Four Occupy Wall Street protesters face felony charges after last week's "Occuparty" in an unfinished condo is Williamsburg. Three men and one woman are charged with riot, assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct according to information obtained from the Brooklyn DA's office by the Post. more ›

The unending story of Stuyvesant Town continues! Once again tenants in Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village are trying to buy the 80-acre property so as to convert its 11,232 apartments to condominiums or a cooperative under a plan in which residents could buy their apartments or remain as rent-regulated tenants. If it happens it "would be the largest conversion in the country." Seriously! more ›

If there's one thing everyone can agree on, it's that New York City needs more high-rises. But there's one thing stopping real-estate behemoth Related Companies from building 49 stories of delicious commercial and residential real estate: Ruppert Park playground. According to the Post, Related purchased the park in 1983 for $10 million, and in exchange for maintaining the park received tax breaks for its nearby properties. Related had to take care of the park until 2008 per the contract, but continued maintaining it until last month. Now it's padlocked, preventing any childish joy from poisoning a potential building site. more ›

There are currently more than 600 stalled construction sites around NYC according to the Department of Buildings, and given the moribund economy, it doesn't look like they'll unstall anytime soon. So in the meantime, why don't we do turn lemons into lemonade, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer wants to know! He's shining a spotlight on the 129 stalled construction sites in Manhattan, and according to his new "Arrested Development" report, 37% of these sites had problems with litter, 60% had fencing that was in disrepair or vandalized, and half of the sites had sidewalk obstructions. 100% of them are butt ugly. more ›

We interrupt our Irene coverage to bring you some very important local news: a sculptor and real estate developer at 259 Bowery may or may not have thrown a poop log at an art gallery because it juts out over 4.8 inches onto his property. "The fact that the final resting place of that object was south of its point of impact made clear that it had been thrown from the north, that is, 259 Bowery," the art gallery breathlessly claims in a court filing, written by actual attorneys. more ›

In an agreement the city hopes will help plug the $11 million hole it left in the Brooklyn Bridge Park budget last month and finance the $16 million a year it will take to keep the park running, limited private housing will be built around the park near John Street and by Pier 6. The John Street high-rise will be 40,000 square feet smaller, and the Pier 6 buildings may also be shrunk or eliminated altogether. What's the catch? The Times reports that State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblywoman Joan Millman lose their veto power over the developments. more ›

An Upper West Side condo has become the first to ban smoking inside all its apartments, regardless of how long anyone has lived there. The Ariel West, a 32-story glass tower at Broadway and 99th Street, voted 47 to 3 to approve the ban late last month, the Times reports. The ban comes as a new law prohibiting smoking in city parks, beaches, and pedestrian plazas goes into effect on May 23rd. It's already illegal to smoke in your car with a child present, and pretty soon the only place left to legally smoke cigarettes will be in your smoky dreams. And we're fine with that. more ›

In order to get big tax breaks and permission to build bigger residential towers, two big condos on the Williamsburg waterfront agreed to throw the rabble a bone by building "affordable" rental units for low-income residents. Those who won the lottery for the units built by Northside Piers and The Edge pay as little as $398 a month, while the condo owners bought their apartments for anywhere between $385,000 to $2.9 million. And with that price tag comes amenities that the low-income renters don't have access to. Now some of the renters are becoming bitter! more ›

Finance Commissioner David Frankel admitted yesterday that mistakes were made when his office miscalculated the city's condo and co-op property values to reap increased tax revenue, according to The Post. Frankel's office initially increased the value of some homes, like Queens State Senator Toby Stavisky's, by as much as 147% from 2010 to 2011. Housing bubble, schmousing bubble. Didn't you guys get your complimentary Infinity Pool after the bailout? more ›

Many of those new condos popping up along the East River in Williamsburg were struggling to find buyers after the economic collapse, but buildings like The Edge are reporting a recent surge in sales, and real estate brokers tell the Brooklyn Paper that happy days are here again. But if you're buying along the waterfront, you may want to make sure your building offers perks like complimentary gondola service and free speedboat rentals, because some experts say parts of Williamsburg and other low-lying areas will soon be submerged with alarming frequency. more ›

