We first reported three weeks ago that the Loehmann's Seaport Plaza (2101 Emmons Ave.) was sold for a record-breaking $24 million. In response to the news we heard a lot of concern from the community that the building might be torn down and replaced with - you guessed it - condos. Well, The Real Deal is now reporting that the new owners - "a group of local and European investors" - plan to keep it a retail center. One less fear, I guess, for a building that already has quite a sordid history (more on that later).

Apparently, the financially beleaguered developer Stephen S. Jemal is finding creative ways to raise funds after being slapped with a $5.6 million lawsuit: he's turning around and suing bloggers.

Following GerritsenBeach.net's investigation revealing the Riviera developer was the target of a civil suit filed by his investors, Jemal responded by having his legal team send a cease-and-desist, and request $20,000 to cover his legal fees. The story isn't that simple though. Just before receiving the letter, GB.net was hit by a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, which temporarily crippled the server. Apparently, the DoS originated from a party connected to Jemal.

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The Bay News did a piece on the artistic renderings for Sheepshead Bay Station Plaza that we first reported here. In quoting P/A Associates' Carolyn Malinsky, they noted much the same as we did: these "plans" aren't plans at all - they're just drawings.

"We are completely still in the pre-development phase. We're not sure what we are going to build there," she said.

"You are looking at someone's thought process," she said of the sketches. "I am committed to nothing."

She said no tenants have been signed and there is no time frame for the development.

Apparently, our skepticism of the sketches ever becoming reality are shared by CB15 Chair Theresa Scavo.

When she first saw the renderings, she though just one thing: "Dramatic."

"I'm not buying it," she said. "There is a difference between renderings and plans. Those could just be the idea of what they want it to look like."

Also: Bay News is spreading the rumor that consumer electronics giant, Best Buy, "could be interested in leasing space at the site." Highly unlikely, methinks.

Stephen S. Jemal, the same developer who received the print version of a hand job from the Daily News just a few weeks ago for his plans to build new waterfront developments in Sheepshead Bay, Gerritsen Beach and Mill Basin, is now being sued by the investment companies that provided the money for those developments.

GerritsenBeach.net has uncovered court documents that reveal a civil suit against Stephen and Sharon E Jemal was filed in Texas Northern District Court on July 14. The companies, Gerritsen Beach Investments Ltd and Riviera Investments I Ltd, claim that the Jemals have not paid them back $5,580,000 plus interest.

SB/PB Civic has also followed up on the story by doing some research into the Jemal family, which apparently is no stranger to lawsuits and less-than-virtuous business practices.

I wonder what all this means for the future of the Riviera sites, which the Daily News called "the biggest real estate vision the South Brooklyn waterfront may ever see."

[via GerritsenBeach.net]
[via SB/PB Civic Association]

Someone pointed me to the artistic renderings for Sheepshead Bay Station Plaza, the enormous shopping center being built by Acadia Realty and PA Associates practically right next door to the train station. The architectural firm on the project is GreenbergFarrow.

I'll let the renderings speak for themselves -- the fantasy of it should be obvious to anyone familiar with the Bay. Apparently the artist is a master of the abstract or surreal schools of art.

Anyway, here's the details from PA Assoc.'s website:

Sheepshead Bay Station Plaza is bringing modern, multi-level retail to the affluent neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. With 240,000 square feet of brand new retail on four floors, and parking for approximately 750 cars, this new shopping experience will have a mix of local and national retailers. Located on Sheepshead Bay Road at Voorhies Avenue, directly across from Exit 8 of the Belt Parkway, the shopping center is also adjacent to the elevated subway station served by the B and Q trains.

From GreenbergFarrow's website:

Station Plaza at Sheepshead Bay Road will house upward of 335,000 square feet of retail including a number of possible mixed-use additions as well as a multi-level parking deck on this 2.34-acre site. To maximize store frontage and visibility, a proposed private street connecting Voorhies Avenue and Sheepshead Bay Road will be planned into the Station Plaza site.

Note the differing square footage. This might be because none of the plans are real yet. While it's nice to see what might be there, Carolyn Malinsky of PA Associates told me, "These are just artistic renderings" and the company has no concrete plans yet. No tenants, no finalized architectural plans, no certainty of use. We're still waiting to hear back from Acadia to see what they have to say.

