239 Banker Street (credit: PropertyShark)
A Greenpoint commercial building known as the Sweater Factory Lofts, which was used as illegal residences, has sold for $9.1 million, Brownstoner reported. The buyer is an LLC whose identity, and plans for the new acquisition, are unclear. [more]
From left: Joshua Zegen, managing member of Madison Realty, and 385 Union Avenue
Midtown-based investment firm Madison Realty Capital paid $21.55 million for a 47-unit apartment building at 385 Union Avenue in Williamsburg. It is the firm’s second acquisition of a residential property in the neighborhood this year.
Madison Realty bought the defaulted note on the six-story, 53,000-square-foot building from City National Bank, according to Joshua Zegen, managing member of Madison Realty. At the same time, Madison Realty negotiated to buy the deed from the building’s developers: Anshel Friedman, Pincus Freund and Joseph Freund. The entire transaction closed on May 10, but has not yet appeared in public records. [more]
NY1 institution Pat Kiernan better start paying closer attention to the station’s outerborough traffic reports. The beloved anchor just bought a newly renovated townhouse in Williamsburg, property records show (see video tour after the jump). Kiernan, who currently lives on the Upper West Side, landed the three-story, 20-foot-wide townhouse, at 135 Bedford Avenue, for $2.03 million, a tad under the $2.1 million price listing agents Kris Sylvester and Sarah Williams of Halstead Property were asking. [more]
338 Berry Street
A group of Williamsburg artists who were appealing eviction from the live-work loft at 338 Berry Street lost their 16 month-long legal battle yesterday, the Brooklyn Paper reported. There are seven remaining tenants in the building, between South 4th and South 5th streets, and they claimed that a 2010 revision of the Loft Law, which extended rights and rental protections to residents living in illegally-converted industrial lofts, should have included their homes. [more]
Renderings of the Original Music Workshop (credit: New York Observer)
Another former warehouse in Williamsburg is being reimagined, but for a decidedly different use that the typical luxury apartment conversion. The New York Observer reported that a non-profit music venue with a recording studio, restaurant and bar will open at the former sawdust factory at 80 North 6th Street. [more]
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced that it will sell two large parcels in South Williamsburg to a newly formed venture for an undisclosed price, Crain’s reported. Pfizer accepted a number of bids for the parcels, at 306 Rutledge Street, between Broadway and Harrison Avenue, including those from local community groups, Crain’s said, for around $10 million. [more]
From left: Executive Chairman of the Board of Toll Brothers Robert Toll, L&M Development CEO Ron Moelis and One Northside Piers
Toll Brothers City Living, part of a development team that built the trendy but troubled Williamsburg condominium tower One Northside Piers, is suing two contractors for $10 million, claiming water is leaking around the 29-story building’s windows.
The lawsuit, filed yesterday in New York State Supreme Court, comes just over a year after the New York Post reported a group of tenants at the 177-unit building complained about “shoddy” construction. Toll Brothers at the time downplayed the allegations, although it acknowledged there were problems. [more]
From left: last year's concert series venue and the site of this year's concerts
For the third time in four years, a waterfront concert series in Brooklyn is changing locations to accommodate neighbor complaints. But according to the Brooklyn Paper, this venue change is unlikely to produce positive results. Open Space Alliance will move the concert series to an asphalt lot on Kent Avenue between North 11th and North 12th streets, just three blocks from its previous venue in the East River State Park. [more]
From left: Attorney Y. David Scharf of Morrison Cohen, Attorney Mark Walfish of Katsky Korins and Domino Sugar Factory
A state Supreme Court judge said she would rule on an injunction request at the struggling Domino Sugar Factory site in Williamsburg by May 4, after lawyers for developer CPC Resources and its main investment partner battled over a deal to sell the proposed $2 billion housing and retail project. [more]
A rendering of 250 North 10th Street
LCOR has secured a $50 million construction loan from German bank Helaba to develop a 234-unit rental building in Williamsburg, according to Crain’s. As previously reported, LCOR purchased the vacant site, located at 250 North 10th Street between Roebling and Union avenues in Williamsburg, last year. Construction is slated to begin immediately, with leases anticipated to begin in the fall of 2013. [more]
