It’s Williamsburg by hundreds.
Developers submitted plans to the state attorney general for 1,876 new condo units in Williamsburg over the past two and a half years, more than for any other Brooklyn neighborhood during that time, according to an analysis by The Real Deal.
The enclave ran well ahead of second-place finisher — and neighbor — East Williamsburg, where developers submitted plans for 1,451 units from the start of 2004 through August 2006, the most recent data collected (see chart).
And nearly 45 percent of the unit plans submitted in Williamsburg by developers since the start of 2004 came in the first eight months of 2006.
While the number of new projects starting up now remains high, many observers point out that it may not reflect the current reality of a slowing market.
Because new development takes years to go from planning to completion, many of these condos may be more of a commentary on the robust outlook of 2005 — and a sign of a condo glut to come. Still, the numbers in some neighborhoods remain impressive.
No Brooklyn neighborhood saw as sharp a spike this year in new unit plans submitted as Bushwick, just to the east of East Williamsburg.
From 2004 through 2005, plans were filed for 53 units in Bushwick. In the first eight months of 2006, developers submitted plans for 366 units, a 600 percent increase over the previous two years combined, though much of the increase was largely on the strength of one big project, the 184-unit 358 Grove Street.
This busy-in-2006 trend held true for the borough overall.
Almost 38 percent of all the Brooklyn condo and co-op unit plans submitted to the state for approval from 2004 through Aug. 30, 2006 were submitted in the first eight months of this year.
That compares to 39 percent in all of 2005, and 23 percent in 2004. Developers filed plans for more Brooklyn housing units in the second quarter of 2006 than in any quarter going back to the first quarter of 2004.
Based on data available before the third quarter ended, The Real Deal projected that developers would submit plans for 2,697 units in the third quarter of 2006, greater than any other quarter in the last two and a half years except for the quarter right before it.
The number of new projects hitting the market has created Manhattan-style competition for developers to outdo one another.
That has spawned projects like On Prospect Park, designed by celebrity architect Richard Meier and clad in all glass, located in Prospect Heights.
“Because of the competition, because there are more units on the market, the developers in Brooklyn have to actually add a great deal of detail and quality,” said Roslyn Huebener, a principal with Aguayo & Huebener, which brokers new development units in popular neighborhoods like Park Slope and Prospect Heights. “When they do that, their units sell.”
Developers are also heading to neighborhoods that a few years ago would’ve been considered beyond the pale for condo development.
Sheepshead Bay finished third after Williamsburg and East Williamsburg in plans submitted to the attorney general, with 1,354 units over the past two and a half years. Fort Greene was next with 1,319 units, and Gravesend finished fifth with 1,101 condos submitted.
Some Brooklyn neighborhoods had little in the way of plans submitted. Only eight plans were submitted for East New York since the start of 2004, the lowest total boroughwide.
In other neighborhoods, developers appear to have slammed the brakes on condo plans, though it could also be a reflection of several big projects just happening to hit the market all at once during one year.
Created in the 1980s from an industrial enclave, Dumbo saw its greatest developer interest recently in the first quarter of 2005, when 527 unit plans were submitted. In 2005 total, developers submitted plans for 706 units; in 2006, that dwindled to 69.
David Walentas, the developer who built up Dumbo, says that what made Dumbo popular as a residential destination is what drives a lot of buyer demand in America’s fourth-largest city — Brooklyn is cheaper than Manhattan.
“A lot of people come to Dumbo because it’s cheaper than Tribeca and Soho,” Walentas said. “Our sales in Dumbo are probably 50 percent from Brooklyn and 50 percent from Manhattan.”
New unit plans submitted for Bay Ridge projects also decreased. The drop was starker than in Dumbo, with the neighborhood going from 153 units submitted in 2005 to zero this year.
In Boerum Hill, plans for 160 units were submitted in 2005, and, in 2006, developers sent plans for only 28 units to the state.
Go to chart: Condo units added by quarter, 2004-2006
Go to Brooklyn map and charts: Biggest projects submitted since 2004