There's no stopping the rampant development here... Now, 321 E. Third St., just west of Avenue D, just hit the market. The lot is $6 million. Bring your own condo.
Here are the details via the Streeteasy listing:
For Sale or Joint Venture — Development Opportunity
Joint Venture — Develop A Multi-Family Building
23,080 Max Usable Floor Area
5,770 Sq Ft Lot
Lot Size 60’ x 96.17’
Zoned R8-b
FAR 4
Only $259x Foot
Phase Once Complete
(Soil Test & Survey)
Neighbors include:
Eickholt Gallery, Positively 3rd Street, Clinton St Baking Co, Dessert Truck
And here's what the lot looks like in the summer... A few trees will need to be removed ...
Looks as if people used the space as a community garden of sorts. There are picnic tables on the property.
Regardless, this should be a nice area of development hell in the future. A Karl Fischer-designed, 33-unit apartment building is coming directly across the street.
And, maybe one day on the corner of Houston and Avenue D — this.
So what becomes of the little neighborhood shops right here? The ones that sell mops and gently used coats and copies of The Fantasticks' book? These businesses are the direct neighbors...
The lot abuts the Orchard Alley Community Garden on the other side--there was some dispute over who owned/leased it. I think the Garden wanted to expand into it, but it was being held for some sort of low-income, service something or other. Guess it's been released for pure $-making developments! The history of that entire lot is deep--it used to be a little community of casitas built by homeless people (some of the longtime residents on the block say it was pretty druggy and don't seem to regret that it was bulldozed by Giuliani and Co.). Anyway, I have no idea why developers are suddenly so interested in the blocks between C and D--we've got some developments and renovations on 4th St that seem to be happening just for the sake of happening--doubt no movie star wants to live 1/2 block from the projects, but then, I thought no movie star would want to live in Williamsburg (they just love to slum...)
ReplyDeleteWho needs tree branches if you can have Chase Branches? And mom and pop stores never have the extensive selection as Whole Foods, anyway.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes!! Out with the wasted space and unhip sellers "of mops and gently used coats". Think of the boon to the area when a high priced co op building fills this fallow land. Think of the opportunities to trendy bars and chi chi boutiques. Oh, the humanity! More hipness for everyone. If you don't like it, move to Long Island City - oh wait! We're making that cool too!
ReplyDeleteHere's what I know - apologies if I get some of the details wrong. This used to be the back end of Orchard Alley, the community garden that opens from the 4th Street side. A few years ago, it became known that Ryan-NENA owns this 3rd Street side (gardeners and neighbors had been trying to find the owner for decades - since obviously they left it in such disrepair that people started squatting on it, as described above, then it was bulldozed, then it was made into a garden). There were some folks on the 3rd Street side that actually took them to court over the legality of their ownership, and during this time, Ryan-NENA fenced off the 3rd street side, since now if anything happened to anyone over there they'd be liable. So for the past few years, gardeners haven't been able to get over there to clean and care for the space. Ryan-NENA originally had plans to build, but that fell through, and now I guess they want to sell. The price seems very steep though considering what other parcels in the area have gone for recently. The best case scenario would be that the garden gets it back, but surely that's impossible. Perhaps all these new developers would like to snap up that unused hole in the ground that borders the garden from the Ave D side instead? Its been sitting untouched for years, and has become a nasty breeding ground for mosquitoes (full of water).
ReplyDelete