Andy Chau of hiring a violent biker gang to “terrorize residents and have them surrender their statutory rights under the loft law,” which protects renters living in illegally converted manufacturing space.

andy chau 13 thames 15 thames east williamsburg forbidden ones brooklyn loft law

Andy Chau, gangsta landlord

As reported by the affected tenants, the Forbidden Ones Motorcycle Club has bullied their way into the space of the tenants — converting one building’s first-floor apartment into the clubs private parking space, littering the premises with beer cans from raucous parties and even viciously assaulting two onlookers who caught their shenanigans on camera.

Chau strongly denies these claims of his involvement, despite members of the Forbidden Ones collaborating the claims of residents, telling the NY Post, “[Chau ]said, ‘[the Forbidden Ones] can stay if you can keep the [tenants] out.’”

While others have won real estate wars against landlords via the New York Loft Laws, Mr Chau figured “who needs laws when you can bring in some muscle”…poor hipsters lol.

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