Solarium Any Thoughts

I would say only on location Solarium would be my first choice. I've never understood the pricing vis a vis the location for Vere. No matter what the quality of Vere, that location is not worth the money IMO. The Powerhouse will, someday, have the Hunters Point South building go up in front of it. There will also by at 12 story building ( so I am told ) going up to the east. Whatever may actually transpire, there is the potential for living with construction for a while at the Powerhouse. Solarium and 5SL will one day have to deal with something being done to the Zipper building ( the one with the scaffolding ), but this is still on a smaller scale. 48 ave is otherwise fully developed. I have not been in either the Powerhouse, Solarium, or Vere. Of course the units themselves are a separate issue.

$750 psf?? for LIC who will buy at this price?

I'm all for being green, but wouldn't buy a condo that didn't have a bathtub. That ended my interest in that building. Which is a purely theoretical interest anyway, since I'm not looking to buy.

Who would buy in LIC at $750/ft? Nobody. That's just the ask. Like everybody else, they will probably hold out for a while, and then accept lower offers. No bathtub? Really?

Why would they not put bathtubs in??

Pros
Good location
layout - open area, two good sized bedrooms,
south facing- good light, open on to double street and park

cons
poor finishings - bamboo floors, will need to replace after a few years, kitchen/counters not as nice.
price- one of the pricier places, no 1 bedrooms

For my money, I still think The view at eastcoast is the best. The prices their are dramatically going down. You can get places there for $650/ft and you get the top notch luxury with unobstructed, protected views at the best price (i believe they are desperate now to sell) CHECK IT OUT, i just bought a unit there after extensive research!

$650 at the view will put a lot of pressure on the other developments in LIC.

Check out the floor plans and the descriptions on the website, there are no bathtubs at the Solarium, only large showers. I figured it was a green thing, since they put a lot of emphasis on that on the website. I agree that the View wins over all the other developments in LIC, and I really love some of the units, especially the PHs. The thing is, renting at either of the buildings next to the View (either Rockrose -- where all the amenities are -- or TF Cornerstone) still beats buying there by a lot. And you can have the views too.

The View is at at $650psf now? That is hard to believe. If so, boy did they screw up the sales on that building. I don't know why they waited so long to come to market with a condo building, and once they did, if they had priced the units in the $800-$850 range, they probably would have sold half the building in the first 6 months.

"Why would they not put bathtubs in??"

... probably because of LIC toxic water-table issues.

LICman - which line did you buy? When I checked out the view a few weeks ago, still very pricey. What % below asking did u offer? Thanks!

LICman.. interesting you had these questions about the view on a different thread after buying there?!

LICman
about 22 hours ago

Does anyone know how this building is doing? There is less risk with the developer defaulting than at L-Haus right?

What % sold is it now?
How much are units selling for?

It's hard to see from the closing prices on SE at what the $/ft is at closing at the View. Does anyone have actual info of recent closings there? This is an important indicator for LIC, as this was always concieved as the most expensive building in the neighborhood

I visited the Solarium and was generally pretty disappointed. Water heaters in each apartment..eww, ugly long showers with no tubs and electric stove and heating. And the finishes weren't great. They also seems like they weren't going to negotiate on prices or offer incentives which is ridiculous considering what other buildings are offering. The only things better about this building that are better than the View are: low common costs, closer to the subway if you hate walking, and better weather resistant windows.

You can find out the purchase price of the View apts from ACRIS...if you are really nosy, you can find out who bought them too. 4 apts priced in the 650 psf area, all one bedrooms; two of those had a direct view of the city too. So i would think the Solarium would definitely need to price at a discount of that to sell....unless people are really into the green building concept and don't care about overpaying.

I checked out the Solarium. The bathrooms and kitchens were disproportionately large for a 2 bedroom condo, like they should have been in a big house. My husband and I felt like those spaces were taking away valuable square feet from the bedrooms and living room. We passed on the building.

interiors are very dumpy - wood floors in kitchen will need to be replaced in a few years, kitchen is bleh, appliances not so good and walls thin, hallways are cheap looking. bathrooms are big but ugly and ill-designed with no bathub.

