justiNYC

An ARTvertisement from the LoftNinja

I spoke to the LoftNinja yesterday.  He's been traveling a little bit..."clearing his mind of real estate whoas," he said.  Nevertheless, he's apparently headed back this way and will (as always) be enthusiastic about helping all of you artists out there who are feeling the effects of a retarded real estate market.

He did mention that he's managed to help a few of you guys out while away, somehow...  I guess that's just how ninjas do it.  Look him up if you need a not-so-brokerish agent type, with experience, ripe. He puts the "i" in realty.

By the way In other news, both the LoftNinja and I (justiNYC) received a warm slice of press today from our mutual blog buddy, Frances Flynn Thorsen- the newest (and greatest!) managing editor over at RealTown blog.   On behalf of myself and the Ninja,I'd just like to say thanks and that  we sure appreciate  the ways you appreciate us.   Hope to run into you soon Fran...we have loads of art (and real-i-ty) to discuss.

powered by performancing firefox

Pleasing the Beverly Hillbillies on Roebling and a Field guide to Williamsburg

So, Williamsburg made it into Gawker yesterday- they published a "field guide!"  For the most part, its pretty accurate.I suppose this means the Burg has finally arrived.  Brownstoner linked it up, along side a few listings from my buddy LoftNinja.

Meanwhile, over at Gowanus Lounge, there's a bit of talk today about the "Roebling Oil Field" at 223 N. 11th Street.  Forget black gold and texas tea, its a bonified slick fest over there!  The Beverly Hillbillies could certainly be a gang of potential buyers, if someone tracked them down....


Technorati Tags: Gawker, Williamsburg, links, field guide,

powered by performancing firefox

Sorely Missed Street Art in the City that Always Creeps

I just have to say (and I've said it before) that one of the things that I miss the most about Brooklyn (while down here in the Dirty South on break) would have to be graffiti and street art.  When you are as ingrained into a neighborhood as I am, watching buildings and streetscapes change like blinks of an eye, it is the art that keeps even the shortest of walks interesting.  From across the street, I will without fail notice the arrival of any new sticker or scribble, the fresh presence of a new poster and ahhh...the smell of wheatpaste in the morning.  Today, Curbed made me a little nostalgic for my neighborhood route, actually showing me a couple of things that have been added to the streets, undoubtedly within the last 2 weeks.


[apparently freshly posted on the outside of the barrier attached to the "See Through Building" on Bedford and N4th Streets (future of "Williamsburgh Square."-maybe)]

You just can't avoid the truth of the streets!

I would like to also share with all of you an album i have posted on PicasaWeb, jam packed with Street Art from Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, DUMBO, etc.  Enjoy!

Street Art

Before the Bedford Ave. Highrise, the See-Through Building [Curbed]
· Peevish Williamsburg Graffiti #1 [Curbed]
· Pevish Williamsburg Graffiti #2 [Curbed]

Technorati Tags: graffiti, street art, Williamsburg, Curbed

powered by performancing firefox

Real Estate Roundup- PreXmas Edition

$4B Brooklyn Project Approved for Development [Multi-Housing News]

Gowanus Toxics Want Slope Real Estate & Vegan Cookies [Curbed]

Williamsburg Rumor: Galapagos Site to Become Condo? [Curbed]

Does Size Matter? [Brownstoner]

As Revere Approaches Death, An Amazing Look Inside [Curbed]

AY's Next Hurdle: Lawsuits [NY Times]


Inflatable Santas: Eyepoppers to Eyesores [NY Times]


MAS Tries to Save Dry Dock [Newsday]


The Transformation of Flatbush Begins [AY Report]


The Times Screwed Up on AY [New York Mag]


Galapagos Site to Become Condo? [Curbed]


Land(mark) Speed Record on Brooklyn Home [Downtown Star]


Mapping a Way to the Bridge [Brooklyn Papers]


Energy Efficient Skylights? [Forum]

Navy Yard nets new tenants [Real Deal]

81 Bainbridge In Contract! [Corcoran]


Inexpensive Ways to Reduce Noise [Brooklynian]


Hello, My Name Is Brooklyn [Gothamist]


Does Magnetic Paint Work? [Apartment Therapy]

powered by performancing firefox

Williamsburg will soon have nice racks

 
According to a draft plan (above) that the Streets Blog acquired, Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg is undergoing some major changes. As the Streets report

"the plan calls for the elimination of five motor vehicle parking spaces
on N. 7th Street at Bedford Avenue, alongside the subway station
stairwell on the southeast corner (see the corner at the bottom of the
diagram)." 

