SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in January that he was pursuing a plan to buy Sandy-damaged homes to protect from future floods; now, more details have come out about proposed eligibility – and a promise to keep the coastline undeveloped.

The program will be funded with $400 million from the $51 billion disaster relief package approved by Congress, but the plan itself still needs federal approval. Cuomo aides made the rounds in Washington D.C. last week, pitching to officials a vision in which New York State purchases hundreds of median-sale-price homes along the coast, gives financial incentives to homeowners who move nearby, demolishes the homes, and keeps the land permanently undeveloped.

The New York Times reports:

For the 10,000 or so homes in the 100-year flood plain that were substantially damaged by Hurricane Sandy, Mr. Cuomo would offer owners the pre-storm full market value of their houses. Homeowners who chose to relocate within their home county would receive a 5 percent bonus above the market value, as part of a government effort to encourage them to stay nearby. State officials said they were planning for the possibility that 10 to 15 percent of those eligible would take the buyout.

Residents of more vulnerable areas would receive a further enticement: they would be allowed to sell their homes even if the homes suffered little, or possibly even no, damage from the hurricane, and the state would pay them an additional 10 percent bonus, above market value, to sweeten the deal.

In a few dozen blocks located in areas of extreme risk, the state would offer another 10 percent bonus if every homeowner on the block agreed to sell. Local officials would be expected to determine how best to use the new open space, though they would not be allowed to build on it.

Residents of affluent areas like Manhattan Beach, though, are unlikely to benefit – the program will only target houses at around the median home value. It remains to be seen, however, if neighbors in Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island and other Brooklyn neighborhoods should anticipate much relief, either. Details of the program are still sketchy, and it’s not yet clear whether this program will have much traction in urban communities where dense population, developed waterfronts and municipal bureaucracy present different challenges than in smaller communities like in Long Island or Staten Island, where implementation is likely to be more successful.

Forget your guns, the government is coming for your house! Well, only if you want them to. And only if you live in an area hit hard by Superstorm Sandy.

The Daily News reports:

Gov. Cuomo wants Hurricane Sandy victims who live along the coast to consider rebuilding their homes on stilts or selling their houses to the state and relocating.

“At one point, you have to say maybe Mother Nature doesn’t want you here. Maybe she’s trying to tell you something,” Cuomo said in a phone interview with the Daily News Editorial Board.

Cuomo said he hopes more Sandy victims will choose to have the state buy them out rather than rebuild in areas that are at risk of future storm damage.

It would relieve the government of having to pay to rebuild the same houses multiple times.

The state promises “market value” for homes. However, some have already raised concerns about the shortfall in property values this will cause if communities begin withdrawing from the waterfront.

We, however, can’t help but wonder how long the government will let the land sit empty before it forgets all about flooding and builds some luxury condos and retail developments on land that it got dirt cheap.

Cynical much?

Source: NY Curbed

Ever dream of being surrounded in wood paneling, chandeliers, elegance and grandeur, all while staying in Brighton Beach for some reason? Well, lucky for you, your dreams are on sale and if you put down $2,999,000 bucks, it could all be yours today!

Curbed let us in on this 2805 Ocean Parkway penthouse that has seen its asking price slashed repeatedly in the past few months. All this suffocating luxury was originally going for about $4.5 million when it was first listed in July, first dropping $1.2 million, than $400,000 in recent weeks.

According to Curbed, the owners are desperate to sell, so who knows how low they’ll go on this 5 BR 5.5 BA sparkly penthouse of high living? There is only one way to find, so contact the sellers and make your best offer!

Source: NY Curbed

Source: NY Curbed

Last September, we reported on the ‘Bright N’ Green’ environmental building project that was being constructed at 67 Brighton 1st Lane. The project, designed and led by architect Robert Scarano, was met with some controversy due to Scarano’s checkered past with the Department of Buildings, where he was found to be deliberately submitting falsified or misleading paperwork.

Putting questions of Scarano’s dealings with the city aside, the video above, provided by Brooklyn Independent Televsion, presents the seemingly amazing progress Scarano has made on his futuristic six-unit Brighton Beach building.

Producer Charlie Hoxie visited Scarano’s project and got to the bottom of what compelled the architect to construct this dwelling in Brighton Beach and what his full vision of the future of architecture entails.

