New York City Real Estate Blog

Hoboken Warehouses

Hoboken and Jersey City may be trendy residential spots now, but once it was warehouses (and bars) that gave those cities their bustling, muscled identities and verve. Did the “Gold Coast” warehouses of yesteryear just crumble and fall down?

Some did, actually; and others — as building preservationists lament — were plowed under in the name of progress.

The Maxwell House Coffee buildings in Hoboken, for example, were cleared away to permit redevelopment and construction of the elegant Maxwell Place condos, whose residents are now moving in. Other more-anonymous brick boxes, where seafood was stashed and baking powder was packed and fruit was put into crates, were leveled to make way for chic apartments, high-class restaurants and a better class of bars.

But in fact, a lot of the old warehouses remain right where they always were. Their lives have just gone into their second acts.

In Jersey City, the huge structure near Hamilton Park where Wells Fargo stored its horse-drawn carriages was converted to loft apartments in the late 1980s. Recently, the building’s six-bedroom penthouse — which has 45-foot ceilings and a catwalk above its light-filled living room — was on the market for $2.3 million.

Nearby, the Sugar House Lofts, created five years ago from an American Sugar Refining Company warehouse that suffered two major fires over the decades, also houses condos with very high ceilings, very tall windows and very big price tags.

In Hoboken, the Hostess Building, where Twinkies once filled the shelves, is now home to a New York Sports Club. Across 14th Street from that building, “TriBeCa style” lofts are being marketed in a converted coconut warehouse.

A block closer to the river, Governor Corzine himself has a condo in the Hudson Tea Building, where Lipton used to store its products. Just behind that, on an inlet known as Hoboken Cove, a former baking goods warehouse dubbed the “Skeleton Building” because it was tall, thin, white and vacant for many years, is getting a makeover.

The Skeleton, newly reskinned in brick and glass, is undergoing conversion to become Harborside Lofts, with 116 units that are expected to open toward the end of the year.

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/realestate/07njzo.html?ex=157680000&en=1f273e4bd41040b9&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Prospect Height revealed

http://nymag.com/realestate/map/25311/index.html

Did you ever think of Living in Jersey City - you will if you read this article.

"Ever get the feeling that the New York of your dreams is happening elsewhere? These days, the half-life of a hot neighborhood can be measured in mere weeks. To find the optimal balance of commodious bistros, tasteful urban decline, and cheap(ish) rent before it disappears, run like hell to...Jersey City?"

http://nymag.com/news/features/25014/index.html

 

ALSO MAP OF JERSEY CITY DEVELOPMENT (The yellow marked area are proposals for development)

Flushing - The next destination - NYTIMES

 

Nytimes reports that Flushing is all the rage today.  Residents rave about the diversity, cultural choices and of course the Price is a major draw.  On top of it, the commute to manhattan is a breeze!

“Flushing is a hot place,” said John Liu, the area’s representative on the City Council, who has watched the shuttered storefronts of 1970’s Main Street cede ground to today’s boomtown. “People are knocking on doors to live, to open businesses,” he said.

Who lives there?

The local population is primarily Chinese and Korean, both native- and foreign-born, capped by a recent influx of Asian business people who have begun buying pieds-à-terre in the area. Yet the population, too, is in something of a transition.

As Main Street curves south toward Kissena Park, several Indian and Middle Eastern businesses have opened, anchored by Patel Brothers, a branch of the Indian supermarket in Jackson Heights. With more newcomers to the neighborhood have come banks and brokerage firms, with at least one appearing on each block of Main Street\

The Prices

Just as many properties have sold in the downtown Flushing area this year as last, but in general, prices are down 7 to 10 percent, said Judy Markowitz, owner and broker of the Re/Max Millennium Energized Realty Group in Flushing.

“People are getting more for their money,” Ms. Markowitz said. “Depending on the building, you can start to get three-bedroom co-ops for under $300,000, which was not happening last year.”

According to Ms. Markowitz, two-bedroom apartment prices begin in the $180,000 range, with one-bedrooms and studios starting at around $130,000. And according to Kathy Tsao, a broker at Prudential Douglas Elliman, the highest prices for any co-op are in the $300,000s.

As for condos, Ms. Tsao sold a two-bedroom, two-bath prewar apartment in the Yorkshire Gardens building on Kissena Boulevard in the late summer for $603,000, and a two-bedroom, one-bath apartment built in 2000 for $518,000. Prices per square foot in new condominiums range from $400 to the mid-$600s, said Mr. Lau of Century 21 Milestone, explaining that the variations depended on the amenities in the building and its proximity to Main Street shopping and transportation. He said demand remained strong.