What a world: In your youth you risk your life fighting overseas for Uncle Sam, and when you finally reach retirement age, you have to spend your days fighting for the right to socialize in the lobby of your condo. After a bitter court battle, five elderly members of the Greatest Generation have won the right to congregate in the lobby of a condo in New Springville, Staten Island. They're only permitted to meet there for ninety minutes at a time, on just two days per week, but that's better than the alternative proposed by the condo board, which sought to banish the men completely. The trouble all started, according to the Advance, when the New Springville Five reprimanded a condo board member for extinguishing her cigarette butts on the building floor. Then things went all Del Boca Vista. more ›

Since the city assumed control of the unfinished Brooklyn Bridge Park project, there's a chance the controversial plan to fund park operations by building condos inside the greenspace might be scrapped. The Bloomberg administration has said it will form a committee to investigate other revenue streams that could earn money to cover the estimated $16.1 million maintenance budget, including building stores or charging local homeowners a fee or tax. more ›

It's like Brooklyn Bridge Park all over again. The plan to build a waterfront park in Long Island City funded by the construction of new housing has neighbors and open space activists up in arms, according to the Post. The city will use the revenue from 5,000 planned apartments in the Hunters Point South development to pay for an 11-acre public esplanade — sparking fears that the parkland will feel private and that the city will begin relying on housing to pay for future park projects. more ›

Back in heady days of 2007, real estate developers followed a simple algorithm: add the city's finite housing supply with the massive demand for housing and you could make money by building a condo on just about any property. Though the recession certainly changed that equation, seemingly out-of-place condo developments continue to pop up across the city as a result of that practice — and few seem more out of place than a luxury building in Gravesend at the corner of West 11th Street and Avenue V, just one block away from a housing project. more ›

Of course it is — in private residences. So sure enough some condo developers are betting they can move some units by putting a "poker lounge" in the basement of their building at 254 Park Avenue South. "254PAS", which is so cool and just rolls off the tongue, has their own website, a great study in campy advertising, though of course we apologize to those people (unavoidable in this city, I'm afraid) who will find it really cool. more ›

While Williamsburg sits stagnant in a confused state of purgatory, the abandoned and stalled luxury condos have become a haven for one group: the gutter punks. The Daily News gives the group a two-story treatment today, saying the "heroin-addict hobos from around the country are overrunning" the area. And as with every other newcomer to the Brooklyn neighborhood, they're hated by those who came before them. more ›

Doesn't your heart just bleed for the luckless developers who saturated our fair city with luxury condos on the eve of this catastrophic economic collapse? Despite a concerted effort by brokers to manufacture the illusion that they're making sales, industry insiders tell The Real Deal that "little or no sales activity has taken place since the fall of Lehman Brothers in September." One top dog at a residential brokerage firm says "sales of condominiums in buildings which are not in final stages of completion of units are far and few," and at least 10% of scheduled closings are falling through because of purchasers' inability to secure mortgage financing. And some buildings, like Magic Johnson's nearly-complete Viridian monstrosity in Greenpoint (pictured), are switching to rental. But really, shouldn't they all just skip the formality and go straight to squat? more ›

The Real Deal reports that, according to the Federal Reserve's "Beige Book," Manhattan co-op and condo sale prices have "fallen by 15 to 20 percent since mid-summer, though it is hard to get a clear handle on prices due to thin volume. Much of the recent activity is reportedly from desperate sellers." Sales volume was also apparently off by 28% for the first three quarters of 2008, and appraiser Jonathan Miller explains, "A drop in transactions always precedes a drop in prices, because it leads to [an] increase in inventory. It's really a canary in the subway." Still, some brokers are trying to insist business is picking up, with open house attendance rising recently—which some Curbed commenters question. more ›

Now that hipsters have gentrified the neighborhood, the Times is reporting that a new group is moving into Williamsburg and undoubtedly endearing themselves just as much to longtime New Yorkers--immigrating Europeans. Europeans have accounted for one-third of those who have scooped up the 2,000 new condos in Williamsburg in the last two years. Europeans say the neighborhood resembles the areas they left behind--like Brighton in England and Marais in Paris. They also find its residents less career-driven than Manhattanites. One Brit who hangs out at the bar Spike Hill tells the paper, “There isn’t that same kind of talk about money and jobs. People leave work at work. It’s more like friends back home.” more ›

