Monday, November 26, 2012

Yuppie worries about property values


From the Queens Courier:

Writing in the days after Sandy I simply could not avoid thinking how this event may affect real estate business for years to come. Although the condo building where I live was spared any damage (floor waters stopped 10 feet from our garage before they started to recede), the Murano on Borden Avenue was hit twice as hard — in addition to flood damage to their lobby, rec room, gym and garage, the city’s sewage lines back-flowed into their mechanical room, adding insult to injury (or smelly mess to water damage). Turns out Con Ed won’t work to restore your electricity until you make the area clean for them. They estimate from $100,000 to $250,000 in damages. Among the new buildings, the worst water damage occurred at the City Lights, Powerhouse and the Foundry buildings, where the flood waters reached as high as 5 feet above ground, including some private apartments. Amazingly, the piers and Gantry Park did not sustain too much damage, testament to how well they were designed and built. We cannot discount damages that businesses like Riverview and Crabhouse restaurants or Brighter Babies and LIC Kids facilities have sustained, not to mention all the small warehouses, offices and of course individual homes that got caught in Sandy’s surge, which reached as far east as half-way between 5th Street and Vernon Boulevard all the way up to Borden Avenue in the south, and 46th Drive and Vernon Boulevard in the north (where my own car was treated to 3 feet of water!)

It was refreshing to see resilient parents march their kids at the Halloween parade the day after the storm, and restaurants on Vernon packed with residents supporting local retailers as if they wanted to show how much they appreciated getting through it all relatively untouched. But overall damage a dozen of businesses in Hunters Point may actually put them close to the brink of closing doors, regardless of insurance coverage or defiant stance of its proprietors. In a small market like LIC, even a small hit, like low health department grade or destruction of locals’ favorite park next door can strain a retailer’s bottom line. Let’s hope that our local businesses recover quickly.

Instead of bold predictions, analysis or data, all of which would obviously be guesswork at best, I am leaving you with some questions to which no one yet has answers: Will values of real estate in LIC drop because we are clearly in the flood and hurricane zone? Or will they keep going up because we proved that properties here can withstand the worst kind of storm, and the neighborhood can recover quickly? Will prospective tenants, both commercial and residential, begin to look at Hunters Point the same way one would at Batter Park or Rockaways; basically a real waterfront community at mercy of the big river? How much new investment will property owners now want to make in both improving and reinforcing their buildings knowing that “this hurricane thing is now for real”? Will it affect prices? Is a condo in Court Square or even on Jackson Avenue now a safer living and investment than one closer to the ballyhooed waterfront?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, I will say it; we TOLD you so............MORONS!!!!!

Anonymous said...

You talk about the water like its Lake Tahoe or the like.

It not the flooding but being bathed by waters from one of most toxic and lethal waterways in the world - Newtown Creek, a superfund site.

Add to it the East River sewage and God knows what else.

Now top it off with the brownfield that all this is built upon and covered with a surface back-fill that tons of water have undoubtedly soaked though.

Socrates under water, Noguchi with 100s of items from their priceless collection in contact with that water, the Piano Factory, Astoria Park, schools, play spaces, restaurants whose spaces were in contact with this environment ....

You have a real problem.

Knowing how kids bodies are developing, how they put things in their mouths (even if its their fingers after touching this) you have to think long and hard.

Real estate values? Too late there folks. The cat is out of the bag. That is the least of your concerns.

Besides, how many of the developers are raising their families there?

Think of your future. This storm is not just a one shot deal.

Your best bet?

Your local politicians? Ask them about much they get from developers.

Your local press? How much do they get from developers and the politicians?

Get real. Get in touch with the folks over at Carol Gardens who are doing all sorts of things about Gowanus Canal, a toxic stew nearly as bad as the Creek.

Talk to people that lived on S.I. or the Rockaways in homes the city thought were perfectly safe ... even after FEMA maps showed the threat.

Get INDEPENDENT surveys and samples. Stuff a lawyer can use.

If your community was built on a place that puts you and your family in harms way there might be remedies if you know what we mean.

And think about this. Do you want other young families facing this in the future?

Only 10% of the waterfront has been developed and with global warming this will just get worse and worse.

Keeping your mouth shut will not help you at all.

It will do nothing for you.

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfzCebir9nk

During the hurricane, tower people bring their pets and kids to play near the rising water from Newtown Creek and the East River.

Now Willow and Jacob lets track all that mud back to the apartment...

Anonymous said...

Didn't the smart posters on Queens Crap warn you yuppies about all this years ago?

Well, you've got more money than brains, so close your bank accounts and move back to Wisconsin.

Write it all off on your long form.

Anonymous said...

Walk the dog. Sail your toy boat in sewer sludge and chemicals from the Newtown Creek.

That "Lake Placid" on the East River is its overflow!

Ka, ka, doody, poo-poo, Mercury, Lead and maybe a little Radium stirred in!

But what a breathtaking view of the NYC skyline and a great place to raise your kids.

The Vallones don't live anywhere near there, so why the hell should they care?

Anonymous said...

Very clever. Guess we all on the Obama Class War train ride now. I seem to remember the 1970s, when every person with a job and a family and aspirations for a decent life (these were the "yuppies" before the term was invented), packed up and moved to the burbs. Keep up the class warfare and you'll all get your wish. I'm sure every denizen of every housing project or crack house will be just the kind of neighbors we all want.

Queens Crapper said...

Has nothing to do with class warfare. There are people in neighborhoods across Queens with jobs and families and aspirations. The difference is they don't think they are better than everyone else and they didn't build towers to isolate themselves from the rest of society.

Your Councilman Speaks said...

This Wednesday join me and special guest Congressman Joe Crowley, at my home to kick-off my 2013 campaign for reelection for New York City Council. For additional information or to RSVP, please email ...
-----
Now there is a team - 'Our Boy' Jimmy and 'Honest Joe' Crowley.

Anonymous said...

. I'm sure every denizen of every housing project or crack house will be just the kind of neighbors we all want.
-------------
Look its no secret that those new buildings in LIC are cheaply built and that more and more are being filled as rentals because the co-op condo whatever market was soft even before the hurricane hit.

Guess who will be living in those buildings in a few decades?

Now is the time to cut your losses.

Missing Foundation said...

Nicely put Crappy.

We tip our hat to you...

Anonymous said...

Now Willow and Jacob lets track all that mud back to the apartment...
----------------------------------
Willow and Jacob! I LOVE it!! God, these tower people are retards! Sorry, I meant no disrespect to retards!

Anonymous said...

"Property values"? Hope that future buyers are very, very stupid.

You were stupid to buy into this disaster waiting to happen (...and it happened). Just hope someone more stupid than you comes along to offer you something for the property. Lesson learned.

Anonymous said...

Citylights did just fine. It never lost electricity. Nobody's home was effected. The building staff responded well.

Anonymous said...

Citylights did just fine. It never lost electricity. Nobody's home was effected. The building staff responded well.
------------------
Great, and no one tracked Newtown Creek mud into the building?

No one lost any cars? Or tried to get to work in Manhattan and found out they were isolated?

No one tried to get food?

No one breathed the air ripe with effluvia?

Anonymous said...

Tough shit , Yuppies

Anonymous said...

Schadenfreude is not a virtue.