We will have to wait for the Department of Transportation for an official press release for more information. The plan is expected to remove 5 parking spaces on North 7th Street in order to widen the sidewalk, making room for more bike racks.  Great! So now, Williamsburg will have more room for weekend junk hustlers. Besides, how easy is it to park around that N7th/Bedford madhouse anyway? Fuggitaboutit! But, how many Wall Street kids ride bikes to work? Hmmm
Just last year, the cops were sawing the locks off of bikes that had been secured to the Bedford Ave Station entrance.  A buddy of mine had his impounded for obstructing the sidewalk-(the very sidewalk that is planned for widening).

Gothamist asks the question of whether or not the DOT adding more G and L service would help the (totally packed) chaotic commute to this area brought on by the ridiculous numbers of new residents migrating to the area.  Last year's rezoning is expected to bring 40,000 newbies in this Brooklyn hood within the next decade. Hope they bring bikes!

Will this help the Car Free Bedford initiative? I suppose we'll have to wait for that as well.

powered by performancing firefox

brownstoner linkerati

I always loved this Greenpoint Iron Clock..


Technorati Tags: linkage, photography, justiNYC

Greenlight Shadow in Greenwick Linkage

over at my homey, Brownstoner's Blog.  


Technorati Tags: linkage, brownstoner

Hipster Demolition Experts and Who remembers the Party

Well, apparently Curbed found the demolition hipster bit amusing, but the hipsters on the Williamsboard seem to find it most amusing (as many of them were at this party).  And as it turns out, justiNYC had forgotten that he actually walked into this party on the night that it was going down.  "How could someone forget attending a rager like this?", you might ask yourself.  I guess i didn't stay long enough to get to hold the sledge hammer.
As it turns out, I did take a short video:

and some pics:

a quickr pickr post

I bet somewhere I should be able to find pics of the apartment before these guys moved in....i'll take a took and get back to you guys...

hahah, everyone who reads curbed now knows Rich Hall has no balls. [Williamsboard]

Hipster Tenants Offer Demolition Services [Curbed]

Technorati Tags: curbed, linkage, hipsters, williamsburg

Now You Too Can Have New York City in The Bag

very cool!
found via SwissMiss design blog

New York City in a bag by MUJI

Technorati Tags: new york city, gift, nyc, links

justiNYC featured on Cool Hunting Blog

Yep...that's right justiNYC foto lovers....you can see more of the goodness over in CoolHuntings Artist Showcase, featured at the top of blog.  They've redesigned and I for one think it looks great!  In the up and coming weeks, justiNYC blog will be undergoing a bit of renovation as well, so stay tuned.  In the meantime, head over to CoolHunting and press reload a whole bunch of times until you see the works of justiNYC.


Technorati Tags: cool hunting, linkage, blogs, banners, art, justiNYC

Terrific Ventilation on Kent Ave

The Scarano Project (?) on Kent Avenue and North 1st is shaping up-sike!  I guess they are gonna just leave these window open for the birds and..uh, hipsters?  I suppose some of us "aren't in the know"... but we're living.

I love these cement columns...this building is hardcore!!!

[previously in the blogosphere...]


[Brownstoner] Light and Air on Kent (but for How Long?)

