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If that is a war zone, then there is no where to live in NY. STFU

As of July 2009, at what state of DONENESS is this joint?

All the pics show a jobsite!

(I don't walk that neighborhood anymore so I need to ask!)

Well, I guess I can stop taking your Beacon bashing personal, since it seems some guys trash ALL new high end development. Take a breath and see how good this is for all of you. More folk to contribute to neighborhood businesses, more tax money for schools, etc. Also since a few of you unfortunately equate low incomes to criminal behavior, you should be dancing a jig that we are mostly middle income.

And half of the sold units went to the developer's family so it's more like 12.5% sold. I wish them and the Beacon well but it's a tough time to be selling condos in a marginal neighborhood.

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A Charity Benefit & Art Exhibition: The New Way to Sell Real-Estate





JERSEY CITY, N.J., June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- There's auctions, short-sells and price gouging going on in today's Real Estate market, but you wouldn't know it by looking at m650 Flats in Jersey City. Brunelleschi Construction (BrunCon) has taken a different approach to boosting the sales of their luxury lofts.

BrunCon, a premier urban developer of adaptive re-use properties in Hudson County, was established based on the principals of their Renaissance namesake, Filippo Brunelleschi. Much like this architectural forerunner, they believe in working within a neighborhood's existing fabric to create a vibrant community - socially, architecturally and environmentally. A recent recipient of the 2009 Adaptive Re-Use Preservation Prize, the boutique style luxury lofts at m650 Flats shatter the cookie-cutter mold of urban developments and offer amenities not often found outside of Manhattan.

While other condo communities are taking measures to cut costs and sell off their inventory, BrunCon is throwing a party! On Saturday, June 13th, m650 Flats hosted a charity benefit and artist exhibition. "The event supports their dedication to local community revitalization, while paying homage to their Italian ancestry," says Kristin Ehrgott, founder/president of Mindseed, a boutique marketing and events company enlisted to create the event.

ARTchitecture 4 Abruzzo featured an artist exhibition and custom mural by Duda Penteado, an open bar and hors d'oeuvres on the roof deck and a silent auction with items including a Vespa S50 scooter and luxury home furnishings from Desiron and Teroforma raised just shy of $7000 for the UNICO fund benefiting earthquake victims of Abruzzo, Italy.

"Incentives are attractive, and we offer plenty - a $5,000 credit at closing, 5 year tax abatement, paid monthly maintenance dues through the end of 2009, not to mention included garage parking (in New Jersey's first state-of-the-art robotic garage) - but other properties offer incentives as well, our residents are looking for something more unique, a sense of community in a luxury property without the exorbitant price," says Anthony Carrino, partner at BrunCon.

The event proved to be a great success. One hundred and thirty people attended the event, toured the fifteen available luxury lofts and resulted in three offers the very next day! "The event and the results exceeded our expectations, not only in terms of sales, but recognition and support as well," said Carrino. "Mariano Vega Jr., City Council President and other notable attendees came out to support our cause and everyone had a really good time; you throw a great party and you're sure to be the talk of the town for weeks to come!"

About Brunelleschi Construction

Brunelleschi Construction, LLC is a premier urban developer of mixed-use and adaptive re-use properties, working within a neighborhood's existing fabric to create a vibrant community. We strive to develop the ideal product - socially, architecturally and environmentally. www.bruncon.com.

CONTACT: Kristin Ehrgott, Kristin@mindseedevents.com, +1-973-945-0362

Photos (C) GLK Creative: http://glkcreative.com/Slideshows/m650/index.html

It is affordable, reasonably safe and walkable to the PATH.

One of the misjudgments made by The Beacon and m650 developers is that, this is a value neighborhood, not a luxury 'hood.

McGinley Square is a terrific neighborhood that gets a little better all the time. It's very mixed, in many ways. Been here a few years now and I like it a lot.

Montgomery Gardens - "despite the proximity, the craziness that occasionally goes on in the projects, stays down there for the most part."

A bit of an understatement - I hope you like your neighborhood.

Agreed, absolutely not a warzone. Plus Montgomery Gardens is going away, to be replaced with Hope VI housing (like the very nice looking stuff going up at Duncan and Truck Rt. 1/9). There's a thread about it somewhere on here.

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warzone my ass, the neighborhood's really not that bad, if you think of mcginley square as a warzone, then you've obviously not spent much time here. "But its next to montgomery gardens!" despite the proximity, the craziness that occasionally goes on in the projects, stays down there for the most part. Maybe its not as genteel as the downtown area, but it is a livable neighborhood.

Now if they'd only build something useful on a few of the way too many parking lots in the neighborhood, but fat chance of that happening with the current market.

It's just not the economy stupid - location, location, location. M650 is located on the border of a war zone. Real Estate 101.

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Or panoramic NYC Skyline views.

I walked past the M650 building today, there is a banner hanging on the front saying "25% Sold" ... I really wish the developer the best (I live in the neighborhood) but it just looks so sad.

