Sidewalk Tar Graffiti!

If you've spent much time walking along the sidewalk in North Brooklyn with your eyes cast downward, there's a good chance you've seen Paul Richard's handiwork.

He creates portraits using what appears to be tar. At first glance they just look like any other tar-like substance on the sidewalk (old chewing gum, trash, and whatever else it is that creates small dark marks on the sidewalk). But upon a closer inspection, they're clearly patterned works of art that are deliberately placed there by a well-known painter and performance artist who defies labels. Most of the sidewalk tar paintings appear to be self-portraits.

See more of his artwork here.  Check out his video here.

Murray Park North (Long Island City)

Don't look now, but a new residential development looks to be coming to Long Island City.  Unlike many of the recent mega-developments in the neighborhood, this one doesn't appear to be a rental project.  George Xu, a local developer who owns a construction company with his brother Chris, is affiliated with the entity known as Murray Park North, LLC, which recently purchased a 10,000 square foot lot located at 11-35 45th Avenue, immediately adjacent to One Murray Park and across the street from Murray Playground.

The new owner paid $5 million for the site, which currently houses a 1-story brick building and a parking lot.  Plans submitted to the Department of Buildings last month call for the existing structure to be demolished, with a 30,000 square foot, 70 feet high residential building to take its place.

The proposed building will be six stories high, with 38 units and 24 parking spaces.  No renderings have been released yet, but the architect will be Ramond Chan, who has worked on several residential development projects in Queens.

The rendering below is a building he designed in Jackson Heights.

Landmarked NYC Subway Exit

There are hundreds of emergency exits from the NYC subway system — most of them are alarmed and located next to or near the turnstile exits.  But some of them serve more than one purpose, and are hiding where you would least expect to find them.  The subway system needs to have a certain number of ventilation outlets, and the MTA has not always located those outlets in the vaults below the sidewalk next to the tracks.  Like London’s transit authority, the MTA has repurposed at least one of these units as an emergency exit cum fake house.  58 Joralemon St., on a landmarked block in Brooklyn Heights, is not suitable for occupancy by a well-heeled family of six.  Though few public records are available online, the fact that it’s a ventilation outlet used by the MTA has been well publicized.  Allegedly, there’s nothing behind the facade but catwalks, machinery and metal stairs, all the way down to the tracks below.  No word yet on whether there are any others sprinkled throughout the city.

And even though it might be interesting to see the inside of a “fake house” emergency exit in person, note that penalties for exiting through any emergency exit, absent an emergency, make it inadvisable.  The NYPD has been cracking down on violators lately.  And the MTA has long maintained the position that Subway emergency exits are for emergencies only.

Dude Where's My Car? Film Shoots & Missing Cars in NYC

With no shortage of film studios and productions in West Queens and North Brooklyn, residents of LIC, Astoria, Greenpoint or Williamsburg and park their cars on the street often see "no parking" signs posted in advance of the filming date.  But what happens if you don't notice a sign, or if you're out of town and can't move your car?  Well, your car will be relocated.  Anyone who has had a car towed by the NYPD knows it's a bureaucratic headache (and often a long, frustrating day) to retrieve a vehicle from one of the NYPD tow pounds.  So what happens to cars parked in temporary "no parking" zones on the day of filming?  Not surprisingly, they're towed.

The surprise is that they're not towed by the NYPD at all, and they're usually not towed too far away.  Instead of winding up in a tow pound, cars are relocated to the nearest legal parking space, at no cost to the vehicle owner.  From the Office for Film, theater and broadcasting:

"Vehicles that are not moved by the times stated on the signs are relocated to the nearest available legal parking spot on the street. Any costs incurred by this program are paid for by the production. For your convenience, the production company keeps a log listing the locations of any relocated vehicle. Additionally, a copy of this log is furnished to your local precinct. If you require further assistance locating your vehicle, contact the Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting at 212-489-6710. "

Film studios must request a "tow permit" from the city before they are authorized to move cars.  The posted "no parking" signs can be misleading.  If a film studio has not received a "tow permit" then they cannot claim, on the sign, that parked cars will be towed.  Instead, they typically state "no parking" and hold spots by placing cones in the street in otherwise-legal parking spaces.


How to Dispose of CFL Light Bulbs in NYC

Many of us use and appreciate energy-efficient CFL bulbs in our homes.  They cost more than traditional light bulbs up front, don't always work well with dimmer switches, and don't always produce a warm glow, but the substantial energy savings and environmental benefits outweigh the drawbacks for a growing number of consumers.  In fact, over 30% of the light bulbs sold in the US are Energy Star certified, use 75% less energy than traditional light bulbs, and allegedly last 10-25 times longer too.  We are somewhat dubious about their reputed endurance, having replaced enough CFL light bulbs in the past few years to know they often flame out earlier than expected.  When that happens in New York City, what should you do with them?

The answer is "whatever you want".  One drawback to using CFL light bulbs is the small amount of bio-accumulative mercury in the bulbs.  Because of this, the EPA recommends that they not be placed in the trash.

Although it's illegal in some states to throw away CFL light bulbs with household trash, it is not illegal to do so in New York.  That said, (i) the city strongly advises its residents to recycle them through the proper channels: they can be brought to a participating retailer, or one of NYC's Household Special Waste Drop-Off Sites, and (ii) commercial users must recycle fluorescent lighting in accordance with applicable hazardous waste regulations.

Please think twice before putting them in the trash!