“I think that people now going back to repairing and rebuilding after the storm really need to understand that they can’t go back to putting things in the old way. They need to put things in a way that will mitigate damages in the future, and and actually prevent damages,” Scarano, a Brighton Beach native, told BIT.

Amazingly, according to Scarano, it was the only building in the neighborhood unaffected by Sandy.

“We had actually no water infiltration at any one of the windows and doors in this building,” he said.

The building will also produce all its own electricity via solar panels and wind turbines.

Scarano and his team had the foresight to raise his building four inches over the recommended 100-year flood level building code requirement. The difference such an elevation makes is evident when Scarano points out the water line left by Superstorm Sandy, well above the city’s standard, but well below his own.

“I believe the storm was a wake-up call for a lot of people, the city especially,” he said. “If anything good came out of Sandy, it will be that it accelerated the discussion by probably at least five to 10 years.”

The profitability of the 3112-3144 Emmons Avenue waterfront condominiums known as the Breakers remains up in the air as Madison Realty Capital just acquired a $23.5 million note in default from the complex’s previous owners, according to a report by Globe St.

The history and development of the Breakers project has been fraught with some controversy. Local mariners have complained that the complex threatens to narrow an already clogged navigational lane in Sheepshead Bay’s waters, neighbors have decried the lost view, and even residents are miffed about a fictional marina they were promised. In August, the development’s owners, Emmons-Sheepshead Bay Development LLC, declared bankruptcy.

The previous owner of the note, TD Bank, acquired the property from the original owners. Madison acquired the note – which represents the developer’s debt – for an unspecified amount, and it includes 49 unsold luxury units from the complex (out of 75 total), and parking.

In a revelation that should surprise no one, ultra rich Manhattan property owners are paying practically bupkus in property taxes compared to the average city property owner.

A report by the New York Times discovered that those who have bought the most fabulous of Manhattan properties, including a pad at 15 Central Park West sold to a Russian billionaire for $88 million dollars, pay a comparatively meager property tax rate.

The average Manhattan property owner pays an average of .78 percent of their property’s value in taxes each year, a good deal less compared to the national average of 1.14 percent. So, for a property worth $88 million, you would expect the owner to return $686,000 dollars a year in taxes. However, because of decades-old rules and regulations put in place that never considered the exploding value of Manhattan property, that Russian billionaire we mentioned only has to pay a comparably scant $59,000 a year in property taxes.

The New York Times explains how such an injustice is allowed,

These comparatively meager official values are the result of a state law dating from decades ago that requires the city to calculate the value of condominiums and co-ops by using rental buildings as comparable properties, instead of apartment sales. At the top of the market, populated by $20 million, $30 million, $40 million, even $88 million apartments, real estate experts say that truly comparable rental buildings essentially do not exist. “The highest-value ones are going to tend to be the hardest to line up,” said George Sweeting, deputy director of the city’s Independent Budget Office. Their resulting effective tax rates, he continued, “will be extremely low, even by the standards of the city.”

So… we gettin’ screwed or what?

[via MBCG]

Source: Rich Caplan/nestseekers.com

Good news, Rockafellers. That $14 million Gravesend home you’ve been hoping to purchase, if the price was just a wee bit lower, has gone down in value.

The 2134 Ocean Parkway five-bedroom, 9,200-square-foot home with an elevator, two kitchens, a master bedroom with balcony and French doors, and art-nouveau staircase is now only $10.8 million.

The 23 percent drop in asking price still keeps this house in the “very expensive” realty category, but strips it of its most expensive home in Brooklyn slot.

Perhaps this was a clever realty ploy all along, to gain attention and then sell at a lower price. Let’s see if this works. Happy buying for those living the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development offers residents of New York the opportunity to earn a robust housing education in an extremely convenient manner.

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation seeks to inform New York City owners of residential buildings and tenants about laws, services, and projects pertaining to housing. The department’s Public Education Unit offers free podcasts, online courses, and videos regarding topics such as residential safety, housing lotteries, and housing code violations. You can watch or listen from your computer at home!

The unit is excited to announce its three most recent podcasts, with many more to come:

- The HPD Housing Code Violations podcast- educates the public on why housing preservation and development professionals write violations and how they can be cleared.

- The No-and-Low Cost Home Energy Saving Tips podcast- teaches homeowners and tenants how to conserve energy and lower their bills.