Also, up the block at bit is an old police station that is being turned into condos, a sign on the building lists them as starting in the 200s, which is starting to get a bit more reasonable for the McGinley Square. area, not sure if the police station will have heated towel racks like M650.

Recycling, and Selling, Some History


NEW APARTMENTS The m650 Flats in Jersey City, above, and the Garden Street Lofts in Hoboken, below.

By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
The New York Times
Published: January 23, 2009

CONCEIVED back when the residential market was healthy, two warehouse-to-loft conversions in New Jersey are now being marketed in Hoboken and Jersey City, and a third is under way in Newark.

Two of the projects are condominiums and one is a rental, but all are being promoted as chic, energy-efficient designs that recycle buildings of distinctive historical value.

?Reuse of old industrial buildings located in urban areas is highly desirable,? said Peter Primavera, of the Urban Land Institute, ?from a planning point of view ? and to buyers.?

Residential real estate experts in the state say that demand for converted lofts in urban areas ? especially those near a mass transit ?hub? ? was surging before the bank and economic crises hit, and most predict it will swell again as the overall economy recovers.

Right now, according to the developers, sales at the two condos are tepid.

?Well, it?s the worst possible timing,? said Lawrence Bijou, the managing partner of Bijou Properties, which is just now opening the Garden Street Lofts in Hoboken. ?But we have sold almost half of 30 units, which I say is pretty good.?

In Jersey City, where 22 new condos are nearly complete at ?m650 Flats,? a five-story conversion of a century-old structure, six units have sold in three months (three of them to members of the Carrino family, which owns Brunelleschi Construction, the building developer).

The Newark building, a few blocks from City Hall and the Prudential Center sports and entertainment arena, had also been planned as condominiums. Early last year, Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark cited the prospect of the first condos downtown as evidence that the city?s revitalization effort was gaining traction.

But prospects for bank financing disappeared with the national economic crisis, said the project?s developer, Michael Saltzman, whose company is called Newwork. Construction began in late October to create 67 rental units instead. Mayor Booker said at the groundbreaking that it made him ?very proud.?

The Newark building ? which like the Hoboken and Jersey City structures lay vacant for years before being eyed for renewal ? was originally a jewelry factory. Known as the Richardson Building, it has stood for a century at the corner of Columbia and Green Streets, and it gets a mention in Philip Roth?s novel ?American Pastoral,? which is set in historic Newark.

The building has one jaw-dropping feature: a six-story-tall steel spiral staircase that stands in an open central atrium. The elements turned the staircase rusty, but that deterioration will be halted, as plans call for a skylight roof and a small courtyard around the central spiral.

?It will be a natural gathering place, a social center for residents,? said Brendan Murray, the chief executive of Tekton Development, which is creating Richardson Lofts.

Tekton is recycling materials, using ?green? techniques, and installing energy-efficient features throughout the building, in a bid for a ?silver? rating from the United States Green Building Council, which issues certifications based on LEED standards ? for Leadership in Energy and Energy Design. This would be a first for Newark.

The Garden Street Lofts building in Hoboken is headed for certification as the first silver-rated residential building in the Jersey waterfront area. A five-story brick structure where coconuts were once processed, the building was retrofitted with a two-story zinc-faced addition.

It offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units, some with decks ? and two two-story penthouses on the top floors, one with a 1,400-square-foot terrace with a hot tub. Prices start in the mid-$600,000s and go up to $2 million for the premier penthouse unit.

?So far, we haven?t had to lower prices,? said Mr. Bijou, the developer. ?There are actually some interesting buyers out there. We?ve seen several sports figures, and the ambassador to the United Nations from Sudan came by.?

At the m650 Flats building in Jersey City, the builders said they used green techniques and material but are not striving for the LEED rating. They are going for high-impact style, said Anthony Carrino, the 30-year-old son of Alfonso Carrino, who created the Brunelleschi Construction Company after recognizing the potential of a decrepit structure on Montgomery Street.

Anthony Carrino, whose cousin John Carrino is also a builder and a buyer at m650, said with a shrug: ?The market is what it is. But we are aiming for the buyer who wants something that can?t be found anywhere else.?

At their ?boutique? building, a block up, and across Montgomery from the huge Beacon condominium complex, the Carrinos carefully deconstructed a brick and bluestone wall at the street level, reusing the brick and stone to create Old World masonry in the style of Filippo Brunelleschi, the Renaissance sculptor and architect, in the condos.

That is paired with ultramodern Euro-style fixtures for the interiors, environment-friendly bamboo flooring, and a ?virtual doorman? service.

A robotic parking garage was installed at street level in the building, which has served variously as a livery, a warehouse, an Army-Navy surplus center ? and even, at one point, the fake storefront site for an F.B.I. sting, according to Alfonso Carrino.

?I should know the history around here,? Mr. Carrino said. He was born at the Jersey City Medical Center, the complex that is now the Beacon condos.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/realestate/25njzo.html