NYC is Giving Away Trees

Did you know that New York City is giving away trees?  If you've ever fretted about your drab block, or complained that you don't have enough green space, or that you don't see enough birds and other wildlife around your home, maybe it's time to use the city's Request a Tree service.  Through the City Parks Dept., you can submit a request by calling 311, or by filling out a short online form.

The City will keep you apprised of the status of your request, and will send a representative to your preferred location to assess the feasibility of planting a street tree.  If the request is approved, the City will determine the ideal placement, species, and other relevant details, but the requesting party is welcome to participate in the decision-making process.

Through the Parks Dept.'s Forestry division, the City offers a number of tree-related services to its residents -- you can request that a tree be pruned, repaired, planted, removed, etc., generally at no cost to the requester.

And unlike some City agencies, the people who work in the Forestry division are happy to help answer your tree-related questions and requests.

What Happened to Glenwood Hostel?

Don't look now, but Brooklyn's infamous Glenwood Hostel has disappeared.  Arising from its ashes, seemingly overnight, is the shiny and fresh B Hotel, now available for bookings.  A fresh paint job won't stop the low rumble of the J and M trains, but it just might keep out the riff raff and increase ReVPAR for the owners.  Well in advance of the rollout of proposed new hostel regulations, the B Hotel & Hostel has 90 rooms, with one to six beds per room.  It's unclear from the photos whether each room will meet the cubic air space per bed requirements in the proposed legislation (400 cf per bed), but it sure looks nicer than the Glenwood.

Walking past the building yesterday evening, the hotel appears to be operating -- visitors were checking in, and workers were putting the finishing touches on some common area space.  A recent search shows that on Friday, July 12th, a single room is available for $54.99 plus tax, and a bed in a 2-bed dormitory is available for $49.99 plus tax.

The property changed hands in 2012 for $1.45M ($365,000 cash, with the seller financing the remainder), and is now owned by 339 Development LLC, an entity that appears to be affiliated with David Levitan.  Levitan is listed as a contact person for the Bay Family Center, a homeless shelter in South Brooklyn.

The only recent building permits issued for the building involve minor plumbing and staircase work.

The 13,500 square foot building is zoned for residential use, with a C1-3 commercial overlay.  It would be interesting to know the back story here.

New Hostel Coming to LIC: The Local

Hostels are in the news: hot on the heels of the Sydell Group's plan to open a Freehand hostel in Williamsburg, the NY Observer published a story this morning detailing a proposed addition to the NYC Administrative Code that would create a new agency charged with regulating hostels.

We recently learned that a new hostel is coming to Long Island City this fall.  The Local NYC will be located at 13-02 44th Avenue, in a mostly quiet/industrial part of the neighborhood that is near a number of decent transportation options.

It appears that the hostel operator, Sunlite Avenue Holdings, L.L.C., will lease a portion of the building from Thermodyne Corporation, which has owned it since 1998.

By all accounts, this is the operators' first hostel project in the NY area.

One of the principals, Lee Gonzalez, owns a chain of small hostels in Barcelona known as Somnio Hostels.

Andrew Nimmer, also a principal, was formerly with the Carlyle Group.

Construction is ongoing, and if built in accordance with approved plans the hostel will have 37 hotel rooms, a cafe, and office space.

Like them on facebook or follow them on twitter to keep up with construction progress.

We wish them the best, and consider their project to be a welcome addition to the neighborhood.


Breweries in NYC

At Bala there are a few things we know really well. In addition to our general passion about real estate, we're also rather passionate about beer.  After taking this very cool bicycle tour of defunct Brooklyn breweries, we wondered which breweries are actually brewing beer in New York City today.  Given the high cost of operating manufacturing facilities within city limits, it's not surprising that the number of active breweries in New York has fallen.  Although once a hotbed of brewing beer, there are now only a few breweries operating within city limits, with at least one operation in 4 of the 5 boroughs.  In alphabetical order, here they are:

The Bronx Brewery: Established in 2011, their Bronx Pale Ale has started showing up on tap at some of our favorite bars in the city.  The Bronx Brewery is in Mott Haven.

Brooklyn Brewery: With a satellite brewery to open in Stockholm, this is New York's best known brewery outside of NYC.  Although most of its beers are contract brewed upstate, some fine specialty beers are brewed in Brooklyn. You can tour the facilities and try Brooklyn Radius (available only in Brooklyn) on weekends. Brooklyn Brewery is located in Williamsburg.

Chelsea Brewing Company: Manhattan's largest microbrewery also has a big restaurant where you can enjoy the beer onsite.  Chelsea Brewing Company is located in Chelsea.

Heartland Brewery: With several locations throughout the city, Heartland Brewery serves its locally-brewed beer with food in its popular brewpubs. Most of Heartland's beer is brewed at its new production facility in Greenpoint.

Kelso Beer Company: Maker of a popular pilsner and a nut brown lager, Kelso also contract brews for other brewers.  Kelso Beer Company is located in Clinton Hill.

Rockaway Brewing Company: A New (and small) addition to the craft beer scene, this Queens brewery's beers can be found at some of our favorite bars in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.

Singlecut Beersmiths: The latest addition to the New York brewery scene, Singlecut has a taproom on site at their brewery in Astoria.

Six Point Brewery: Located in Red Hook, Six Point was founded in 2004 and can be found on tap throughout the city.

We have only included breweries that produce beer within New York City limits for commercial consumption on this list.  Some other New York-based breweries contract brew all their beer in other locations, but also produce some fine beers.