Construction has finally resumed at the stalled 500 Metropolitan Avenue site in Williamsburg — once dubbed “The Gateway to Williamsburg.” The 15-story project will be mixed use, with 148 hotel rooms and 81 residential units, and slated to be completed in 2015. The developer is still Chetrit Group, the architect is still Gene Kaufman, and the building will still be wedge-shaped and glassy. The construction has been on ice since 2008 during the economic downturn. Nice ...

The Jehovah’s Witnesses recently sold three of their Dumbo, Brooklyn sites (located at 173 and 177 Front Street and 200 Water Street) for $30.6 million in apparent preparation for their move upstate. Brooklyn developer Shelly Listokin of Urban Realty Partners is the buyer. (Listokin was one of the developers of Brooklyn’s 20 Henry Street condo.) The area is apparently zoned for hotel, residential and community use. Time will soon tell what develops in ...

Brooklyn home prices are getting so high, some buyers are heading back to Manhattan. The median price of a Brooklyn home in the first quarter rose 14.4% to $515,000, the highest price reached since the second quarter of 2008, according to a report from Douglas Elliman. Brooklyn’s prices are being pushed up by strong demand coupled with a sharp decline in inventory, which fell 45% in the quarter to a five-year low. Prices in North Brooklyn, which includes the ...

More chain stores may be on the way to the Meatpacking District — already home to Patagonia and Lululemon outlets. With an average asking rent of $183 per square foot in the Village and MPD in the first quarter of 2013 — up 11% from $165 at the beginning of 2012 — commercial rental costs could triple when the new Whitney Museum of American Art opens in 2015. According to experts, retail rents could soar to $500 -600 per square ...

The magazine The Real Deal offers a window on the past of New York real estate. In the current issue it reports on the how the federal government rejected 21 bids from private investors who were interested in purchasing Ellis Island, 55 years ago this month.
In 1954, the federal government stopped using the island – which famously served as a gateway to 12 million immigrants for 65 years as they entered into the country. Two years later it was ...

The most ambitious downtown project in development now is 56 Leonard Street in Tribeca. The building will be a 60-story glass tower, comprising 145 units, which will make its immediate neighbors look like dwarves. It has a very special design with differently shaped floor plans that make it look like the Jenga game (the one where players take turns to remove a block from a tower of wooden blocks and balance it on top).
The project was in the works ...