Continuing our look at the state of things on Bayard Street, we turn to the Lotus, (2 Bayard, aka 610 Union) which has been sitting finished and empty for most of the year. When we last saw the Lotus, it was a little tagged up. That little problem was taken care of, but it's still pretty vacant. The new blog City Seen offers some insight:
Any minute, I expected a horde or swinging bachelors, baseball players, or other cash-rich people who wanted to pick up a one-bedroom (19 units, all one-bedrooms) for about $819psf. Instead, it has sat empty, with staged furniture peeking out of vacant apartments, a sagging for-sale banner, and occasional vandalism. How does this happen to a building that seemingly sailed through construction, and 16 of 19 units have either sold are in contract? The Lotus is built on a former junkyard (welcome to Greenpoint baby!) and the site was considered a HAZMAT which is not atypical in areas once used for manufacturing...Currently the project does not have a Certificate of Occupancy that would allow residents. The only Certificate of Occupancy I could find is from 1954, allowing “salvage, storage and resale of scrap iron and steel.” So, if you bought and closed on an apartment in this building, tied up 3/4 of a million dollars in an apartment you can’t move into, maybe at least you could store scrap metal inside?We did see several people leaving the Lotus on Sunday, so maybe there's hope.
· 610 Union Avenue: The Lights Are On, But No One's Home [City Seen]
· Friendly Neighbors Greet Potential Buyers in Williamsburg [Curbed]
· Bayard Street Update #1: Karl Fischer Row [Curbed]