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I am the 'victim' of a NINE YEAR LONG failed and then restarted condo project being built cinder block by cinder block next door to me, (where there used to be a lovely garden and a small house at the back). It is destroying the stoop line of the block (it has no front yard but pushes right out to the very busy street), and now rising 3 plus stories above the neighbors. It has no aesthetic qualities whatsoever.
There has been endless& ongoing damage to my house & yard , needless to say, and days of jackhammering for hours on end, making my in-home studio a lousy place to be. And no, they have not been shoveling the sidewalk in winter.
The new developer—who is building steadily but tore out the insides and added an elevator (!), the first one within miles, no doubt, and added 2 + stories—is at least a pro, unlike the previous creepy guy who began the job.

There's a looming danger to these high-rise condos being sold or highly occupied that no one seems to realize: Has anyone tried to board the L-Train at Bedford Avenue during morning rush-hours? Imagine that with thousands of new residents, most of whom surely will depend on Manhattan-based salaries to afford their waterfront views. Chaos!

People speak of affordable housing as if it were welfare..

Does anyone know if the monstrous development project at Domino is still proceeding?

I tried to click on your map, but it was not working, there is a stalled project at S4th & Bedford,another in fits and starts on S4th btwn Berry & Wythe..

At work and don't have much time to comment, but must write about it and next time at length. To Ruth, who is in mourning for "her" Brighton Beach, she should have been in mourning in late 70's when it was being destroyed. Since early 80s and now it's a revival of BB. New beautiful condos next to old beautiful apt. buildings, restaurants, shops, kids with grandparents on boardwalk... what's to mourn?! Much to say about NJ side of hudson as well. Next time. :)

You keep framing this issue like it's a problem.
This is the how the market produces "affordable" housing. A small supply of houses raises the prices, which increases the supply, which drives the price back down. The idea that the a developer can build a "luxury" apt, is just as moronic as the idea that they can build an "affordable" one. They build an apartment and the market decides the price.

Can you talk about "affordable"? What does that mean? Last I looked I couldn't afford "affordable."

what exactly is "affordable" housing

Sorry, I meant to link to this article, http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/07/15/2009-07-15_hordes_of_hobos_set_up_shop_in_williamsburg_punks_invade_neighborhood.html which I found from the Curbed blog.

Who are buying up all these stalled projects? Is there a general consensus as to who is coming and and starting up these old projects?

We have lived in the same apartment on north sixth street and bedford for 13 years. It's an old buidling, perhaps 80 or 90 years old. For the last 5 years, the lot across the street has slowly been going up as a dorm-looking "green" condo building, which destroyed our view of the williamsburg bridge. it is a most hideous white brick dorm-looking building. they stopped construction about 2 months ago, it's now sitting there, empty like the burned out buildings I grew up around in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx back in the early 80s. On North 7th and Berry is the other eye sore that never got finished. It's all rusty now. I see no end to these empty eye sores. They will sit there, empty and cruddy, like buildings that survived an earthquake, for years to come.

The squatter punx are moving in to the empty condos: http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=102051302772&h=Qpls3&u=evTFn&ref=nf

Also, read the www.newyorkshitty.com blog for more about the buildings in Greenpoint without Certificates of Occupancy. At least one of the owners is trying to use the building as an illegal hostel.

What is the word on the Maier building in Prospect Heights, at Grand Army Plaza? The building appears mostly completed, but can't have more than 15 % occupancy.... It is creepily empty. I have to believe that they are going to have to go rental to fill it.

Good. Let lower- and middle-income people move back into these neighborhoods where they were being displaced.

What is the value of turning condos into rental units if a) the rents continue to be relatively unaffordable and b) the conversion encourages buildings entirely populated by the young (who are the most likely to have roommates). If the majority of new residents in any community are young, politically inactive, and relatively transient (because of limited housing stock) doesn't the effect the political efficacy of a neighborhood overtime?

I keep hearing about stalled projects but I live in Williamsburg and am not seeing that. The construction sites here on the southside are actively building.

Don't forget "The Green Hotel" holed on Bowery + Prince

hjs:

Oh, of course! I forgot: risk-free capitalism!

I'll mail a check to the N.Y. Yankees to help pay for those unused seats behind home plate.

Rochelle
i bet u already have helped. i bet they all got their tax abatements already!

Golly gee, I sure hope none of the good real estate developers are losing money. Is there any way that I, the average citizen, can help out? Maybe donate some of my earnings to help them?

they are STILL building in Williamsburg. i've read there are a lot of stopped projects but many continue and i still don't see any recession.

How much have condos dropped in value? What would a one bedroom/Studio go for?

the condos on Kent have a pier of their own! jealous!