SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

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It looks like the city may have screwed thousands of New Yorkers out of a tax break that benefits condo and co-op owners, according to a report by Crain’s.

The confusion came about when tens of thousands of New York condo and co-op owners received letters from the Department of Finance telling them that a change to an existing tax abatement that was passed by the legislature this past January disqualified them from collecting the break.

The problem is that the new legislation disqualifies secondary residences – but the department erroneously sent the letters to thousands of primary residences, which still qualify for the full tax break.

The financial implications are huge, as those incorrectly excluded from break could lose out on an extra $1,000. Who or what to blame for the screw up was not entirely clear:

“Some people have been in their homes, 20, 30 or 40 years and are getting these letters,” said Mr. [Warren] Schreiber, [co-president of the Co-Op and Condo Council in northeast Queens]. “I think what happened is that the Department of Finance’s records are out of date, but it’s causing a lot of confusion and chaos.”

And it’s not the first time a mistake like this has happened. Nearly two years ago, Finance Commissioner David Frankel acknowledged the department had erred on 15,000 property bills the city mailed that July because of a “computer glitch.”

But in this case, a Department of Finance spokesman said the agency had used available data to determine which of the city’s 360,000 condo and co-ops would qualify for the abatement, and automatically enrolled 230,000 of them. In instances where there was not enough information, the agency sent out 130,000 of the letters to homeowners saying they were not eligible for the tax break.

Still, all hope is not lost for those who incorrectly received the letter disqualifying them from the break. The letter does inform residents to fill out a form by April 1 and mail it back to verify that their address is indeed their primary residence.

The Department of Finance stated that the letter was useful for updating their records, but it hasn’t stopped residents, especially the elderly, from getting anxiety that their financial planning may be out of whack.

Do you own a condo or a co-op and incorrectly receive a letter from the Department of Finance? Let us know. Oh, yeah, and let the DOF know, too.

Source: Google Maps

Muss Development is close to finally completing the Oceana Condominium and Club, a string of luxury buildings between Brighton Beach Avenue and the Riegelmann Boardwalk. The completion of the final tower comes more than 25 years after the real estate firm announced their ambitious plan to build hundreds of condos on the site of the Brighton Beach Bath and Racquet Club, according to a report in Real Estate Weekly.

Construction of Oceana’s final structure, located at 50 Oceana Drive West, is set to be finished by 2014. According to the Wall Street Journal, the total cost of the building’s construction is $40 million. Demand for the new space is high as 50 of the 59 units have already been sold. If you’d like to grab one of the last spots, you’ll have to shell out some serious cash, as unit prices range from $700,000 to $1.7 million.

I don’t think there’s any secret that there’s no love lost between myself and the Breakers condo development (3128 Emmons Avenue), which I’ve alternately referred to as “fugly,” the “fanciest storage unit complex in the borough,” and marketed by unscrupulous wags (who ultimately pushed the development into bankruptcy). So when the pier’s surface – built less than five years ago – totally separated from the pilings it stood upon during Superstorm Sandy, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was a matter of shoddy construction or if somehow was hit by more force than some other older structures that took the water’s might with little damage.

Chances are, we’ll never know. But one of the development’s residents sent the above photo to us today, letting us know work on rebuilding the pier is well under way. We hope that it’s being built to be a little more future-proof, and capable of withstanding a Sandy-like event.

Oh, and after it came off and collided with the dilapidated club house of the Greenlawn Bungalow Colony, it settled next to the club house’s old pilings, and we got a shot of it a few days after Sandy.

Top photo by Albert.

Two towering condominium buildings together boasting 102 units just south of the East 12th Street Belt Parkway bridge have sat incomplete for years. Now, new owners have taken control and promise to complete construction soon.

Sochi on Banner at 2750 East 12th Street and 1125 Banner Avenue were purchased earlier this month for more than $17.5 million, clearing the way for progress at the previously stalled site. The new owners, Irongate Realty Partners – a subsidiary of Manhattan-based GFI Capital Resources Group – vows to complete construction soon, and open it up as a rental building.

“We are presently completing construction on the property,” Michael Weiser, president of acquisitions, told Multi-Housing News. “One building is 95 percent complete and the other is 70 percent.” Weiser added that construction will be finished in the next six to nine months.

Weiser said the building will turn rental, claiming it will be the only exclusive rental building in Sheepshead Bay.

Sochi on Banner was a project of The J Companies, which still lists the projects on its construction page and notes that it’s a $22 million contract. According a website specifically for Sochi, it was planned as a luxury condominium building with units “starting in the low $300s.”

Construction began in 2006, according to Department of Buildings records, but neighbors say it sat stalled and incomplete for at least two years.

Click to enlarge

Longtime readers of Sheepshead Bites should know that I love – LOVE! – the sort of marketing that relies almost exclusively on superlatives, especially when the words used stand in stark contrast to reality.

Take, for example, the “most luxurious day care center” that, unfortunately, never bothered with the luxury of getting its employees proper background checks or certification. Or the luxury condos built right across the street from one of the city’s worst housing projects. Or the medical offices best suited for Dr. James Bond (actually, that one was pretty luxurious), or the “Imperial” class seating on Transaero flights that led us to ask if this kind of marketing is specifically targeted to Russians, and why.

We may never know the answer to that last question, but there’s no doubt that there’s an obsession in our neighborhood with marketing things as luxurious, gourmet or deluxe. And, occasionally, you get one that just jams a bunch of words together, like the marketing for 2409 Avenue Z, the old Tre Fratelli space.

Yes, “Super luxury oversized condos” are for sale there, with such amenities as, um, balconies, and, er, “automatic parking” – whatever that means.