- The Healthy Homes podcast- tells participants how to avoid conditions in the home that can be detrimental to the health of residents.

Check out these podcasts online, and see what you think of them.

The Public Education Unit also teaches in person classes in person classes on health concerns pertaining to homes. Topics include mold, pest management, bed bugs, and carbon monoxide. Classes are offered at 100 Gold Street in Manhattan. If a group of 20 is gathered, instructors can travel to the location of your choice.

To learn more about this opportunity, or if you have any questions or inquiries, call (212)-863-8830, or email poe@hpd.nyc.gov. You can also subscribe to receive e-mails from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development with information about housing education classes by visiting the NYC HPD E-mail Update Subscription Center.

Source: estately.com

Hardly a week goes by where Sheepshead Bites doesn’t receive an e-mail from an aggrieved co-op apartment building resident, taking issue with their board. Sometimes they even organize anti-board rallies or try to usurp the board altogether. And one thing’s for sure, there ain’t much oversight over these quasi-corporate, quasi-residential buildings.

Well, now there’s a show for them – and anyone else thinking of buying a co-op unit.

The Russian American Community Coalition of New York (RACCNY) is set to create “Co-Op Passions,” a reality show which will depict the many issues related to the rights of cooperative shareholders.

A “co-op,” or cooperative, is a jointly owned commercial venture that constructs and allocates goods and services. They are generally run in order to benefit their shareholders. However, as will be demonstrated in the show, Co-ops can come along with more harm than benefits.

The show will presumably include 10 episodes, which are to be aired on YouTube and Facebook. It will convey true stories of New York shareholders and the issues they faced with the Co-op board members, sponsors, supers, and management companies. Names will be changes in order to protect the identities of those featured in the show.

The first five episodes of this reality show are already underway. The first episode, entitled “Problems Problems Problems…” will display the rampant infringements on the rights of cooperative shareholders. “Where Has Our Money Gone?” the second episode, will portray the misuse of monetary power in Co-ops. The third episode, “What Can I Do?” will educate shareholders on ways in which they can protect their rights and interests. The fourth, “Independent Inspection,” shows a situation in which an independent inspection of a shareholder is arranged. “Legal Aid,” the fifth episode, will feature stories of cooperative shareholders who attempted to file a complaint through the office of the Attorney General.

This show is part of a project that wishes to expose the unknown side of Co-op ownership. Through the use of cinematic techniques, the internet, and the media, RACCNY hopes to reveal the problems related to Co-ops. They wish for government officials to respond and attempt to fix these setbacks. Consequently, if successful, RACCNY feels this project will assist in reinstating fairness to cooperative shareholders in the eye of the law.

RACCNY is a non-profit organization that attends to the Russian speaking community of New York. In addition to other activities, RACCNY seeks to aid owners of New York Cooperatives apartments, help them comprehend their entitlements as shareholders, and assist them in handling arguments. They also hold seminars and offer free legal advice to shareholders.

Source: Rich Caplan/nestseekers.com

An Ocean Parkway home made headlines yesterday when it hit the market for $14 million – giving it the heftiest price tag for a single-family home in all of Brooklyn.

At 2134 Ocean Parkway, this five bedroom, 9,200-square-foot home boasts an elevator, two kitchens, a master bedroom with balcony and French doors, art-nouveau staircase, and is “touched with limestone accents and finished in two-tone stucco and an authentic green terracotta style Spanish roof,” according to the listing.

A family has owned the home since 1992 and decided to put it on the market – furnished or unfurnished – since their children have grown up and moved out, according to The Real Deal.

The property’s agent, Ryan Serhant, told the New York Daily News that picking a price was a difficult task, with few known comparables in the area’s Syrian Sephardic community.

“This area trades mostly within its own community which brought the prices to where they are,” Serhant said.

The Gravesend area and its Sephardic community have been nabbing top slots for residential real estate pricetags for several years now. In 2009, 2111 East 2nd Street sold for $10.26 million, spurring Brownstoner to scoff, “Holy moly! … It’s definitely the biggest sale of this year, and probably one of the top 10 or so biggest house sales in the borough ever.” A home around the corner at 450 Avenue S sold in 2011 for $10.25 million, just shy of the $11 million sale of 451 Avenue S across the street in 2005.

Photos: Rich Caplan/nestseekers.com

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