Here's what the proposed square footage translates into:

According to Brian Hanson, who brokered the $20 million sale of the property, the zoning is as-of-right whether the square footage is 335,000 or 240,000, so no variances will be needed. Given the current zoning and FAR for the area, it can be up to 340,000 square footage, all commercial or a mixture of residential and commercial.

Either way, this illustrates enormous plans for the property, and a big change to the view from the subway platform. I don't know if this is good news or bad news; certainly the current buildings there aren't very pretty, but is the Bay really clamoring for more retail space?

The latest issue of Bay Currents features a front-page article by yours truly covering the June 24 Coney Island Development Corp. scoping hearing. The full text of the article is below:

If there’s any one word to describe the development of Coney Island, it’s confusion.

Private developers, city agencies, development advocates, union groups, artists, councilmen, community board members, amusement operators, public housing advocates, mayors – real and phony – and a white-suited anti-consumerism reverend all vying for the spotlight… what are we even talking about anymore?

Everyone seems to have his or her own plan. The main private developer, Thor Equities, has one. The city agency Coney Island Development Corporation (CIDC) has one, and had another one before that. A myriad of groups are pushing their own proposals that cover their interests – affordable housing, proper infrastructure, job and career training, revitalization strategies to “save” outdoor amusements.

This confusion was palpable at the June 24 hearing at Lincoln High School on the latest CIDC proposal. The agency – charged with overseeing a new development plan for the neighborhood – has worked on a proposal since 2003, with over 200 meetings and more than 1,000 people providing insight and opinion. But that plan was scrapped in April, when the city used CIDC’s name to announce an adjusted proposal without consulting the agency’s directors. The newest proposal appears to give Thor Equities a lot of what it had wanted, allowing them, for example, to build towering 30-story hotels on land that the previous plan zoned for smaller retail.

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In the largest Sheepshead Bay real estate deal of the last twenty years, Loehmann's Seaport Plaza on Emmons Ave. has reportedly been sold for approximately $24 million.

The three-story, 280,000 square foot retail center closed on Friday, with its former owner, the Bayrock Group, selling to a still unknown buyer. A source with knowledge of the deal provided the sale price of $24 million, but that number is still unconfirmed. He also said the buyer is a local Russian businessman.

Observers of Sheepshead Bay real estate transactions are surprised by the deal, as the property was not known to be on the market. However, Bayrock Group may have been happy to unload the property when approached by the mystery buyer, given that the group probably has its hands full with the beleagured Trump SoHo Hotel Condominium, which it is developing alongside the Trump Organization and the Sapir Organization. The site has recently been plagued by a number or controversies, including a lethal construction accident, accusations of misleading the public towards its final use, and mob ties. Of course, the mobster accusation is a given, considering one of Bayrock's own principals was revealed to have quite a shady past.

The Loehmann's Seaport Plaza deal marks the second largest sale in Sheepshead Bay history, coming just $1 million shy of breaking the record set in 1988, when the Atlantic Towers Apartment Corp. on Ave. Z and East 13th street was sold for $25 million. It's also notable for being the second record-breaking deal in less than a year; the first being last November's sale of the site at 1600 Sheepshead Bay Road and 1501 Voorhies Avenue for an all-cash transaction valued at more than $20 million. This means that two of the three largest deals in Sheepshead Bay history were ushered in within the last 8 months.

Tenants of the Loehmann's building are still unsure of the identity of the new owner, but expect to receive that information within the next two to three days.

(Stephen Jemal assumes the position for a Daily News writer. -Courtesy of Daily News)

Daily News recently published a piece on developer Stephen S. Jemal, "the man who made Nobody Beats the Wiz electronic stores the 13th most recognizable brand in the United States", and also the guy behind the three Riviera developments in southern Brooklyn. All I've got to say is, holy crap - what the hell, Daily News?! The story is so flattering to Jemal and his developments, a full-fledged bow-down we're-not-worthy ass-kissing, that I really have to wonder if Daily News is priming its real estate pages for some sweet advertising from Jemal's company, SSJ Development, and its Riviera brand.

First up, there's this really ridiculous lead: "This is the biggest real estate vision the South Brooklyn waterfront may ever see." Really? Are we talking about the same waterfront that once was called Brooklyn's Gold Coast, and saw such massive "visions" realized as the Coney Island Jockey Club, the Sheepshead Bay Speedway, the Manhattan Beach Hotel, the Oriental Hotel - and that's just in the Bay, not the rest of the South Brooklyn waterfront. Jemal might be doing sizable deals, but he's no Austin Corbin.