Technorati Tags: williamsburg, development, building

Linkage Love from Two of the Best Brooklyn Blogs

[Brooklyn Record] Friday Blog Wrap

Last Friday was a LOVEly day indeed- but even better when I got home and noticed that two of my favorite Brooklyn blogs had posted a couple of photographs.  Its not that it is uncommon for justiNYC's flicks get linked to, its just that I do not feel that I thank my web friends nearly enough for their love.  I take these photographs everyday with strangers in mind- with you in mind.  Everytime i snap, I am hoping that whatever my lens has just captured will find itself somehow in front of an interested individual.  In my line of work, one can find oneself in and out of some pretty surreal surroundings- places and spaces that the mind could never conjure up without seeing first hand. All in all, in a way i am offering up my first hand daily archive via blog so that all of you out there can enjoy what i went though (literally) second hand, having seen a picture rather than being forced to settle for what you've heard. I feel the need to say this because lately, I haven't been keeping up with all of the linkages as well as in the past.  Its easy to get caught up in NYC.

[Brownstoner]
Before I began blogging about my day as a NYC real estate agent (close to 3 yrs ago), I used to write everything down in terrific leather bound journal-ish books.  I would cart them around on the subway and through the streets, stopping whenever the mood struck me to write something down about something that had just happened- almost as if i were taking a picture.  Perhaps one day i will publish that content.  Its interesting to look back at how much the big city impressed me.  Coming from the south, everything in NYC was an exciting situation that i surely had never wrapped my senses around- as with most transplants to this fair city.  Then photography took over for most of those long rants and the paragraphs became blocks and buildings became punctuation and...well, a picture certainly is worth a thousand words.  I write less these days because i carry a camera always.  I am writing books with my lens everytime i leave the house- documenting my participation in all of this urban stuff going on all around me, always.  Am I caught up in it? Of Course.  Just as you are all caught up in your stuff, wherever you are.  I hope my stuff is to you what I have intended it to be- a vacation, of sorts.  When your days are as full of visual junk food as mine, what else is there to do but share?  Many people wonder about the things that I see and will never have the chance to see if what they think is true, is. I just want to thank my fellow blog friends because whether or not I
have said so enough in the past, you should know that it means a lot to
me that art appreciated by such engaging and creative folks with
similar interests.  If it weren't for you and my insatiable mission of giving you new content from the streets to refer to, i would have certainly quit real estate long ago.



Technorati Tags: linkages, rant, photography, blogging

Neckface Gets His own Kicks

According to Brooklyn Ramblings Blog, Neckface (the ever present graffiti bandit) made a deal with Vans and put some of his zaney art on the side of shoes.   If Neckface annoyed you before, now you can hate your feet.  Personally, I always found his work interesting due to mere placement- rooftops, watertowers, abandoned....uh, stuff.   You can't hate a guy that has his own sneakers...but i'm sure some people will try.  Thanks BR!




Technorati Tags: Neckface, graffiti, shoes, vans

powered by performancing firefox

The Future Home of Cinema in Williamsburg

Thats right...movies! 136 Metropolitan Ave [between Metrop. & North 1st] will soon be the premier place to go
and (after taking out a mortgage on your hole in wall in NYC) afford (maybe) a descent flick in the theatre. It doesn't look like much now, but it is destined to be BIG, expensive and (as Curbed promises,
"indie"). As to exactly how big....its hard to say, considering the fact that the building is already 2,108sf over F.A.R [link].

It won't be hard for Wburgers to remember this building as it currently is, as the gigantic FOR SALE sign has been dangling out front since before Bushwick was a place to move to.  Even harder to forget will be the sign that came after if was sold, as I believe it must've been the crowning achievement in that agents life- the SOLD sign still hangs to this day.  For a while, a few of us in the hood have wondered whether he might take private little walks over to the building in the middle of the night, just to see if it was all a dream.  Ahhhh...real estate and its hidden pleasures.

[Curbed] Curbedwire: Williamsburg, Warts and All
[Curbed] Storefronting: Time for a Name Change?

a quickr pickr post

Technorati Tags: Wiliamsburg, movie theatre, new, brooklyn

Are you paying out the ass for your rent?

Probably.  But this tool will tell you if you are paying to much...or rather, more than others in your hood. Rentometer gives you a visual representation of your rent versus the regional median.  How snazzy is that?  Well...justiNYC predicts that it could be a pretty useful tool in NYC, if they made it work in about 30 different languages and steered clear of information taken from brokers.
[Link via Lifehacker]


Technorati Tags: rentometer, tool, rent, NYC, real estate

The NY Times closed their real estate blog- "Walk Through"

Thats right.  Good night from the Walk Through.  I wonder what this means for real estate blogs everywhere.  Probably nothing.  The new real estate magazine that they are putting out looks kick ass so far though.  Its called Key - give it a turn.



