northside piers wburg cuts by 20% and Im buyin

Do large developments like Northside Piers consider lowball offers - 25% to 35% below asking? They've cut prices significantly in Feb, and still have a lot of inventory.

look at the ny magazine piece on the bust in williamsburg. toll brothers cut prices 35%

just now 35% ?

There's an important distinction here - first, it wasn't a 35% cut across the board. I believe they ranged between 20-37% on several units in the first tower. Second, they haven't cut prices at all in the second tower, though this is because construction isn't finished there yet. I'm pretty confident they'll have to at some point, but right now it's clear they're trying to clear inventory in the first tower so that they can eventually focus on tower 2.

are all the low rise buildings also part of the piers? I like the area, but there really is alot of supply concentrated right there.

marco, I think the low-rise component at Northside Piers is pretty small. The Edge has a lot more. All of these are directly on Kent Ave, as opposed to being closer to the water. But your point is obviously right - there's lots of inventory out there. Some of the numbers out there are way off (I've seen 5,000, which is a joke - by my tally, it's somewhere around 1,300-1,500 for northside buildings that are either complete or are at least a decent part of the way through construction. Still a lot, clearly, and will take quite a while to sell it all.)

The low-rise portion of Northside Piers is the "affordable housing" section. For Tower 2, they are not negotiating on the price (although they are doing the "live free for a year" program and I can't say about the negotiability of closing costs). For Tower 1, I think anything is negotiable as bjw says they are trying to clear inventory. I ask for updates on availability from the sales people every few months and things are moving SLOWLY but steadily in both Towers.

LookPied, have they actually gotten signed contracts on tower 2 already? I'm pretty surprised to hear that. Any sense on how many there are? I don't know why anyone would pay full price now while move-ins are still a ways away and there'll be more leverage on their side in the next few months/years.

"look at the ny magazine piece on the bust in williamsburg. toll brothers cut prices 35%

The 35% cuts in February only applied to the biggest and most expensive apartments, primarily the penthouses and the townhouses. But most of the one- and two-bedroom apartments were cut less than 20%, many not even 15%. (The B line is the only 2-bedroom that looks like it was cut 20%, which is probably due to compromised views and an odd living room in my opinion).

I'm sure you can negotiate on top of any of these cuts, but articles like the one in NYmag fail to give full details.

I wish I could make this not sound pretentious, but doesn't the affordable housing section hurt the complex financially ?

marco, what do you mean exactly? The building of the affordable housing components was the trade-off for allowing the developers to build the towers as high as they have. I think some people see/hear about this and instantly think "projects" but that is not at all what this is. Do they make money on the affordable housing? Almost surely not, but the added height on the market-rate buildings is what they're banking on to more than make up the difference.

From my discussions with the sales team there are very substantial discounts which can be negotiated on Tower 1

Marco -- the inclusion of affordable housing means that NSP has a 25 year tax abatement, which to me is very attractive financially. Also, all condo amenities are separate from the affordable housing, so you can be as pretentious as you want, and not run into any of the rental tenants in the elevator, lobby or fitness center. Even Trump projects include affordable housing. Rest assured it's not Section 8, it's filled through a lottery.

bjw2103,

Yup, 2 months ago they told me 10% of Tower 2 is under contract. I believe them as apartments that we were interested in have been removed from their availability lists. The Streeteasy listings that are marked as "previous listings" are the ones they have under contract. And in Tower 1 many that are listed as available have offers accepted (eg all apartments in the H line). They update this Streeteasy list very intermittently. I'd be interested to see the effectiveness of their latest marketing program.

Ill definitely check it out. so you think 15% off the current ask listed on SE can get done?

marco, I think it depends on the line and unit (and also which tower you're talking about). If there's a few you're interested in, I'd say go for it. Especially as construction moves along on the second tower, there will be more pressure to accept serious offers to clear that first tower inventory. I've seen similar situations in smaller projects where the sponsors were prepping for another development.

marco_m,

It certainly is worth a shot. No harm in trying. You can do a combination of low offer with closing costs on top of the "live free for 1 year". Then you can readjust if you want. So far in 8 months in other developments I've low balled twice, obviously without success. I will need a low ball offer accepted in order for me to feel comfortable buying at this time. But I feel the market is moving despite the recent articles, etc.

