Corcoran’s Pamela Liebman, map of disputed Brooklyn area (Bedford Avenue circled) and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries

Residential real estate giant the Corcoran Group has been commended by King’s County Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries for correcting its advertising practices. Corcoran, Jeffries said in today’s statement, had been falsely stating the boundary between Prospect Heights and Crown Heights in an effort to market Crown Heights’ properties as being in the more desirable Prospect Heights neighborhood.

Jeffries’ office said the assemblyman contacted Corcoran CEO Pamela Liebman April 25 about the practice, citing a New York State Real Property Law that allows the Secretary of State to sanction a real estate broker “if such licensee has been guilty of fraud or fraudulent practices, or for dishonest or misleading advertising, or had demonstrated untrustworthiness or incompetency to act as a real estate broker or salesman,” the law states. [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]

Sixty-five newly developed condos in some of Brooklyn’s most popular neighborhoods are either in distress or close to it, according to a report from Democratic Assembly member Hakeem Jeffries’ office. The troubled properties run the gamut, from completed properties to ones still under construction or stalled. Jeffries studied the five neighborhoods in his district, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant, in an effort to advocate for enhanced affordable housing in his district. “There was an irrational exuberance of construction in the area these past few years,” Jeffries said, in reference to the glut of new properties in the borough.

Last night’s community hearing on the Atlantic Yards project — a possible Prospect Heights development, which would include a new Nets arena and 16 skyscrapers — erupted into angry debate. Even as Borough President Marty Markowitz confirmed his support for the project, headed by developer Bruce Ratner and designed by Kansas City-based firm Ellerbe Beckett, State Assembly member Jim Brennan was critical. Many community members have criticized the Empire State Development Corp. for supporting Ratner’s project without requiring him to produce a final rendering of the project. Ratner isn’t required by law to supply images of the final plans before the state officials’ final vote, said Steve Matlin of the ESDC.

They may be pricey but the Upper East Side and Upper
West Side are still the most popular places for home buyers to check
out, according to a Post analysis of data from the Real Estate Board of New
York’s Web site. Since Jan. 1, user searches on ResidentialNYC.com show that
the next three most popular areas are the West
Village, Harlem
and Lincoln Square.
Brooklyn’s most popular were Park Slope, Bay Ridge, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Sheepshead Bay
and Prospect Heights. In Queens, the top five were Forest
Hills, Jackson Heights,
Rego Park,
Astoria and
Douglaston/Little Neck. The most popular in the Bronx
were Spuyten Duyvil, Throgs Neck, Riverdale, Parkchester and Jerome Park. Staten
Island’s most popular neighborhoods were Tottenville, Great Kills, Rossville, Arden Heights
and Mariners Park.