The Observer's Media Mob tipped us off.


Technorati Tags: NY Times, blog, walk through, closing

Technorati Tags: NY Times, blog, walk through, closing

LoftNinja's Newest ARTvertisement

LoftNinja's Newest ARTvertisement, originally uploaded by jUSTINYC.

LoftNinja sent this in regarding a 4750sf warehouse space that he has

available in Greenpoint for $1sf. This price is pretty much unheard

of these days in the area, as you might know. Its perfect for an art

gallery, according to the Ninja and would be perfect for galleries

which have large pieces that must be loaded and unloaded into a

separate room.

LoftNinja continues to make real estate into an artform...  if you are interested in more of his gig,
check out these sites:

Space Inquiry
Commercial Update
List Your Property with LoftNinja

Technorati Tags: Loftninja, artvertisement, links, art, real estate art

Real Estate can (and will) Curb You in NYC

This article in the NYPress about real estate agents who go AWOL makes some interesting points.  For now, I will just leave it at that.  Perhaps in the next few weeks i will have come up with something more to add. 
Now I know why LoftNinja is constantly making fun of real estate- to preserve his sanity.  Damn.  Ninjas really do know everything.

Rental Dementia [NY Press]
Thursday PM [Curbed]



Technorati Tags: real estate, nyc, agents

Unidentified Street Artist

Good buddies over at Sellsius Blog had a nice photo of the day (the other day), but they're having a hard time figuring out who to credit.  My guess is Banksy from UK.   Any ideas?
In any case, its ill.  Nice Find guys!


Technorati Tags: blogs, street art

High Hopes on Hope Street

According to Multi-Housing News, 59-65 Hope Street in Williamsburg was finally sold by Kalmon Dolgin to Hope Street Ventures LLC for a whopping $26 million.  Apparently, 113,000 sf of "high cieling" goodness is dazzling enough to overlook the fact that someone was shot on that corner just a couple of months ago.  Of course, it will be more overpriced condos.  HOPEfully (for the developers, it won't end up like 55 Berry.

Industrial Building to be Converted Into Condominiums in the Big Apple
[Multi-Housing News]



Technorati Tags: williamsburg, development, condos, building

The Onion Takes a Stab at Creating a Better Brooklyn

Sometimes I Feel Like I'm The Only One Trying To Gentrify This Neighborhood [Onion]

A little Stoop Culture phenomenology from the Onion:

I mean, I don't want the people here to leave. I just want them to stay inside more. Especially if they're not going to do anything to bring this community to life. But they're always out on their stoops, just playing dominoes or talking. I like talking, but I do it inside, where it was meant to be done. It makes me uncomfortable to have people watching me all the time. Not that I think they'd do anything, but I just like to be a little more private.

Also, their dogs stay outside and bark all day. I like dogs just fine, but why can't their dogs be smaller and more nervous?

[via Brooklyn Record]



Technorati Tags: gentrification, onion, brooklyn, NYC, nieghborhood

Apartment Therapy Announces Winners of Smallest, Coolest Apartment Contest

just thought you might like to know.  Check the winners out here
[link via Apartment Therapy]


Technorati Tags: contests, smallest apartment, links

A Room Divider is always Useful in NYC

Found this creative set of room dividers by Helmut Dietrich over on SwissMiss Design blog.  Partitioning is always a consideration in NYCm even if its only when out of town guests swarm and begin stealing your oxygen and will to live.  In a city where we basically live on top of each other, its a good idea to know what's out there.

Technorati Tags: room divider, loft, tips

Snakes and the City

...they must be because the sho ain't on this mother @!%#ing plane.   [via iBLOGthere4iiM]

btw.  saw this movie and it was SSSSSuper!

Technorati Tags: comic, links, snakes on a plane

Williamsburg Walkers gets the Job Done

Williamsburg Walkers gets the Job Done, originally uploaded by jUSTINYC.

