Real estate in brief

211 East 51st Street gets Fannie Mae approval

Fannie Mae has granted its official approval to 211 East 51st Street,
HJ Development’s 14-story luxury condo conversion, giving buyers the
opportunity to obtain government-backed loans and smaller
down payments. The building’s offering plan was declared effective in
2008. Sales have been steady since then, and an additional surge in sales during the third quarter of 2009 helped the building to its current status, with 37 of its
70 units sold. Prices begin in the mid-$600,000s, and many of
the recent buyers have been Italian and Brazilian, according to the
developer.

Charter School inks deal at 33 Nassau Avenue in Greenpoint

Charter school organization Believe High Schools Network is expanding and
relocating from 424 Leonard Street to 33 Nassau Avenue in Greenpoint, across the street from
McCarren Park. The organization leased the 16,800-square-foot second
floor of the three-story mixed-use building, also known as the Flour &
Sugar Building, which will house a high school and Believe High Schools Network’s administrative offices. Its neighbors above and
below will include tenants such as Web design firm BlenderBox, the
Angel Street Thrift Shop and the Lower East Side Service Center
Foundation. Grant Dolgin of Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates represented both
sides in the transaction.

To avoid bubbles, Bernanke looks to past

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested a comprehensive review
of past monetary policy in order to avoid future housing bubbles at
the annual meeting of the American Economic Association yesterday.
Financial regulation can be used to help eschew housing bubbles, but
policies were ineffectively enforced in the last several years,
Bernanke said. In the run-up to the housing market crash, “the Federal
Reserve and other agencies did make efforts to address poor mortgage
underwriting practices,” Bernanke said. “All efforts should be made to
strengthen our regulatory system to prevent a recurrence of the
crisis, and to cushion the effects if another crisis occurs.” TRD