One of the elderly residents of the next door building was taking a look at the work. This is the same building that has a front lawn memorial. The two residents I've seen and said hello to are both very friendly and sweet. I feel terrible that they have had to deal with the demolition and now digging and soon construction that they've endured for over a year already. If you happen to walk by and see anything that seems odd, please call 311. The adjacent building has already had to be repaired more than once due to the demo and foundation at 765 43rd Street. And we all know how well a "repair" holds up. How much shall we bet that 763 gets sold to another (or the same) developer to make another apartment building?
Hey! What's that I see through the backyard? Another apartment building going up on the next street over! Nice.
The new construction on 44th Street, close to 8th is shaping up to be everything I hoped. Recently, four fancy decorative elements were added to the penthouse terrace. The planters will be filled to overflowing with fragrant blooms, I'm sure. Check out the shiny marble-esque-ness of the pair of balls the building sports below. I can't wait to see what the balconies look like!
This building (at 713-715 43rd Street) is going to grow up to be a five floor, ten unit building. A year ago, the two one-family houses that stood here were torn down. The thing is, there isn't anything posted about building something. There's only something posted about a sidewalk barrier. The application is in, but it seems nothing has come of that yet. (As always, I could be reading these things incorrectly.) The lack of necessary paperwork hasn't stopped the preparations for quintupling the amount of residents, however! The above photo was take at the beginning of April, 2009. The photo below was taken on the last day of April, 2009.
True, it's not a whole lot of work that's getting done, but the brickwork has begun! If anyone has the time, could you chime in about whether or not this building is being built with proper go-ahead? The 713/715 addresses have two different sets of "job filings." The primary structural system also is claimed as wood. Is there any wood going on here?
The story of 772 44th Street is one we've seen all too often around here. Let's not pretty up the fact that the building that was here had very little appeal, but the new owners chose to create the new building, and it's much more building than we had before.
Aesthetic concerns are one thing, but something that rankles even more is that changing a two family into a four (or five) family does more than offend the visual senses. Adding people to an infrastructure (water, sewage, sanitation, schools, and so on) that is not making much progress where improvements are concerned is troubling in many more ways. It's something we're seeing a lot of throughout our fair borough. Consider learning more about the proposed re-zoning of Sunset Park.
The condos that grace 4602 6th Avenue are ready for purchase. They are the Sunset Towers** Condominiums, and they have a website! In fact, it's the same website (and same interior photos) as the condos at 548 46th Street. Well, almost the same website, but the interior photos are identical. Check it out for yourself.
This is the controversial building that started out as a 10-story twinkle in Johnny Chan's eye. Thanks to community action, it ended up halved at five stories; the park view of St. Michael's is safe! These are not your average condos in Sunset Park; they have Friedrich a/c covers. High class. Seven of these condos are sold or under contract, but the rest are available to you! Two bedrooms, one bath, and a balcony for just 350K or so. You can even add in a parking spot for 30K. What a bargain. It wasn't such a bargain for the neighbors on 43rd Street...several backyards sank thanks to the ruckus caused by digging up the former funeral home parking lot for the foundation.
Want to buy a former SRO on 7th and 43rd? It's right on the park. The For Rent signs were quickly changed out for For Sale signs once the mistake was noticed. Makes a lot more sense, and the wind storm last week tore up one of the For Rent signs anyway. 
There was a lot of excavation going on at 713 43rd Street yesterday. One 18-wheeler was pulling away with a full load of dirt and detritus while another waited to take its place. This CAT front loader was busy filling up the trucks, and all the workers at the site actually looked busy. All of them!
This space also has two open violations, and at least one unpaid fine of $12,000. 
According to records, this building will be a four-story mixed-use building. Up, up, and away!
I don't understand the choices. But then, I rent, and the economics of renovation/construction elude me. Is this simply the cheapest and fastest choice? When I saw this house gutted a few weeks ago, I supposed that the whole thing was coming down. Sad enough, considering the amount of good wood going into their dumpster. But now, I see that the blond-brick aesthetic is proliferating. Oh dear.
We see this sort of bottom bricked stuff popping up all over the place. And it's been happening for a while. It's been done on brownstones, red brick, and now, apparently, wood frames. Can someone enlighten me as to what the logic is?
Unfortunately, it's not a unique aesthetic. The grey marble (is it marble?) looks like it's spackled on, and new graffiti keeps showing up. At least the light fixture over the roll-down door is on straight now. It was hanging from one side the last time I saw it.
Scaffolding had been hiding the facade of this new construction on 6th Avenue and 46th Street until just before the new year. While there are Fedders covers on the 46th Street A/C units, at least there are Pella windows. And the brickwork shows some creativity in its non-uniform coloring and pattern. Still, other developments of late don't allow us to be very optimistic.
This building on 6th Avenue and 46th Street has had two sets of "Condo for Sale" signs up since spring or even earlier. Along with the skinny condos for sale around the corner on 46th Street, very few - if any? - have sold. It's not clear whether they are still available for rent...have they already rented?
The site is pretty messy otherwise. There is even debris, like empty cans and dug up rocks, on the sidewalk outside the construction fence. The CAT backhoe (I think that's what it is) is sitting in the site, but there hasn't been a lot of progress with a foundation, from the looks of it.
And the house at the end of the block (near 8th) is being demolished. It's a huge lot, comparatively, and they are taking the building down a lot more slowly than the houses at 713.
An interesting choice is the decorative grating on the top of the building. Trimmed in red brick, it lends a certain unique look to the building. It really stands out! I wonder what kind of roof deck this will have. Oh, and I want to apologize for implying that the building was a Fedders Building. It's clearly a Friedrich Building. 
On 46th and 6th, this corner lot has been rapidly growing. Just two months ago, there was nothing but a yummy looking construction fence. Now the construction workers are rising above the second floor. 
7th Avenue between 46th and 45th is home to one more "build it up" location. This one-story building has been gutted and it has high hopes of becoming a three-story building. I think that soon we'll have three floors of rentals available. Hopefully the 2nd and 3rd floor additions will bear some resemblance to the 1st floor facade. Don't forget about the lovely look to this building, quite nearby. 
