the williamsburg project going downhill, hobos move in...now what (New York: real estate, apartment)

[mark2kay]

well it seemed williams burg was the shining model of how to convert a undesirable area to desirable. the influx of hipsters teamed with youth at least middle class starting turning wiliamsburg to "billysburg" as some would call it. But manys realtors layed claim to the economy forcing manys of that youth out,unable to pay, combined with this new issue in the area what do you thinks lies in the future for the burg? seems to me the obvious solution would be make the buildings lofts or something, but in this economy development has dried up, and the longer it take to develop the hobo spots the harder to get rid of them...what to do,

The 'Heroin-Addicted Hobo' Invasion of Williamsburg Has Begun - Williamsburg - Gawker

[bluedog2]

Williamsburg was not an undesirable area before it's "conversion" and what happened there,greed fueled rampant development, was not a shining model of anything except how to destroy the fabric of a perfectly good working/ lower middle class neighborhood.
It should be emptied out and preserved as is, with it's boarded up lots and half finished projects along with the few remnants of the neighborhood that was,as a perfect example of how horribly wrong things can go.

[ddhboy]

Ha! Williamsburg was doomed for failure just like many of the other developments because it relied on unrealistic expectations, namely that 25 year olds would have 800K to plump down on a 1 bedroom apartment. Naturally the only people who could actually afford that was the really lucky and those who were aided by their parents. Now that the trustfunds and jobs have dried up, Williamsburg is falling to pieces, mostly because the other residents were either overcharged on rent and were living paycheck to paycheck, or were mortgaged to the hilt on that 800K condo they couldn't afford. This is ofcourse compounded by the shear amount of property that was being introduced by developers, even after it was clear that the upturn was over, because developers though that Williamsburg was magically different from the rest of the country and people would always move in. If anything Williamsburg is a shining example of developer irresponsibility in a time of real estate greed.

Now as for the future of Williamsburg, it can't be saved. Many of these developers couldn't get the normal loans that others had received prior to 2006, but like them their loans were taken on very little capital. That said their interest rates are through the roof. Without a market to sell to, most of these developers will go bankrupt and their properties foreclosed on. What happens to these properties at this point is somewhat of a mystery. More than likely however, they'll either become ghost towers, or become really cheap rentals (because the local market would be flooded), though more than likely they'll be ghost towers since the rentals wouldn't recoup their costs on the loan the developer took, and in this case it may be better just to declare bankruptcy than finish the building and renting out the units

Williamsburg isn't the only example of this in NYC, its something that is going to really show itself in the remainder of this year and next, and once thought to be unstoppable bubbles like FiDi, Long Island City, and Harlem are all going to crash in a pretty bad way, with several other developments scattered around the city, Most notably downtown brooklyn's condo's like Oro to either be abandoned (there are already 38 abandoned developments that the city knows about in Brooklyn) and become ghost towers, be bought by the city and turned into affordable housing (which is what they are doing to some of the abandoned buildings already) or pass hands indefinitely and eventually turned into rentals.

[gradstudent77]

If you read the article, you can see why I haven't given change to a panhandler in at least a decade. $150/day panhandling in manhattan! In this economy?!?!!

As for Williamsburg, I can't say that I'd ever shed a tear for developers who get their financial spine snapped in half by this housing price decline. I'm hoping the banks that foreclose on these properties get them auctioned off relatively quickly so other developers can finish them off and maybe make some money. For the projects where that isn't feasible, I hope the city buys them up and either creates affordable housing or resells the partially finsihed buildings to philantrophic developers with a good record, like the phipps group. We need more housing wherever we can get it, so the biggest thing I'm concerned about is these developments getting irrepariable damaged while they are sitting there in their partially completed states.

[gradstudent77]

Good article in NY magazine that was referenced in the article in the op:

The Bust of the Williamsburg Condo Boom -- New York Magazine

Lots of insufferable, whiny developer-talk in the quotes.

[NooYowkur81]

Originally Posted by mark2kay

well it seemed williams burg was the shining model of how to convert a undesirable area to desirable. the influx of hipsters teamed with youth at least middle class starting turning wiliamsburg to "billysburg" as some would call it. But manys realtors layed claim to the economy forcing manys of that youth out,unable to pay, combined with this new issue in the area what do you thinks lies in the future for the burg? seems to me the obvious solution would be make the buildings lofts or something, but in this economy development has dried up, and the longer it take to develop the hobo spots the harder to get rid of them...what to do,

The 'Heroin-Addicted Hobo' Invasion of Williamsburg Has Begun - Williamsburg - Gawker

It wasn't an undesirable area. It was simply an ethnic working class neighborhood. There was nothing wrong with that. Now who knows?

[mark2kay]

Originally Posted by ddhboy

Williamsburg isn't the only example of this in NYC, its something that is going to really show itself in the remainder of this year and next, and once thought to be unstoppable bubbles like FiDi, Long Island City, and Harlem are all going to crash in a pretty bad way, with several other developments scattered around the city, Most notably downtown brooklyn's condo's like Oro to either be abandoned (there are already 38 abandoned developments that the city knows about in Brooklyn) and become ghost towers, be bought by the city and turned into affordable housing (which is what they are doing to some of the abandoned buildings already) or pass hands indefinitely and eventually turned into rentals.

i find this part most noteworthy because basically this is what happned is nyc in the 70's only the buildings were complete and abandoned.

[bluedog2]

Originally Posted by mark2kay

i find this part most noteworthy because basically this is what happned is nyc in the 70's only the buildings were complete and abandoned.

except in the 70's it was poverty zones that were abandoned.In Williamsburg it is just the opposite. Quite a difference.

[bluedog2]

Originally Posted by mark2kay

i find this part most noteworthy because basically this is what happned is nyc in the 70's only the buildings were complete and abandoned.

except in the 70's it was poverty zones that were abandoned.In Williamsburg it is just the opposite. Quite a difference.

When the current real estate troubles started it was widely predicted that the lower end of the market would be the most affected. So far ,the opposite has happened.The higher end and speculative markets have melted down while the lower end has stayed stable or even gone up a bit.

[Shizzles]

I know most everyone here will cheer anything going bad against "The Rich". I wonder how much people will cheer when crime and fiscal disorder come roaring back too.