The Brooklyner building (tall and center) in the area surrounging the MetroTech
There is a residential “boomlet,” happening around Downtown Brooklyn’s MetroTech Center, the New York Post reported.Despite the lack of amenities, high-rises in the area are offering amazing views at affordable rents, the Post said.
“We’re kind of a 10-minute walk to everything — in the middle of nowhere,” said Janice Behrens, who lives at Belltel Lofts, at 365 Bridge Street near Willoughby Street. [more]
From left: Rendering of 388 Bridge Street and 88 Willoughby StreetThe Brooklyn skyline continues to grow, as two planned towers are vying for the title of tallest building in the borough, according to the Wall Street Journal, after the mark was set last year by Equity Residential and the Clarett Group’s the Brooklyner.
Early next year, the Stahl Organization will break ground on a 590-foot residential tower, at 388 Bridge Street in Downtown Brooklyn, that would surpass the height of the Brooklyner, at 111 Lawrence Street, by 76 feet. That building was the first to rise taller than the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, which was built more than 80 years ago to 512 feet tall. [more]
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.
