Underhill and St. Johns

So the old laundromat has been under cover of scaffolding and presumably under construction for the past year give or take. In snooping on the CH board, i found a gem about a godawful condo/business space going up on EP and Franklin. I wandered the architect's site, and found this hideous monster (11th pic down on residential designs) { http://www.gkapc.com } to be erected on the spot of the two story former laundro. Any one know of this beforehand? Even says in the bio they had a hard time getting the work permit for it. This 10 story building will be visible from my Lincoln Pl apt. Two soul-less buildings on one St. John's block.

there were some threads about this back when it was first announced....i'm not sure what search term would find them best, but they await the patient googler....

Alan, who used to run the laundromat, has been talking about this for years. I am amazed that it is finally happening.

Go do a search over on Brownstoner. I think this got a lot of coverage there last year.

i remember seeing a discussion abt it on Brownstoner...

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/06/kaufmans_flatir.php

I had no idea! Thanks for the nudging to look elsewhere and helpful links. I've only been in PH for 18mos, so in a sense all this is very new to me. I don't mind the idea of building housing in an up and coming neighborhood, but these two St. Johns buildings are really eyesores. Why can't these developers take into account the culture of each Brooklyn neighborhood; instead of throwing up concept buildings that look like futuristic 80s renderings next to brownstones and pre-war buildings that have character?

It was supposed to start last Fall, but the project has stalled:

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?boro=3&houseno=214&street=Underhill+Avenue&requestid=0&s=A03C41B885B461E4F46BD08866A7430E

Apparently they lost their building permit in January because they failed to start work on time… Trouble with financing? I bet their construction loan didn't work out. They were probably planning to close just as the financial crisis hit. If that is the problem, they might be able to go back to the bank this spring and apply for a loan again. They could bring a stack of sales information from the units under contract in On Prospect Park to make the case their project will sell enough to make money.

Yeah, the Richard Meier is going to have an effect on this project and others, I'm sure.

Or they could have just gone bankrupt… a lot of people paid too, too much for land…

Allan, (Lucky the poodle's owner) owns that and a few other buildings in the neighborhood. He bought it like 25 years ago so its definitely not a case of paying too much for it. I'm pretty sure hes doing ok considering the ferrari he bought last year.
The last I spoke to him he was having issues with the city getting the permits in order and the last I saw him he was yelling at someone from the city on the phone about it.
It was to be something like 8 floors with one apartment on each floor.
I didnt say anything to him but always wondered how that would work out since that building has such a weird footprint.
Thats all the dirt I got right now.

Subject: Update

Are there any updates on this building? The scafolding came down this week. It looked like the approval is out there for the building & it's still listed on the GK website.

Actually I LIKE the RM building, but maybe that's a discussion for another thread. If you look, the building does respond to its context--albeit not in an in-your-face way.

The St. John's/Underhill building is going to change that corner of the neighborhood, but I think that the block can handle it. That's a wide expanse of pavement over there.

there's a big fence around the building today. i guess they're moving forward. i just wish they weren't building something so fugly.

the design does not look so bad.

and doesn't it seem safe to say the folks who move into that building will not be a part of the six-month sub-leasing fold? i mean, why not welcome a new project like this one? or is it really so sad to see a laundromat go out of business?

I don't think it was really a laundromat.

i'm glad they're renovating that building. but i think this design is awful, totally out of context, and too tall. i wonder where the gang kids will go now.

GOD wrote: I don't think it was really a laundromat.

It was, it burned down a few summers ago. The machines were never in good repair and the whole place was dirty nasty!!!! Yuk. :pig:

what going in on the corner across from the condo( on the north corner of underhill/st john's)...i saw them putting in a floor on my way to blue marble....any ideas

SummerGirl wrote: what going in on the corner across from the condo( on the north corner of underhill/st john's)...i saw them putting in a floor on my way to blue marble....any ideas

If you mean the old A soc at d, it's being renovated and improved, according to the owners. Here's a thread about it:
http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44101

I like that building design.