As for property tax, Ms. Tsao said, a 2,800-square-foot condo that she now has on the market for $895,000 would cost a buyer $4,992 a year.

Rental studios are typically under $1,000 a month, with one-bedrooms only slightly more. Even two-bedrooms in luxury doorman buildings rent for less than $2,000 a month.

The Commute

Few in downtown Flushing complain about getting to and from Manhattan quickly. On express 7 trains in the morning, the trip to Grand Central Terminal from the Main Street station takes 25 minutes; on a local train at rush hour, it is just over 30 minutes. The Long Island Rail Road, which also has a stop on Main Street, is faster, at about 17 minutes to Pennsylvania Station. The X51, a rush-hour express bus, gets to Midtown Manhattan in about 25 minutes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/realestate/10livi.html?_r=1&ref=realestate&pagewanted=all

 

Paterson, NJ - rough and changing

Are you ready for adventure and in the process looking to make some money.  Consider Paterson, NJ. 

Pluses:

• Developer Interest;
• Investment : "He sees his city as clawing its way back from a half century of postindustrial blight, with $550 million invested in or committed to Paterson since 1998."
• Safety is a focus: "Some of that change, however, is contingent on improving safety — which Mayor Torres described in a recent interview as a top priority. This month, he asked the City Council to allocate $3.8 million over the next three years to hire 100 police recruits to supplement the city’s force of 450 officers."
• Easy Commute; "Paterson is a hub on Route 46 and Interstate 80. It is a mile from the Garden State Parkway, 12 from the George Washington Bridge and 15 from the Lincoln Tunnel."

 

Minses:

• Poverty: "According to the 2000 census, 50.1 percent of the population is Hispanic, 33 percent is foreign born and 22 percent is living below the poverty line."
• High Crime; "Last week, Paterson’s quarterly published list of arrests for drug and prostitution offenses had 810 names."
• Poor Schools; "To call the 53-building, 27,000-student school system problematic is an understatement. It has been under state control for more than a decade because of prior mismanagement. Michael E. Glascoe is its third superintendent in two years. Most of its buildings are close to 100 years old and are crumbling and overcrowded."

Pricing:

Housing listed for sale in Paterson runs from one-bedroom co-ops selling for $80,000 on Preakness and Chamberlain Avenues near the Totowa line, to $1 million for some early-20th-century mansions in the Upper East Side section.

Prices for single-family homes start around $150,000 — if you’re interested in a fixer-upper in the problematic First or Fourth Ward. In the postwar areas, Lakeview and Hillcrest, small Cape Cods, colonials, bilevels and ranches go for $300,000 to $400,000, about double what Ms. Daniel paid for her four-bedroom Hillcrest Cape five years ago.

Last May, Ms. Bohlin paid “slightly more than $600,000” for an 8,000-square-foot Greek Revival mansion, built in 1873 for a judge named Francis Scott. It is on Derrom Street, the most prestigious in the city.

“The neighborhood was mostly built by 1915,” said Michael Lemme, broker/owner of Minmor Realty, which specializes in the Upper East Side. “The base price is about $450,000 for six big bedrooms, a chestnut-paneled interior, stained or leaded glass windows and one or two fireplaces.” Prices have tripled since 2001, Mr. Lemme said.

Two-family homes start around $200,000, for older buildings in poor condition. A new two-family on Fourth Avenue, which is considered a good neighborhood, recently sold for $495,000. As for property taxes, a 5,000-square-foot Park Avenue mansion that recently sold for $700,000 has an annual tax of $9,624.

Many buyers of small multifamily houses are seeking rental income, said John G. Susani, broker/owner of Coldwell Banker Susani Realty on Union Avenue. Rentals range from $800 for a two-bedroom in the First Ward to $1,200 for a two-bedroom in a better neighborhood.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/realestate/29livi.html?ref=realestate&pagewanted=all

Other  Sources:

http://www.patcity.com/   - official website

http://www.patersonhistory.com/ - History of Paterson

http://www.city-data.com/city/Paterson-New-Jersey.html - Detailed Profile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paterson,_New_Jersey - Wikipedia

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bpretire/2006/snapshots/PL3457000.html - Money magazine

 

 

 

del.icio.us tags: Paterson Real Estate, New Jersey Real Estate

 

Technorati tags: Paterson Real Estate, New Jersey Real Estate

The Atlantic Yards-Delicate in Planning as it is Immense in Scale

The Atlantic Yards project was born when Forest City Ratner, one of the nation’s largest developers with a virtual monopoly on downtown expansion, proposed what now appears to be the largest-ever project in the borough. The latest version of its project includes a professional basketball arena, 7,300 units of housing, and over 600,000 square feet of office space. The developer then got Governor George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz to voice full public support for the proposal. Then the governor unleashed the State of New York’s Empire State Development Corporation, which he controls, to place at the developer’s disposition the government’s powers of eminent domain so that privately-owned land on the site could be assembled.