...There's a new dog walking service in Williamsburg and its taking

the hood by storm.  If you have a cooped up pooch, check out their new site that just launched.

Technorati Tags: dog walking, williamsburg, brooklyn, services

How to find a Roomate in NYC without Craigslist

This topic came up today on Ask Gothamist.  Its an important topic to cover considering that LARGE amount of people who can't afford to live alone in NYC.  justiNYC has a tip:  Make friends with a brokerand get in their head.  We are always running into people who can't afford what they are looking for and must resort to rooming with a stranger.  The good thing about this is that a broker will at least know who is qualified and who pays their bills (provided the relationship got as far as a credit check.).  Gothamist suggests an article in The New York Times that goes into detail on this subject.  Good Luck!

Technorati Tags: roomates, real estate, nyc, shared, advice

Are 28 new shiny towers planned for Williamsburg?

Well, according to OnNYTurf it is so. The developer Quadriad is trying to plop 28 brand spankin new towers in the middle of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  Community Meeting anyone?  Anyone up for a good old fashioned protest?


...and here we have one of several maps created by OnNYTurf to show the scale of the project.  More maps here

Supersizing Williamsburg [Curbed]


Technorati Tags: williamsburg, zoning, development, real estate, maps, towers

Are you sure you can afford to buy property in NYC?

Well, you can do the math at HouseMath.  Its a "detailed, no bull-shit look at what it takes to buy a home in New York City."  Give it a whirl....then throw your computer across the room.
 
they even have a blog..


Technorati Tags: house math, condo, co-op, buying property, calculations

"Trendy Micro-Ass Nabe Names" and Google Maps Has them

Thanks to Curbed for pointing out that Google Maps now has NYC neighborhood names indicated when you zoom out a little bit.  Apparently there are a few who are none too excited for this technological development.  Maybe we should just make Brooklyn a neighborhood and Manhattan a neighborhood and call the whole thing good...right?  I suppose next someone will try to tell me that Greenwick isn't micro-trendy. Nonsense!  Its just not trendy.


Technorati Tags: google maps, neighborhood names, Greenwick

Banksy on the streets of Williamsburg

The most famous of all British street artists has a few pieces in Williamsburg.  Gothamist has more info.
Banksy's work can be found over off of North 6th between Wythe and Kent.  Don't throw shit at it.


Technorati Tags: links, art, street art. Banksy

First Air Conditioner Created in Brooklyn

Did you know that the first air conditioner was invented in Brooklyn?  It was.  On this day in 1902,  the very first A/C was born at 1013 Grand Street during a heat wave- much like the one kicking our Brooklyn asses right now.  (That's Grand at Morgan, for those who are interested.)

[link NY Daily News]

Real Estate Roundup and Cool Looking Heat Map

As Curbed points out, not the kind of heat you're thinking of sitting in.  Its a map of the property values as priced by square foot across the five boroughs. Interested?  Well you might also like to know that (according to the Walk Through and NY Daily News), the average price of a Manhattan apartment is at a new record high-- $1,386,000  The Gods We must be crazy!

[link Curbed]
Zillow New York Heat Map

Do my neighbors smoke Crack or Meth?

Copyranter seems to think meth is the new crack.  Perhaps it is.  Who cares? If your neighbors smoke either and you feel you should move to avoid second hand aquisition of an addiction (that might hurt your chances of coming up with rent), you should check out Base4space.com   This neat little scan below can also be found on the back cover of the new L Magazine cover.
[oh yeah, brought to our attention by Curbed]

