From the May issue: In the depths of the recession, when it was easier to get a reservation at Per Se than to sell a multimillion-dollar apartment in New York City, stories abounded of real estate developers scrambling to cover their costs by leasing out unsold condo inventory. It wasn’t a perfect solution — it’s notoriously difficult to get buyer financing in a part-condo, part-rental building — and in most cases, the strategy was never intended to be permanent. Two years later, as many of those original leases expire and the market begins to reheat, some developers are once again ready to sell, reuniting these once-fractured condos. [more]

Robert Scarano and Olive Park

Scarano redesigns Williamsburg condo: Scarano
Architects has helped bring the condominium Olive Park, at 100 Maspeth
Avenue in Williamsburg, up to code and ready for sales, according to a release from the architectural firm. The firm
designed colonnades along the perimeters of the building to create the
15-foot setback required by the New York City Planning Commission. The
original design by another architect called for a straight wall
parallel to the sidewalk with no setback. “We were brought in as
trouble shooters, shortly after the building had been framed out and
City Planning had made its decision to halt construction,” said Robert Scarano. “Our goal was to help the
developer complete the project without having to start from the very
beginning, which would have been cost prohibitive.” TRD [more]