March 17, 2007: Vol. 30, No. 11
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Still booming: Fourth Avenue starts to bear fruit for developer
The Brooklyn Paper
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del.icio.usDeveloper Shaya Boymelgreen says he’s going to stop building luxury condos in Brooklyn. But in the present tense, his high-end units are selling like hotdogs at a ballgame.
Apartments in Boymelgreen’s NOVO condo tower — the first Fourth Avenue luxury condos to go on the market since the neighborhood was rezoned in 2004 — went on sale last Monday and are being snapped up faster than you can say, “Is that a granite countertop?”
Nearly 300 visitors flocked to the grand opening of the building’s marketing office on March 5, and 13 of the tower’s 113 units sold that same day.
Roslyn Huebener, of Aguayo and Huebener Realty, which is not part of the NOVO sales effort, called the sales rate “excellent.”
The 12-story building, on Fourth Avenue and Third Street, boasts a private landscaped garden, “gracious” kitchens, “sumptuous” bathrooms, concierge service, a residents’ lounge, a playroom, and a fitness center (below). Prices for studios start at a whopping $310,000.
The name of the building itself, NOVO (from the Latin “de novo,”) is meant to suggest a new life for a traffic-filled corridor long known for its flat fix shops and abandoned lots, the developer said.
“[We] can make it Park Avenue, with trees and flowers, and it will be beautiful,” Boymelgreen added.
Huebener agreed.
“You’re going to have slightly taller buildings with larger populations, and the entire action on Fourth Avenue will change,” she said. “The McDonald’s might not be McDonald’s. The car repair sites won’t be car repair sites.”
But some of the neighborhood’s existing residents aren’t as eager to see the avenue bloom.
“Twelve stories is way too high for Fourth Avenue,” said Jerry Speier, an 11th Street resident and member of Fourth Avenue Neighborhood Preservation.
City officials beg to differ. Fourth Avenue was upzoned in 2004 to encourage exactly the kind of development that is now turning the boulevard into a mini-canyon of high-rise condos between Union and 15th streets.
©2007 The Brooklyn Paper
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