Williamsburg retailers are up in arms about partially shut down service on the L train on a dozen weekends since July, reaching out to community leaders and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to work out alternatives. The shutdowns have resulted in massive drops in sales for many of them, Crains reported, most dramatically on Black Friday, the stores’ biggest day of the year.

“Nobody was here,” said William Norton, owner of an apparel store Peachfrog in the vicinity of the L closure. “I lost 80 percent of my business, compared with last year.”

Since 1998, the L train’s ridership has increased by a massive 141 percent thanks to development of the now-trendy Williamsburg area, but local businesses are now suffering so much from the unreliability of commuters’ lifeline to the neighborhood that something must be done, they said.
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East Williamsburg’s 291 Devoe, an eight-unit boutique condominium between Catherine and Olive streets, is 100 percent sold after just over a year on the market, according to MNS, the exclusive sales and marketing firm for the project.

The developer of the project is Chicago’s Builders Bank; the bank was originally the construction lender on the project before ultimately taking over at the property, according to Lyon Porter, vice president at MNS.

“With many of the homes sold to first-time homebuyers, this is a great indication that buyer confidence is returning and that a well developed building will not last on the market long,” said Dave Behin, partner at MNS. – Katherine Clarke [more]

MySpace NYC ad

MySpace NYC, a Brooklyn-focused residential real estate firm, recently started an eye-catching company advertising campaign, as the Greenpoint/Williamsburg-based blog New York Shitty spotted on Bushwick Avenue (see ad above). MySpace NYC was founded in 2008, has offices in Williamsburg and Prospect Heights. It rents and sells units throughout the borough. This is not the first real estate company to employ sex to sell real estate. The Real Deal reported in 2007 that spicy real estate advertising had been picking up in frequency in New York City. According to its website, MySpace NYC currently has two properties for sale in Prospect Heights, a loft for $579,000 and a two-bedroom apartment for $789,000.  [New York Shitty] [more]

The developer of the Lotus condominium in Williamsburg has agreed to hand over 10 apartments to the condo board, settling a private lawsuit and investigation by the attorney general amid complaints about structural defects at the building and thousands of dollars in unpaid common charges.

Developer Steven Kohn signed a “confession of judgment” at Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office June 3, giving the 10 unsold apartments to the condo board, according to documents obtained by The Real Deal. The board will be able to rent out the units to help cover the costs of fixing the building. The developer also signed a personal guarantee, backing up promises made in the settlement. [more]

LCOR has entered into a contract to purchase the vacant development site at 250 North 10th Street in Williamsburg that can be built up to 155,000 square feet, sources told Crain’s. LCOR, which opened a 142-unit building in the neighborhood last year, will reportedly pay more than $100 per buildable square foot.
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The City Council today approved the much-debated
$1.5 billion plan to turn the crumbling Domino Sugar refinery into a
residential development on the Williamsburg waterfront, the New York
Times reported. The towers are substantially smaller than originally
proposed, but the developer of the New Domino — CPC Resources, a
for-profit subsidiary of the nonprofit Community Preservation
Corporation –  will still set aside 660 apartments out of 2,200
for low- and moderate-income tenants and retain the historic 40-foot
tall Domino sugar sign atop the central refinery building. The council
voted unanimously to approve changes in the local zoning law that would
allow the project to move forward after nearly six years of planning,
hearings and delays. Designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, the two
tallest towers on the 11-acre site — bound by Kent Avenue and the East
River, and South 3rd Street and South 4th Street — will be 34 stories,
down from 40. The other two towers at New Domino will be 30 stories
tall. The project also includes community space, office space and a
small park. Plans for the defunct refinery had drawn criticism from local politicians because of the proposed height of the towers, and concern over the amount of affordable housing units, but those issues were resolved in the current plan. [NYT]

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Drama continues to unfold at a rent-stabilized building in Williamsburg. Less than two days after returning to their homes for the first time in a year, tenants of a four-story building at 172 North Eighth Street and Bedford Avenue are homeless again after the building’s foundation nearly collapsed from construction work, according to the Brooklyn Paper. After discovering that the corner of the basement had been destabilized, city officials vacated tenants from the building on Tuesday night. City contractors worked overnight to temporarily add several 10-foot-long wooden beams to support the shaky wall, stabilizing the foundation. This is the latest episode in a nearly year-long housing saga. The building has been empty since last July, when its landlord, Jamal Alokasheh, excavated the foundation without a permit. On Sunday, tenants cut off the Alokasheh’s padlock on the front door and returned to their apartments after the city lifted the vacate order from July. [Brooklyn Paper]

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Drama continues to unfold at a rent-stabilized building in Williamsburg. Less than two days after returning to their homes for the first time in a year, tenants of a four-story building at 172 North Eighth Street and Bedford Avenue are homeless again after the building’s foundation nearly collapsed from construction work, according to the Brooklyn Paper. After discovering that the corner of the basement had been destabilized, city officials vacated tenants from the building on Tuesday night. City contractors worked overnight to temporarily add several 10-foot-long wooden beams to support the shaky wall, stabilizing the foundation. This is the latest episode in a nearly year-long housing saga. The building has been empty since last July, when its landlord, Jamal Alokasheh, excavated the foundation without a permit. On Sunday, tenants cut off the Alokasheh’s padlock on the front door and returned to their apartments after the city lifted the vacate order from July. [Brooklyn Paper]

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Things are looking up in the Brooklyn residential market, according to Gerard Longo, president of the Brooklyn New York Multiple Listing Service.

The MLS’ first-quarter 2010 report, which culls data from the listings registered in the MLS, shows that inventory dropped 22.7 percent year-over-year in the first quarter, while sales volume increased 10.08 percent to $181.67 million in the first three months of this year from $165.04 million in the first quarter of 2009.

While the median price dropped 7.02 percent during that same time period, the average price only declined .66 percent.

“I think we found a stable place in our market,” said Longo, who is also a principal with development firm Atlantic Walk Vestry and president of Brooklyn-based real estate company Madison Estates & Properties. “I think we’re flatlining here.” [more]

While the $959,000 asking price for 1 Maspeth Avenue — a 2,400-square-foot house in Williamsburg — might seem reasonable on the surface, Curbed has discovered a rare detail that has left it languishing on the market: its floorplan renders it virtually unusable. The home’s triangular layout makes it a prismatic head-scratcher for furniture layout, according to a tipster, and it has the price cuts to prove it. Although it was originally listed by Prudential Douglas Elliman for $1.2 million last November, it’s current asking price puts its price-per-square-foot at $399.