Then there's the real heart-warming parts of the article - Jemal boating around the coast like some modern day adventurer - or conquistador - and picking out his future prizes; or his efforts to "give back" to the community by simply working within established zoning laws:

"I consider this waterfront cleansing to be community service," says Jemal, who handled real estate development for the Wiz. "In some of these areas, you can approach from a car and hit a dead end and have no idea water is even there." [Apparently, driving up to a condo's wall screams 'WATER!' - SB]

When it comes to cost, Jemal thinks he also gives back to the community. His projects in Sheepshead Bay, Mill Basin and Gerritsen Beach, totaling almost 500 units, will be built in the same height scale as the rest of the neighborhood and will be sold for prices he hopes are affordable to the neighborhood's middle class.

The article goes on to call him a "genius", to drool over the boat slips, idealize his environmental cleanups, glow about his "passion", wax poetic on his personal and home life, and so forth. Even the photo seems to say, "Sure, I may look like Skeletor, but don't you want to reach into my unbuttoned shirt?" This may be assuming too much, but the come-hither, leg up position may have been an invitation, presumably accepted, for the Daily News writer.

Let me pause for a second, before things get really heated. I'm no development naysayer. I have nothing against Jemal. In fact, I know surprisingly little about his work, and from what I read of his plans, they're not nearly as terrible, destructive or garish as some of the other work going on in the area. My problem here is with the Daily News. To the residents of Brooklyn's southern coast, development is one of the top issues. It's not to be taken lightly. But, unfortunately, the press too often serves as the number one cheerleader for the developers.

As for Jemal himself, we already know some of the concerns with his plans. Almost all are still to be resolved, and I wish the Daily News had taken the opportunity to confront the developer about them. But the only criticism in the article itself came from CB15 chairperson Theresa Scavo, whose name they spelled wrong, and whose concerns about site cleanup were dismissed by a quote from the developer. Some extra consideration by the reporter or editor would've been nice here.

So, Daily News, why don't we take off the skirt and pompoms, and please - PLEASE - ask some hard questions of this guy and his ilk.

Above are several more shots of the view stolen by the owners of the Breakers, a development on Ford Street and Emmons Avenue. As most of you already know, the development has installed a gate, locking out the community members who've lived here for years and have longed for increased waterfront access. These shots were taken back in April, when I wandered into the construction site to get some pictures from the pier (with a rather cruddy camera).

The most amusing part of this architectural monstrosity wasn't just those ugly cresting waves on top of its otherwise blank walls, it's the shells that you see littered across the "boardwalk". The shells were everywhere in the development - on the pier, in the driveway, and on the roofs. They come from birds that pick up clams and drop them - normally on rocks - to break apart and eat. But the birds have taken a liking to using these buildings - apparently not thinking much of them other than another hard piece of crap jutting out of the water. For those of you Breaker-haters, what this means is people are paying out the nose to live in these "luxury" apartments, but will have to deal with early-morning ping-ping-pangs of birds who don't give much of a damn about their roofs, their sleep, or their cars. This is not to mention that they'll be tracking the chalky crap into their homes everyday. That oughta warm your hearts.

For those of you who are interested, I also wandered around the insides of the smaller building, which isn't as finished as the other ones. My impressions were... well, not very impressed. The rooms were small and cramped even without furniture, and there were some really odd architectural decisions made on where to put pretty basic things like, um, stairs. In some of the units it really ate up square-footage, leaving certain floorspace pretty much unusable.

I for one am not an anti-condo person, and think some of the buildings coming to the area are interesting. But the units I looked at, well, they sucked, and I sure wouldn't spend a dime on them.

The New York Times has picked up on the Breakers story, and the neighborhood's ire over the gated driveway which blocks public access to the waterfront. According to the story, and the Breakers' snide broker, the miniature boardwalk with a wide-open view of the bay's mouth, will definitely not be public.

Albert Wilk, the broker for the new development, confirmed that the Breakers would not provide public access to the water. “It’s private property, developed by a private developer,” Mr. Wilk said. “It’s going to be gated, and accessed only by members. If the neighbors wanted access, then why didn’t they participate in the costs of putting in the boardwalk and the dock?”

The Times noted that CB 15 Chairperson Theresa Scavo and City Councilman Lew Fidler are fighting the arrangement, but add that there's little hope.

Of course, there is some hope that the Times' reporting is all wrong, and it'll be completely public. I mean, they did say the Bay News broke the story afterall... but we all know the truth.