Re: [CPEO-BIF] Gowanus, Brooklyn (NY) property sale

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Another property in Gowanus sells ...



The Superfund Discount
The Gowanus Canal: Toxic wasteland or real-estate hot spot?

By S. Jhoanna Robledo
New York magazine
February 13, 2011


Two weeks ago, the Environmental Protection Agency made it official: The 
Gowanus Canal is very, very foul. In its new study of the 1.8-mile 
Brooklyn waterway, declared a Superfund site last year, the Feds called 
it "one of the most contaminated water bodies in the nation," laced with 
carcinogens, runoff, and sewage. Infrastructure work has made it less 
stinky than it was, but a Maui beachfront it is not.

Which means the $3 million sale of a new house on Bond Street, one block 
from the canal, is big news. The price is a neighborhood record, by far, 
and the buyer, Dr. Idan Sharon, is confident that he's made a good call: 
"People said, 'Are you crazy?' And I said, 'Listen, go see the place.'" 
The house itself is definitely one-of-a-kind: 25 feet wide, sustainably 
built, with five stories (including a rental unit), a three-car garage, 
and a heated pool. "If this was in Manhattan, it'd be three times, four 
times the price," Sharon says. Peggy Aguayo, whose firm handled the 
sale, admits that "I had my doubts. The only houses being sold at that 
price were in prime locations." They had a contract within two months.

Yes, there's a little Gowanus boom going on, driven by the usual 
proximity and culture. Artists have been settling here for some years, 
just as they did in the boho days of Tribeca and Williamsburg, and now 
they're being followed by investors and a notable number of doctors. ...


For the entire article, see
http://nymag.com/print/?/realestate/realestatecolumn/71562/

Lenny Siegel wrote:
> [At the risk of (or in the hope of) restarting our debate about the 
> redevelopment impact of placing Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal on the 
> "Superfund" National Priorities List, I suggest that this article has 
> not made a persuasive case that the sale of this property 35% below its 
> asking price resulted from listing. Would/should re-zoning occurred if 
> EPA had not listed the blighted, contaminated canal? To revisit the old 
> discussion on this list, go to 
> http://www.cpeo.org/lists/brownfields/2009/index.html. I believe the 
> first posting was in April, 2009. - LS]
>
>
> Gowanus property sold with 35% discount
> Sale price flattened by area's subsequent designation as Superfund 
> cleanup site; Boymelgreen once hoped to build large mixed-use 
> development there.
>
> By Amanda Fung
> Crain's New York Business
> February 11, 2011
>
> Storage Deluxe closed on its acquisition of the Jewish Press building in 
> Gowanus, Brooklyn for $6.5 million last week—35% below the asking price 
> put on the property when it first went on the market two years ago.
>
> The four-story industrial property hit the market shortly before the 
> Gowanus Canal, which the building is adjacent to, was designated a 
> federal Superfund clean-up site. As a result of the designation — which 
> labels Gowanus as one of the country's most hazardous waste sites — a 
> proposed rezoning of the area for residential use was stalled, making 
> the building unattractive to private developers. At one time, the 
> 85,000-square-foot property, located at 338 Third Ave., was eyed by then 
> high-flying developer Shaya Boylmelgreen, who aimed to convert the 
> warehouse into a large mixed-use development, part of his envisioned 
> Gowanus Village.
>
> "Storage is a perfect fit for the building from a development 
> standpoint, and the most economical," said Ofer Cohen, president of 
> brokerage TerraCRG, which represented Jewish Press in the sale. "The 
> building has a lot of history, but the economy collapsed, the 
> residential rezoning stalled and the area became a superfund site, so 
> it's not clear whether or when it could be converted to residential."
>
> ...
>
> For the entire article, see
> http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110211/REAL_ESTATE/110219969#



--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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