The new director of Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture's Historic Preservation Program has interesting thoughts on how new construction will be affected by the faltering economy in today's NY Times. Based on the past, Andrew S. Dolkart thinks commercial skyscraper construction will stop and there will be more preservation, "I think new construction is going to take a nose dive — especially residential, because we’ve been so overbuilt in fringe areas of the city, and I think a lot of new residential buildings are going to have a lot of trouble." He was amazed at a luxury apartment project between Clinton Hill and Bed-Stuy, "I was thinking, even then, a couple of years ago, why would I spend a million dollars to live on the corner of Quincy and Franklin Streets, which is basically in the middle of nowhere? It’s not really in a neighborhood at all." Maybe that's why some developments are offering "price protection guarantees" to buyers (if the price drops after they buy, they get it at the lowest price)? more ›

Architect Richard Meier told NY magazine, when asked about the real estate market in the next year or so, "I think there will be a lot of empty apartments." Meier's NYC designs include the Perry Street towers and a big building at Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza, which he says is 60% sold, but "the next 40% will go slowly." Luckily, he pointed out, "I'm just the architect." Meier previously told the Observer, back in September (the day Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy), "I don't know how to deal with it or what it means. Certainly, it's going to have a serious effect on my work." more ›

Yesterday the Domino Sugar Factory opened up their waterfront space to the public for an Open House of sorts, but much to the dismay of those who showed up the buildings were not accessible (likely because they're unsafe, with old machinery around and floors are covered in mollases). The rendering for the future Domino homes can be seen here, and for those who still want to take a gander at the current indoor space, some photos from last year are here. more ›

Back in 2006, the New York Historical Society was seeking $10 million for a renovation of their 170 Central Park West building (fair enough) and a developer to finance and build not only a 5-story annex at 7-13 West 76th Street but a $100 million, 23-story glass condo complex behind the museum! Today the NY Times reports that the controversial idea has been abandoned, and the Society has let go of their lofty ideas. Instead, they'll spend $55 million and three-years on renovating their galleries, entrance and facade. Some local preservationists say the NYHS has helped preserve their character with the move...but will history repeat itself? As Curbed notes, they also had a similar proposal in 1984 -- so they may just try, try again. more ›

When the Bloomberg administration successfully rezoned large parts of Williamsburg and Brooklyn three years ago to facilitate the construction of massive housing condos, the deal came with a promise to deliver lots of new park space. But while the luxury residential buildings are going up, the parks have remained a pipe dream. And local City Councilman David Yassky tells the Post he’s “sickened” that the Bloomberg administration has made “almost zero progress on the parks.” more ›

Street artist Dan Witz has some entertaining pieces around town, mostly on condo walls in Brooklyn and the Lower East Side. Imagine buying the luxury condo of your dreams only to discover one of these alarming scenarios. Witz explains his series, Ugly New Buildings:

In the past few years much of my neighborhood in Brooklyn has been torn down to make way for luxury housing. For better or worse it's a whole new street-scape out here. Personally, I can't say I like the new modern architecture very much, it's so arrogantly disconnected with the neighborhood that it's just plain bizarre. I miss the crooked old frame houses and grungy bodegas. Sometimes I wonder about the people who lived their lives here and were forced to move. I realize that to them a street artist like me is probably part of the problem, but still I wanted them to know someone misses them.

The cast iron facades, high ceilings, and wide-open floor plans that made the neighborhood so desirable as a place for artists, and later well-heeled residents, are rooted in SoHo's industrial past. It was a neighborhood of factories and manufacturing. That era has passed, however, and after more than a century in business, John De Lorenzo and Bro., Iron and Sheet Metal Contractor closed their shop this week. It will be converted to a building housing luxury condos. more ›

Earlier there was news of a luxury condo leveling a church and digging up graves, now word is in that the South Williamsburg power plant on Kent Avenue will meet the same fate. The Brooklyn Paper reports that Con Edison has finally admitted its plan to demolish the defunct power plant and neighborhood landmark.

Neighbors of the abandoned Kent Avenue power plant knew something was up back in March, when workers started tearing holes into the 102-year-old red brick building, which has been inactive since the late 1990s.

Brownstoner has done the math and concluded that there are a ridiculous number of hotels going up near Brooklyn’s lovely Gowanus Canal. The latest new development will be a nine story Fairfield Inn on Third Avenue between Douglass and Butler streets; construction will begin once existing buildings are torn down. So that makes a future grand total of 7 hotels in the Gowanus neighborhood; three already built and four more on the way. more ›