[Image courtesy of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates]
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS?There is news to report about everybody's favorite Brooklyn park mega-project, Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, there is an updated schedule for Pier One, which will be the first part of the park to open. Utilities are being installed and "by February [Skanska] will be importing 60,000 cubic yards of fill and topsoil (enough to fill Boro Hall twice) by truck. This fill will be used to create the grading, including a 25 foot hill, on Pier 1....Pier 1 will turn green at the end of spring with the planting of trees and shrubs, and the laying of sod, turf, and ground cover. Paved pathways, benches, and railings will be installed in the fall." They're anticipating an opening of two big lawns in winter 2009 (bummer) and opening the southern end in summer 2010. There will be 9.5 acres of green space. More info at the Brookyn Bridge Park Development Corp. website. [CurbedWire Inbox]
BROOKLYN?If you haven't OD'd on Q4 & 2008 market reports, here's one more tidbit to help you get your daily fix. The real estate appraisal firm HMS Associates reports that sales volume dropped one-third in 2008 "with no signs of picking up in the coming months." Per the firm's founder: "We are now seeing a very pronounced continuation of the trend from the third quarter of 2008, with more inventory sitting on the market and not moving." For the fourth quarter, the number of Brooklyn properties sold fell 57 percent to 532 properties, down from 1,250 in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Here's more detail for the true gluttons for punishment and everyone who wants to say "make it double": "...in the fourth quarter the average Brooklyn home price was down 2 percent to $670,000 from the average price of $680,000 in the fourth quarter of 2007....While the average price boroughwide dropped two percent in the fourth quarter, neighborhood by neighborhood sale prices varied. They were up in Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Bay Ridge, and Sunset Park but fell in Boerum Hill/Cobble Hill, Crown Heights, and Marine Park, Heskel said. The number of homes sold fell in all 15 neighborhoods, with the biggest drops in Boerum Hill/Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, and Bay Ridge.
The picture was much bleaker in some neighborhoods not included in the study, such as Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New York, and Brownsville. In these three neighborhoods, there were 16 foreclosures among one- to four-family homes in the fourth quarter – one for every five home sales.
For the full year 2008 in East New York, as one of the most dire examples, prices for one- to four-family homes dropped more than 6 percent from 2007, while the number of such homes sold fell 56 percent." [CurbedWire Inbox]
Loading comments...