The River Ridge condos, at 78 Ridge Street on the Lower East Side, has perhaps the worst location of any new Manhattan condo development. Our curiosity about this "luxury" building got to the point that, even after a PriceChop at the site of an old chicken slaughterhouse, we were quite taken aback when the first apartments went into contract. We've been keeping an eye on the River Ridge to see when one of the more expensive apartments got scooped up, and against all odds, it has finally happened. Apartment 2B, a 2BR unit weighing in at 1,083sqft with a big private terrace that gets you as close to the Williamsburg Bridge as you'd ever want to be, has gone into contract for $1,173,000. We think. According to StreetEasy, the price was increased from $999,500 after the unit went into contract, so maybe there's some numbers fudging going on to crack the million-dollar barrier, or maybe there was a bidding war. And after seeing the website, how can their not be a bidding war?
· Listing: 78 Ridge Street [Elliman]
· In Contract: Three Amigos at River Ridge (Yes, River Ridge) [Curbed]
· Peer Deep into the Soul of LES Quasi-Luxury [Curbed]
Are Brooklyn developer websites for controversial projects the latest thing? Well, the Toll Brothers have just launched a site for their 460-unit development on the Gowanus Canal. It intends to give the developer a kinder, gentler face in a neighborhood where there has been what could politely be called some hostility. Per a release accompanying the launch of the site, tollbrothersgowanus.com, it "will provide updates and information to the Gowanus community throughout the planning, zoning review and, if the project is approved in ULURP, construction phases, and will allow members of the public to send comments and suggestions to the development team." Last month, the developer of the 360 Smith Street project also launched a site to keep residents posted, albeit much later in the process. The site has sections outlining the project plans, a "calender of events" (currently listing events that happened in March), a press section and a contact form so that residents can, you know, make suggestions to the firm.
So, the 21st season of MTV's Real World is going to be set in Brooklyn. That's 13 one-hour episodes of post-teen drama that will be broadcast in 2009 and shot somewhere in BK. Shooting for "Real World: Brooklyn" will start this summer, making the question of the moment: where will it be set? Media Mob, which has the news and full press release, is hoping for Smith and Carroll Street in the shadow of the Gowanus Yacht Club, but is also thinking Bedford and N. 6 will work. Will the producers go for a more off beat location like Green Street in Greenpoint? Or Van Brunt in Red Hook? Or someplace in Bushwick or Bed-Stuy? We're thinking Bedford Ave. has it won. Your thoughts in the comments.
· The Real World: Brooklyn. For Real. [Media Mob]
Dutch architect Ben van Berkel's first New York City project—the black and bendy Five Franklin Place—has been met with a perfect storm of positivity. The buzz was deafening even before renderings were revealed, and once Berkel's Broadway Burka got out there, the praise was nearly universal. Even Kanye West is a fan! But now it's time to sell the 55 high-priced luxury condos, and the full website has been launched to do just that. The FFP site is full of all the ambient tunes and endless talk of influences one would expect from a highfalutin project, but much to our delight, it's also got new renderings of some of the building's shared spaces, as well as floorplan porn galore, including the two Sky Penthouses. The presentation of the floorplans almost seems pedestrian when compared to all the fancy click+zoom of the renderings and such, but cut the Dutch some slack: they gave the world wooden shoes!
· Five Franklin Place [fivefranklinplace.com]
· Curbed's Five Franklin Place coverage [Curbed]
It's not that news of the subprime mess hitting the fan and splattering all over some Brooklyn neighborhoods is new, but it's still ugly. For instance, the May issue of the Real Deal offers a detailed look at the subprime meltdown from the vantage point of Brooklyn's Brownsville. On the descriptive side there's the dripping irony that "the only recourse against foreclosure" for buyers in trouble is "the very subprime mortgage industry" that fueled the crisis in the first place. Then there are the statistics. The average sale price of two- to four-family homes in Brownsville and Ocean Hill fell from $595,000 to $565,000 from October of last year through this March. The 2007 foreclosure rate on those homes was double the 2004 rate per stats kept by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. The neighborhoods have the city's fourth-highest level of sub-prime loans in the city. An appraiser says of the mess: "There also are a lot of distress sales." And everybody expects it to get worse before it gets better.
· No bailout for Brownsville [Real Deal]
The redesign of the old Verizon switching station at 375 Pearl Street—the nearly windowless white building near the base of the Brooklyn Bridge that has been reviled since its completion in the mid-'70s—gets the full reveal in Steve Cuozzo's column in the Post today. Taconic Investment Partners bought the building from Verizon for peanuts, with an eye on converting the 32-story blight into an iconic downtown office building. The new World Trade Center towers will be some tough competition, but this one is actually built already, and good lord those views. At left is the "before" image, and after the jump is what's to come. Richard Cook of Cook + Fox designed the glass makeover, which will reveal X-shaped concrete supports under the building's skin. It's not the first glass curtain wall transformation we've seen lately, but given what stands here now, it's definitely more welcome. Other details of the $350 million renovation include a double-height lobby, outdoor plaza and the conversion of air-conditioning shafts to office space. Sounds roomy!
We'd say the picture at right of Sen. Chuck Schumer and Mayor Bloomberg is of the two in happier times, but they don't really look that happy to be in each other's company back then, either. Yesterday, a verbal slap fight broke out between the two over the development, or lack thereof, of the West Side. Schumer got the feud started at a Crain's breakfast, in which he called Bloomberg's plan for a European-style mid-block boulevard running through the Hudson Yards the "goofiest thing I've ever seen," per the Sun. Schumer thinks the whole idea of the Hudson Yards as a new business district is totally ridic, especially when the focus should be on Moynihan Station. He also wants the Port Authority to take over Moynihan, because the agency supposedly has the money and skills to get it done (coughGroundZerocough). Two hours later Bloomberg responded, and he was especially perturbed about the Port Authority suggestion. His comeback, as reported in the Post: "I appreciate all the senator's views on Moynihan Station. His part of the job is to bring us the money." Burn! He also said, of the Hudson Yards: "We set the city's priorities. They don't come out of Washington, and the city's priorities are the West Side, getting it going and getting the rail line going there." Hopefully SchumBloom Round II is right around the corner, because two old guys fighting is funny.
· West Side War [NYP]
· Schumer on Mayor’s Plan: ‘Goofiest Thing’ He’s Seen [Sun]
The redesign of the old Verizon switching station at 375 Pearl Street—the nearly windowless white building near the base of the Brooklyn Bridge that has been reviled since its completion in the mid-'70s—gets the full reveal in 
We'd say the picture at right of Sen. Chuck Schumer and Mayor Bloomberg is of the two in happier times, but they don't really look that happy to be in each other's company back then, either. Yesterday, a verbal slap fight broke out between the two over the development, or lack thereof, of the West Side. Schumer got the feud started at a Crain's breakfast, in which he called Bloomberg's plan for a European-style mid-block boulevard running through the Hudson Yards the "goofiest thing I've ever seen," per the 