But shrinking "Ratnerville" by just 6% to 8%, as reported yesterday in The New York Times, is unlikely to appease the thousands of locals who have been stirred up by the muscle-and-spin approach of FCR president and chief executive Bruce Ratner and his allies. And the fact is that the project is as delicate in planning as it is immense in scale. Making it a reality will require numerous government and private players to cooperate and coordinate, and the slightest skew or stumble could force major changes in program and execution.

THE 6%-8% SOLUTION?(TheSlatinReport)

Related stories and websites:

Atlantic Yards: Through The Looking Glass (Gotham Gazette)

At Atlantic Yards Hearing, a Gathering Small and Civil(NYT)

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn

THE WAY WE LIVE NOW; Where It’ s At(NYT)

Atlantic Yards Visualization in Google Earth(InvisibleMan)

 

NY Moment-Red Hook

Red Hook is definitely a neighborhood in flux: The longtime home of Brooklyn longshoremen and other blue-collars now sees its share of BMWs parked in front of refurbished townhouses. One thing is sure: Gentrification is coming. Witness is the steadily climbing prices of the past several years.The only big minus of Red Hook is the fact that there is no subway, only buses and NY Water Taxi.

Boundaries: Hamilton Avenue and the Gowanus Expressway separate the Red Hook peninsula from the rest of Brooklyn.

Randall's Island

It seems that Bloomberg has one more obstacle to overcome to his Randall’s Island project. We heard in his address about the plans for construction of a family-themed Water Park at the northern edge of Randall's Island.  Many residents and parties oppose the project saying that this will be just one more of the private facilities and it will not really contribute to the Randall’s Island residents. As planned, the facility will open in 2008, and will include splash pools, water slides, and an indoor surfing complex. Bellow are the RISF(Randall’s Island Sports Foundation) projects:

• Redevelopment of 65 sports fields (beginning Summer 2006)
• Creation of Indoor/Outdoor Water Park – privately developed (beginning Fall 2006)
• SporTime Tennis Center – privately developed (slated to open 2007)
• Interpretive and Interactive Boardwalk (complete)
• Waterfront Pathways (ongoing)
• Wetlands and salt marsh restoration (beginning Spring 2006)
• Shoreline and seawall reconstruction (ongoing)
• Roadway, parking and infrastructure improvements (ongoing)
• Visitors and Nature Center (tbd)

http://www.risf.org/index.html

 

Staten Island

Saturday was perfect day to visit Staten Island and Cloves Lakes Park. Cloves Lakes Park is 191 acre expanse, 4 lakes connected by streams. If offers picnic area, playgrounds, hiking and biking path as well as an outdoor ice staking rink during season.

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Staten Island is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located on an island of the same name on the west side of the Narrows at the entrance of New York Harbor. It is coterminous with Richmond County, the southernmost county of the State of New York.

Staten Island
Population 463,448 Median Age 35.98 Median Income $59,392 Median Household Net Worth $44,201

A wave of development has rolled across Staten Island - 23,000 tightly packed, carbon-copy town houses and other homes were built in the 1990's - and continues to blot out leafy plots of Victorians and colonials that once gave the island its sleepy, roomy feel.For many, New York City’s last frontier is on Staten Island. Reminds me a lot on Brooklyn…

 www.nytimes.com(stats)

 

Bushwick - Looking to buy real estate?

If you were not convinced by our earlier post that Bushwick may not be the steal NYTIMES painted it to be and want more info - here are some resources:

http://geocities.com/cb4brooklyn/index.htm - Community Board 4 Brooklyn (Bushwick). Do read the history of Bushwick here

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/lucds/bk4profile.pdf - PDF file from NYC.GOV giving a profile of Bushwick

http://www.bushwickbrooklyn.com/ - Listing of Services in Bushwick

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/bushwick/bushwick.html - Listing of Mansions in Bushwick from forgotten New York

http://www.trulia.com/NY/Brooklyn,5053,Bushwick/ - Listing of available real estate from Trulia

http://www.citynoise.org/article/646 - Great dialogue about living in Bushwick