Avalon Chrystie Place

AvalonBay Communities has settled the federal discrimination lawsuit against its 361-unit Lower East Side apartment building, Avalon Chrystie Place, which accused the developer of violating the Fair Housing Act, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced yesterday. Filed in August 2008, the suit had said the rental building, at 229 Chrystie Street, was not constructed to be accessible to disabled people and had sparked fears amongst other developers and landlords across the city that they too, would soon be targeted by the city. AvalonBay, which had originally argued in response to the suit that its building was, in fact, in compliance with accessibility codes and laws, agreed in the settlement to inspect and retrofit Avalon Chrystie Place, as well as its six other New York City properties. The developer will pay more than $2.2 million in building improvements, compensation for victims and civil penalties. TRD

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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.