As someone who walks these stretches almost daily, one fact that is never mentioned in the promotional literature for these towers is the wind. Normally, the wind velocity in Greenpoint is about twice whatever your inline readings may show. Closer to the river though, it's ferocious. This might be pleasant enough during the sweltering summer, which is when most of these units, quite deliberately, will be shown, but try waiting for the ferry in January. If you want to recreate Scott's journey to the Antarctic, there is no better time or place. Greenpoint Landing juts right into the river, further out than any pier, and is better suited to a wind farm than 'luxury" housing. Better equip your kids with lead booties, lest they be blown away, and get yourself some Gor-tex underwear to preserve your reproductive capacity. You will find yourself suffering from cabin fever several months each year. Cheers!
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Where are "The Low End" columns? Those are the ones I need to be informed about.
@John B. the 1st- bingo! you got it...your fellow poor guy in Greenpoint...
A couple of highly debatable points in this article which the writer is paid not to question. The " history of reinventing industrial neighborhoods as luxury enclaves" is a post-Bloomberg phenomena. No that it didn't happen previously, but Bloomberg made it his reason for being - and it made a number of his cronies quite grateful.
Mr. Clark's statement that "the city’s industrial age seems to be drawing to a close. “I don’t really expect a resurgence,” Mr. Clark said, “and it would be a shame, because I don’t think industrial is an ideal use of a waterfront.” is false on many levels. The great visionary Bloomberg determined that the only use for the effluvia of his schools was in the "hospitality industry", folding sheets for the rest of their lives. Everyone else, the winners, were to be coders, real estate goniffs or financial goniffs. Meanwhile, the city is poised for a resurgence in small manufacturing, if only to cater to the insatiable tastes of its wealthy. Better to make it here and pay people well, than to import it from elsewhere. Boutique manufacturing is a field which requires skilled workers, who can be trained, as they always used to be - imagine that, training workers! Bloomberg and now DeBlasio have tried to ghettoize manufacturing into theme parks like Industry City in Sunset Park. The industrial real estate in North Brooklyn that was rezoned for luxury housing could have turned into mixed use park AND manufacturing. Mr. Clark is a self-serving glutton.
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Overpriced nothing- who can afford this stuff!
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@David DeFilippo- another great question...Greenpoint Landing has another 10-15 towers going up not counting the countless numbers of luxury condos and rentals already up here.
As the old ad use to say only your hair dresser knows for sure on who is gonna rents these.
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I lived on Monitor Street in Greenpoint when I first came to New York. I could not wait to get out. We are living in an inverted universe.
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@Emile DeVere-yes ...like the old superman comics...bizzaro world...total insanity here in Greenpoint. Everybody has lost their minds.
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Brookfield sounds like the Kushner company who is the son in law of Trump. Does it even have sprinklers? Trump lobbied to prevent use of sprinklers in New York buildings. Someone just died of a fire 2018 in Trump tower because they didn't have sprinklers. You're paying all of that money and no sprinklers? Trump says $4 sprinklers are too expensive. Now, I will look for apartments and houses that voluntarily include sprinklers, and hopefully. that becomes a law despite Trump.
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Handel Architects? Aren't they the ones who did the Millennium Tower in San francisco? Yup - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Tower_(San_Francisco) Let's hope this soulless monument doesn't tilt.
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@Melpo Though the architect is relevant to this, it's more a matter of structural engineering, possibly value engineering. (too many books, wink wink)
Greenpoint Landing's mechanical engineer ran into some trouble, as the ptac units are noisy noisy, not that hermetically sealed central air would've been the way to go.
@Melpo
holy moly: An examination in 2016 showed the building had sunk 16 inches (41 cm) with a two-inch (5.1 cm) tilt at the base and an approximate six-inch (15 cm) tilt at the top of the tower.
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@Melpo--hey if it tilts they could market it as not only luxury but historical, you know like the leaning tower of Pisa.
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It is official. Greenpoint is another Williamsburg or Manhattan.
It is crowded, dirty, no parking, public transportation in grid lock or broken.
It is trendy though.
Congrats, well done.
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@Paul the poorly selected and installed noisy ptac units probably don't help the air quality, which is not to say hermetically sealed central air is the way to go
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This is more or less what you will see in Inwood by 2023 or so, given the recent rezoning.
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I moved to Greenpoint exactly 20 years ago and have fond memories of my experiences in the neighborhood. It’s now a rather boring place and glad I live elsewhere. But it is much safer today.
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The city views are NOT maximized as the angled windows face inland. 'Looking the other way' has been a theme of area waterfront development.
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What's truly funny is that people are going to pay north of 3K for a 1 bedroom which is 10 blocks from the G train, which is the worst subway in NYC. So you want to get into Manhattan, you walk half a mile, catch the G, after a wait, which for the G could be a while. Then, if the L is back, you could change for the L, or else head north and change for the E or F, which are more waits. If you're lucky you're in Manhattan in 45 minutes. When I lived in Williamsburg, ages ago before it was expensive, I could get to either the L or the J and M in half the walk, and both those trains get to Manhattan without a change. I could also of course get to the G, but in 11 years I don't think I took it 5 times. And I had 2000 square feet with views of Manhattan out of every window, for which I paid $900 a month.
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@Jeff M Early renderings of this complex had a new pedestrian bridge over Newtown Creek to ease access to the 7. Not sure if that's still planned.
The G is not nearly as bad as it used to be, but you're right that it's quite the walk from Greenpoint Ave.
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Greenpoint Water Ferry bra
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@South Of Albany Well yes, but that's every 20 minutes, and it's almost as long a walk as the G train, and you then have to walk another 1/2 mile to catch the east side IRT. If you work midtown east side, it would be fine, but anywhere else it's going to be more than an hour. Plus, it's an extra fare, not that that matters if you're paying $3500 for one bedroom.
They keep building but don’t seem to make any adjustments for transportation. Once the L shuts down, the G and the 7 will become crowded with L train refugees trying to get to Manhattan. I love Greenpoint and have lived here for 10 years, But I’m looking to move before the L goes away, making my commute unbearable!
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So depressing. And Inwood up next for more of this kind of soulless development.
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And when you get cancer from residual toxins because your shiny new condo is on land which was previously zoned for industrial use, it’ll already be decades too late to have any way of knowing for sure what the cause was. But at $3,200 a month for a single bedroom unit with a view of the water, it’s hard to say no to a price like that.
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@ubique I was born and raised in Greenpoint. Both of my parents, my sister, grandfather and a number of aunts and uncles, all raised in Greenpoint, died from cancer. On the far other end of the spectrum, my first apartment in Greenpoint in 1968 was $70 monthly.
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