From left: Rendering of 388 Bridge Street and 88 Willoughby StreetThe Brooklyn skyline continues to grow, as two planned towers are vying for the title of tallest building in the borough, according to the Wall Street Journal, after the mark was set last year by Equity Residential and the Clarett Group’s the Brooklyner.

Early next year, the Stahl Organization will break ground on a 590-foot residential tower, at 388 Bridge Street in Downtown Brooklyn, that would surpass the height of the Brooklyner, at 111 Lawrence Street, by 76 feet. That building was the first to rise taller than the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, which was built more than 80 years ago to 512 feet tall. [more]

From left: the Brooklyner roof deck, Clarett Group’s Veronica Hackett and the Brooklyner building

It turns out that tenants at the Brooklyner had good reason to be irked about a [more]

This week’s rooftop opening party for the Brooklyner, a luxury rental tower at 111 Lawrence Street in Downtown Brooklyn, drew many guests — unfortunately, none of them were tenants, according to Curbed. Residents at the Brooklyner, the tallest building in the borough, say they’ve never even been allowed onto the building’s 51st-floor roof deck, where the building hosted its event, which was open to the media, project consultants and special invitees. While the building is 60 percent leased, residents say they’ve been given no estimate on when the rooftop might open to tenants and that this week’s elevated celebration was salt in the wound. For its part, developer Clarett Group said that it’s “in the process of completing the space, and it will soon be open to residents.” [Curbed]

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This week’s rooftop opening party for the Brooklyner, a luxury rental tower at 111 Lawrence Street in Downtown Brooklyn, drew many guests — unfortunately, none of them were tenants, according to Curbed. Residents at the Brooklyner, the tallest building in the borough, say they’ve never even been allowed onto the building’s 51st-floor roof deck, where the building hosted its event, which was open to the media, project consultants and special invitees. While the building is 60 percent leased, residents say they’ve been given no estimate on when the rooftop might open to tenants and that this week’s elevated celebration was salt in the wound. For its part, developer Clarett Group said that it’s “in the process of completing the space, and it will soon be open to residents.” [Curbed]

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Fred Harris, vice president at AvalonBay Communities, which is constructing its first Brooklyn project, a 631-unit tower on Gold Street in Fort Greene.

From the March issue: A handful of major real estate management and development firms that have long avoided Brooklyn — even as housing prices in the borough shot up and brokerages rushed in — are finally venturing across the river.

The reasons are twofold. First, new high-rise, high-end construction in Brooklyn fits their business model. And second, values of these new Brooklyn buildings appear to have tumbled further and faster than their Manhattan counterparts, according to brokers and developers. “Developers are looking for opportunities, 100 percent,” said David Maundrell, a Dumbo resident and the president of aptsandlofts.com, a brokerage with a Brooklyn focus. “But they are willing to do that because there is a viable market here. It’s become a destination as opposed to an afterthought for Manhattanites who want a cheaper place.”

Jamestown Properties is one of the developers that recently upped its bet on the borough. In early 2007, the firm had a 60 percent equity stake in be@Schermerhorn, a troubled condo in Downtown Brooklyn, which was developed by SDS Procida and saw construction and sales suspended last year. But in December, Jamestown bought the balance of the mortgage from a consortium of banks. The consortium had originally lent $100 million to SDS Procida.

From the December issue: Rental projects were long considered bulletproof, a safe backup for
more profitable and risky condos. But with the precipitous drop in New
York City rents — perhaps on the order of 30 percent from the top of
the market once incentives are factored in — it’s clear that they are
no longer a surefire bet.
“Nobody who’s got anything under construction is kidding anybody by
not admitting that rents are less than where they were when we all
underwrote these transactions,” said Veronica Hackett, cofounder and
managing partner of the Clarett Group, a developer of condos and
rentals that began leasing at the 490-unit Brooklyner at 111 Lawrence
Street in Downtown Brooklyn a month ago.

189 Bridge is now partly rental

From the November issue: Like many other development firms, the Clarett Group rode the wave of
the real estate boom expertly, building successful condos in Manhattan
and other markets across the country. Like a host of other developers,
however, the company hit a damaging riptide in Downtown Brooklyn. A few
months ago, Clarett’s condo, the Forté, went back to its lender,
Eurohypo AG. The move was the most boldface example thus far of the
difficulties developers have encountered selling condos in Downtown
Brooklyn, generally defined as the section of the borough bounded by
Nassau Street to the north, Ashland Place to the east, Schermerhorn
Street to the south and Court Street to the west. That catch zone
encompasses several micro-neighborhoods, including the western edge of
Fort Greene. Several big developers are feeling pain in the saturated
area, which has been generating a lot of attention lately because three
new luxury rental towers are preparing to launch. [more]

The Clarett Group has completed construction on the Brooklyner, a
51-story, 491-unit development at 11 Lawrence Street in Downtown
Brooklyn. The building includes studio, one- and two-bedroom units. As
the tallest building in Brooklyn, the Brooklyner features unobstructed
views of the East and Hudson rivers and the Brooklyn and Manhattan skylines
and a 24-hour concierge service. Occupancy is slated for late 2009 or
early 2010. TRD
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