The rooftop at One Brooklyn Bridge Park

From the July issue: New Yorkers are not just shopping for apartments this summer. They’re also increasingly buying their own private pads on the roofs of their buildings.

Sales of rooftop “cabanas,” which residents at some new city condo buildings can buy for their own exclusive use, were slow during the downturn. But brokers say sales for these luxury, outdoor add-ons have recently picked up. Cabanas’ recent popularity has been especially visible at newly converted condo One Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn Heights, which is being marketed by the brokerage MNS.

According to MNS Executive Vice President Highlyann Krasnow, half of the building’s 18 shaded cabanas, which are hooked up to gas and water for barbecues, have been sold at prices ranging from $150,000 to $200,000. [more]

The Edge, the North Williamsburg waterfront condominium complex by Douglaston Development, has hit the 50 percent sold mark. According to an announcement from the developer, 165 units of the two buildings’ combined 565 residences, or 30 percent, have closed thus far, and over 100 more are in contract. According to Highlyann Krasnow, who is heading up the Developers Group’s marketing efforts for the project, the current sales pace is at around 25 units per month, and the team is hoping for an uptick once the Edge’s water taxi service to and from Manhattan kicks off this summer. TRD [more]

From left: Christine Blackburn of Prudential Douglas Elliman, the Edge, Highlyann Krasnow of the Developers Group, Northside Piers

For all the flack it gets, Williamsburg is still a hot place to live — at the right price. But even developers and brokers, perennial optimists even during real estate’s darkest hours, seemed a bit surprised by a recent spike in activity at some new buildings.
Northside Piers, the 450-unit waterfront project that has consistently been a top seller citywide since broadcasting aggressive price cuts early last year, just logged its best month since opening during the boom year of 2007, said Scott Avram, senior project manager for Northside Piers developer Toll Brothers City Living.
Forty contracts were signed in the past four weeks. Avram wondered “if everyone was having the same experience.”
So, The Real Deal made some calls around the neighborhood. While nobody quite scored 40 buyers in one month, it does seem like sales and leasing activity has been strong at projects with some combination of the following three winning characteristics: “location, price and the finishes,” as broker Christine Blackburn of Prudential Douglas Elliman put it. [more]

Michael Campbell at 65 Fen, a wine shop he opened in December in Prospect Lefferts Gardens.

From the March issue: Prospect Lefferts Gardens, the Brooklyn neighborhood that hugs the east side of Prospect Park (effectively mirroring Park Slope on the west), has been touted as an up-and-coming neighborhood for more than a few years now. But somehow it’s never quite caught on in the way that some other neighborhoods have.

Though the area is full of tree-lined streets dotted with well-priced limestone townhouses that sit back on their own lawns, there are only a few restaurants, cafés, boutiques and other stores to speak of.

“Amenities like restaurants and stuff [are] definitely sparse compared to other neighborhoods,” said Victoria Hagman, owner of Realty Collective and Manzione Real Estate. “But I think people are beginning to realize that it’s an untapped market.”

PLG residents, however, don’t seem interested in waiting for others to appreciate their “untapped market.” Instead, they are taking matters into their own hands, determined to help transform their neighborhood. [more]