Loft Living in the City and How Not to Pay Rent

A brilliant piece of literary magic from the Village Voice this week highlights the illegal loft living situation in NYC (Brooklyn, in particular) and the many woes of the landlord who rents out space for residential use when the zoning folks say otherwise. Real Deal liked the article too.  Who wouldn't?   Its informative and it gets right to the heart of one of the most interesting housing issues in NYC history.  Living illegally is risky, but lets face it, many if not most of the people attempting to live living in this city cannot afford what is considered to be the "reasonable rent" for desirable space.  As a real estate agent who works almost exclusively with artists, believe me- i know.  In fact, there's only one guy who may know this more than I and that's the LoftNinja.  These days, he's even gone missing- most likely for reasons pertaining to not being able to find affordable space for his charished clients (nor reputable landlords whom he would feel comfortable helping a complete stranger bind themselves to contractually.)  It is not uncommon for a landlord to ask the full "reasonable asking rent" for some concrete commercial hole without windows or walls, unconverted and illegal while having no intention of even making minor repairs-in Williamsburg, it has become such and so.  [Example:  try 1300sf  ground floor concrete box with barely running water for $3500 per month, in Williamsburg.  This is what the market is, presently.] If you want to read how a rare few have beat the heat of rent (while endangering their own health for the sake of affordable living), read this article.  Hats off to the Village Voice this time.
In NYC, nothing is free except for a hard time so don't get any big ideas...well, any REALLY BIG ones anyway.  Rent-free living is not guaranteed for tenants of illegal diggs.  For that matter, if you think anything in this city is guaranteed, think again.  You should be writing fantasy, if so because you are not here.... you may be hanging out in some ethereal 99 cent store of the mind.  I don't know....just please, don't get it twisted.


Technorati Tags: NYC, housing, illegal dwellings, lofts, article, link, brooklyn

the modern list [NYC]

Found this brilliant little NYC resource via SwissMiss [via MUG]
The Modern List



Technorati Tags: NYC, resource, design, links

Turn Here Video "Greenpoint from the Inside"

Greenpoint's "Official Bad-Ass" and neighborhood native, George Diaz offers an inside take on this northern Brooklyn hood.  Check it out or get smacked!

Greenpoint from the Inside [Brooklyn Record]
Greenpoint - Brooklyn [TurnHere]

Technorati Tags: video, neighborhoods, brooklyn, greenpoint, turn here

Speaking of Public Piss-ing...

My good buddies over at Sellsius Blog found the pissr post from yesterday to be quite helpful.  I'm glad.  You know me...always willing to lend a hand.....well, maybe not always.  Thanks guys!
Here's the evidence:



..what a relief.


Technorati Tags: linkage, pissr, public restrooms, photos, blogs

Pissr Tells you where its cool to Pee

If you're like me and you like to Pee, check out Pissr (yet another witty Web2.0 spin off of the Flickr phenomenon- Coolzor has a huge Listr of them). It stands for People In Search of Safe Restrooms and it tells you all of the wonderfully cool places out there to pee . Personally, its the Poopr issue that complicates the cool...but then again, I could be wrong.  I'm just a boy with a blog.

Listr 2.0 [via Coolzor Blog]



Technorati Tags: restrooms, pissr, public, tips

Urban Etiquette Handbook puts things in their place

Urban Etiquette Handbook is a must read for all of you who like to piss me and everyone else in the street and on the train and at the bus stop off.  I'll feel better having known you read it.  I have and I am definately far more considerate now.

The Urban Etiquette Handbook [New York Magazine via Yahoo Picks] [via LifeHacker]

Technorati Tags: urban etiquette, links, ebook

Overheard in New York and Google Maps Mashup

Want to waste some time?  Check out Overplot, a mashup of Overheard in New York and Google Maps.  There could be something fun in it, but  you might have to get really drunk to find it.  justiNYC is still working, so drunk he has yet to be today.


Overheard in New York Meets Google Maps [persistent.info]
Overheard in New York on a Google Map [Curbed]



Technorati Tags: mashup, google maps, Overheard in New York, NYC

A NYNY Explanation

An interesting analysis, indeed.  Curbed thought so today.  Its only missing one thing- Art.  But i guess these days, art only counts as a "filler." Nevertheless,  a total breakthrough, this one.  Thank Hugh MacLeod

New York Explained [Curbed]

· NYNY Explained [Gaping Void]


Technorati Tags: NYC, diagram

Some really nice shots of Coney Island and a Corndog update

There's some really nice shots and info about Coney Island over at the Gowanus Lounge Blog. [Check out that blog- its nice and informative.]  You may remember justiNYC's excursion in Coney Island last weekend- just wanted to let you guys know that I'm just now over the hell of that corndog.  Below are some of my shots from that day...i'm testing a theory.