525 Clinton Avenue

When the skeleton of an incomplete condominium project at 525 Clinton Avenue and 508 Waverly Avenue in Brooklyn hit the foreclosure auction block Feb. 23, one would have been forgiven for assuming that the project’s longtime lender, TD Bank, would finally take the reins — the building had a total outstanding lien of $25.5 million.

What some followers of the building’s progress may not have known however, is that TD bank no longer held the mortgages and judgments on the Clinton Hill development. The mortgages were transferred to a mystery LLC, identified only as Clinton 525 LLC in public documents Jan. 17. [more]

From the February issue:
Thirty years ago, the notion that the largely industrial area at the foot of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges would one day command some of the highest prices in Brooklyn real estate might have seemed about as plausible as an elephant taking wing. Nowadays, of course, Dumbo is well established as one of Brooklyn’s most sought-after neighborhoods. So much so that it has weathered the real estate downturn better than Brooklyn as a whole — a reality that the few developers planning projects in Dumbo hope continues. In December, the publicly traded luxury home builder Toll Brothers closed on a parcel of land at 205 Water Street where the firm intends to develop a condo with approximately 70 units. Toll paid $8.6 million for the land and hopes to start building by the end of the year. “Dumbo is fairly unique within the Brooklyn market,” said David Von Spreckelsen, a senior vice president with Toll Brothers. “It’s really been holding value better than the other neighborhoods in Brooklyn, and if you look at [condo] resales they’re at really strong numbers.”  [more]

After the accidental death of a construction worker, Jose Palacios, in January 2008, at the condominium development at 525 Clinton Avenue between Fulton Street and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood, the building remains incomplete and faces foreclosure, with none of the units sold. The project was unpopular in the community from the start, WNYC reported, when the project developer Karnusa Equities tore down a home for mentally-disabled adults to make way for the condo. Four years later, TD Bank was deep into the foreclosure process at the spot, which has become a symbol for the troubled New York City residential market.