I'd guess you could purchase any of the non-view units in tower 1 for 10-15% off current ask, ie., E-line below 12th floor, G/J-line. Maybe the B-line too even though they've got views for now (until/unless the 3rd tower gets built).

I prefer low units (mild fear of heights) and a view would be cool but I dont have to have it. I just wanna try and get something so I can settle down. we'll see what happens

marco_m, those two factors should help you enormously actually since high units with good views obviously command the highest prices. I have to ask though, if you're not really into high-rises or views, why look at Northside Piers? There are other nice developments further inland.

hmmm..good point. ill ride the L 2 or 3 stops in and see what I see

marco, I don't even mean that far. There's plenty of inventory around the Bedford Ave stop. Lorimer and Graham are fine but there is a dropoff in terms of retail and activity.

oh cool. ill check it out

The biggest plus for Northside Piers is the 25 year abatement. The low level non-view apartments in Tower 2 are comparable in price to the more inland buildings which tend to have only a 15 year abatement. The negative is that it is further removed from Bedford Ave. (In Tower 1 there might not be many low level non-view apartments left. Plus the maintenance is high)

As a former denizen of Bedford stop and closing Tuesday on my new place near Graham stop, in exchange for retail and activity, you get an authentic Brooklyn feel and somewhat lower prices. I love my new neighborhood, what with old Italians sitting on their stoops and, with "hipsters" making up a smaller proportion of the population, some real diversity.

bjw: Would love to meet up for a drink sometime to compare experiences and complain about '22.

LookPied: Most of the units left in Tower 1 are either penthouses, high-level 1br, and low-level, non-view 2br apartments. But yes, agreed, maintenance is high and the 25 year abatement is an amazing deal.

djradon...what buildings would you suugest to look at ?

djradon, congrats! And I agree about the feel around Graham - definitely more old school Brooklyn, and several great restaurants right there (just tried Motorino for the first time, finally). It's not a bad area to be, and though I don't know for sure, I imagine the subway crowding will be much less of a factor where you are than at Bedford. I try not to meet too many people off the internets, but would be up for swapping stories (and I'd like to say I'm done with '22 but his bs just gets me riled up sometimes and I can't help myself - so it goes).

It seems like the units which experienced the +/-30% price reductions are now priced in the 800-900psf range which doesn't really seem like much of a good deal.

kiz -- for what it's worth, remember that those apartments are primarily penthouses with the best views. they'll always be the most expensive. the same layout 20 floors lower would of course be priced lower.

Yes PH with good view (?obstructed by future towers) and w/ generous outdoor space, but the question (subjective of course) is whether the price is justified. It doesn't look like any of the PH's have sold since the price cuts so I guess they are not yet marked to market.

They just took a bunch of units off the market today and a handful last week; any guesses?

have a buddy who got a 2 bed in tower one with partial views (high floor). he loves it. i think at a discount, this is a good long term by.

buy
oops

When did he buy? Did he get a good discount?

I wonder how long until the the next price cut.

axle, probably won't be as dramatic, but I think it'll happen. Probably more focused on individual units or lines. The real question is when they'll lower prices on the second tower. Those are still absurd.

I feel for anybody who bought a year ago...

nyc1002, Me too.

nyc10022, My bad.

love seein one of my oldies get dug up. even if they cut now, its still gonna be to little to late. too much inventory and not enough people. really is kind of a perfect storm situation these developers are stuck in. which one is gonna be smart enough to dump the fish and head back to a safe port

just came back to this thread. my friend bought in tower one about 3 months ago or so. 1000sq feet + for under $700K. again, high floor, partial views and he's very happy.

where are the chops?

Hi Wisco. Does your friend have any concerns about the water pressure? Or the size of the refridgerator in the lobby? Or the water color? Or the elevators? I have seen some other complaints out there.

Thanks, much