In reality, the space is kind of small. It’s a triangular three-story building, with the first floor used for retail and parking (the “automatic parking” appears to be a car elevator, which actually seems more obnoxious than opulent). And, unless the plans have changed since we first reported on it in July 2010, those two floors of residential are broken up into five units.

So… what’s so Super Luxury Oversized about that? Well, I guess it sounds better than “Glorified Closet-Sized Apartments of Mediocrity .”

In totally unrelated news, Sheepshead Bites is proud to announce that we have eliminated our advertising and sponsorship packages and are now offering “Uber Luxurious, Premier Deluxe-ified Grand Gourmet Advertising Opportunities on our Palatial Webmansion, Paired with Sensual, Posh Sponsorship Opportunities.” Click here for details.

Opulance. We has it.

I go to real estate companies all the time when I need a professional suit. When I need a casual suit, I go to a pharmacist. My zoot suits are ordered exclusively from cell phone stores.

Oh, 1702 Avenue Z, how I love you so. The incompetence of the various people around you never fails to provide content for me. Today it’s this sign for professional suits – surely you meant suites – but there’s a whole history of fumbles that leaves me bewildered… and amused.

Sure, most recently it was the “Whoops! We forgot to build a garage!” that led to some impromptu sidewalk destruction and the removal of freshly planted trees. But you were screwing up long before that. There was the time we got locked in during your not-so-open open house, and that was just the first run of the new realtors – Dreamlife. And, of course, we can’t forget how bigger brokers abandoned you after a botched deal caused a prospective tenant to call it quits.

Thanks for the latest laugh. We’re looking forward to your next boondoggle.

Photo taken May 24, 2011

Man, don’t you just hate it when a developers try to sell their residential units based on amenities that don’t exist?

That’s why every time I passed by 1702 Avenue Z (on the corner of East 17th Street) for the past year or so, my eyebrows raised. Dreamlife Realty, a mysterious broker that took over after bigger names abandoned the project, posted a sign in one of the upper windows advertising “Indoor Parking.”

To which I asked, “Where?!”

Keep reading to find out what’s going on here.

Courtesy Google Maps

If architect Frank Gehry took a dump from the top of the ugly tree, then that dump hit every branch on the way down, and then a naked mole rat ate the dump, vomited it up, ate the vomit, got diarrhea from it – the condo above would be the architectural equivalent of the resulting putrid liquid expelled from that naked mole rat’s rear.

And though this is one of the worst new constructions in the area, it really does exemplify the limits of creative thinking in Sheepshead Bay’s condo architecture.

That’s why I burst into laughter when I received the following message in my inbox. I mean, this guy is looking for the “star architects” of Sheepshead Bay, the neighborhood of the fugliest of the fugly when it comes to condo architecture. In addition to the sack o’ crap above, on Nostrand Avenue and Emmons Avenue, we also have condos like The Breakers, the fanciest storage unit complex in the borough.

Here’s what our reader wrote:

Have a question- I’m looking for a nice/boutique/luxe’ property in the Brighton Beach/Sheepshead area. My lease is coming up in about six months, so I wanted to begin doing some research.

Any recommendations? Are there any local star architects? Are there any local really awesome (modern) clean, glassy buildings?

I particularly like the stuff of Meier, Gehry, etc… it’s probably out of my price league but still would be interesting to know if any great architects really touch our area?

Guh… faw…

Really? I’m being punk’d, right? The nicest condo architecture in Sheepshead Bay and Brighton Beach would be considered average at best by any other neighborhood’s standard.

But that’s my opinion, and obviously I can’t help this guy. Anyone care to add anything?

Source: NYDailyNews.com

I’d say “There goes the neighborhood,” but the neighborhood came and went so many times that I’m beginning to suspect it’s a well-heeled prostitute.

Neighbors on a Homecrest block are outraged over what they call a hulking eyesore rising in their midst.

City officials decided last week to let owner Joseph Durzieh go ahead with a 53-foot-tall house that towers over other homes on the E. 18th St. [sic - It's East 12th Street] block – and gets so close to a house next door it blocks the windows.

“It’s a monstrosity,” said lawyer Stu Klein, who is representing neighbors on both sides of the building challenging the project.

… The project would be illegal under current zoning, but the city Board of Standards and Appeals voted last week to let the owner go ahead because he started work before zoning rules changed to bar buildings so high.

Why does the Board of Standards and Appeals continue to vote against the wishes of the community? What do its members have to gain from scorning – so routinely and so callously – the residents of the neighborhoods it shapes?

While agencies like the DOT and the MTA are supreme examples of bureaucratic incompetence, the BSA is the paragon of institutional malice. It needs to go.

But back to the house…

Neighbors challenged the move, charging Durzieh’s permits were no good because he got permission to renovate an existing house – but actually tore down most of the house and put up a new building.

… Durzieh has maintained the three-story structure will be a single family home for his family.

But Theresa Scavo, chair of Community Board 15 – which voted overwhelmingly against the plan – suspects Durzieh really plans to turn it into condos, noting that plans include an elevator and an exterior staircase.

Durzieh and his contractors have also been fined $9,200 for construction violations on the site, according to DOB records. He did not return calls.

And so it goes. Another ugly condo on another block in which it doesn’t fit. And no, I’m not against condos or the area developing, I’m just against the stupid ones.

The management company responsible for The Breakers condominium development only just started the uncertain process to construct a private marina, but they’ve been marketing the fantasy slips for nearly a year.

Wilk Real Estate, which represents The Breakers at 3128 Emmons Avenue, posted the above YouTube video in October 2009. The problem is that they hadn’t yet started the complex approval process to have it constructed, raising the question of whether or not they’ve been misleading residents.

Read the translation of the above video, and how tell us if you think Wilk Real Estate is swindling buyers.