Low maintanence is a plus and should be factored in to the pricing because it is so low for even 2-bedrooms (I think its under $500). Also layouts are nice and location is good if you aren't on the waterfront.

be careful about the condos with north views of manhattan, these are going to be blocked by buildings built next to The View.

Despite the negative review, I think they will still sell because people needing practical 2 bedrooms on a budget will find solarium fairly affordable. $699k for a 2bedroom being offered (with maintanence less than $500 a month this makes the effective price more like 599k)

Is the view really selling at 650/psf? I'm in negotiations and settled around 735 psf am I paying too much?

SSCW - here are some 1 bed data points for you from ACRIS:
Apt 403: $510k
Apt 409: $500k
Apt 406: $499.9k
Apt 203: $503k
Apt 503: $520k
Apt 909: $540k

all of them have either direct views or balconies, except the 2nd floor one

It's up to you to assess whether or not you are paying to much. According to some RealDeal article, brokers are claiming people are now willing to pay up and get into bidding wars for apartments they "love"...but I wouldn't believe anything brokers say.

SSCW- lets just say depends on the unit. some are direct west view, others are north views that will be blocked later. some have terraces/balconies/gardens. The units I am referring to below $700/sqft tend to be the 3 or 2 bedrooms with no views (harder to sell)or the not as good 1-bedrooms (no views). Depends on the unit you have...

I ordered appraisals at both the View and Solarium. I'll have the info in a couple of days. I've looked at 3 brs in both places and currently rent in the View. I have also lived in Avalon Riverview North. Solarium 7a has buckling floors and a noticeable pitch in the hallway floor. Coincidentally, 8a had a large bucket with water in it and a plastic drop cloth underneath it. The sales person claimed the floor buckling in 7a was due to "humidity". He also claims there are contracts on 7 of the units. This was all said with a straight face. The View's finishes are better but the layouts are terrible. Most master bedrooms are very small and there is no storage. The reasoning from the sales person was that the developer was trying to bring a European feel to the building by making small bedrooms. Wow. Parking is across the street and is $200/mo. The large gym and pool are also across the street and is $100/mo. Electricity charges are also in the mid $300/mo range for my 3br. The View is 80% owner financed so there is no pressure from the bank to do anything. There was a small price drop early in the year but not nearly enough to move units. I met with the appraiser. He owns one of the largest agencies in Manhattan and is an expert in Hunter's Point. He actually wants to move there buy will not right now because the prices are too high. He expects the prices to drop more in the next 6-12 months. His recommendation is to offer lowball prices that I'm comfortable with. Oh, and there is the land lease issue...

Vagabondo: about the View
1. "layouts terrible" - the one bedroom I got had a great layout, maybe you mean some of the larger units
2. "parking/gym/pool" - $200.mo is reasonable considering other buildings selling parking for way too much ($75k) - gym/pool - best in class and worth walking across st. compared to other condos and it is NOT #100/month, our contract has guaranteed 5 years free access and renters pay only $50/mo
3. Electricity - I think thats included in CC?
4. 80% owner financed is a GOOD thing - financially stable condo - more than you can say compared to other shaky LIC developments (can someone say L Haus?)
5. I got my awesome layout 1 bedroom with west exposure of manhattan for $680/sqft (Although there is a chance prices can come down over the next year, I don't see that happening much lower than $680/sqft, -maybe for more of the expensive luxury units over 1 million with special features could come down over the next 6-12 mo.
6. I don't see the land lease as an issue at all - it was simply a government incentive for rockrose to develop there so they don't have to pay property taxes...

Great feedback, Vagabondo. Please let us know what you hear back from the appraisers on both condos.

Can you explain the land lease? I assume the PILOT slowly creeps up over the 15-20 yrs of the lease, but what happens after the lease expires? Negotiations that may cause PILOTs to potential become really high? My fear is that you are subject to negotiations with the state and may end up with crazy high maintenance costs like the Battery Park City condos.

greenlc: I tried looking on ACRIS as well but had no luck. How did u find those units? What block and lot number did u use? Thanks.

LICman: The unit we are negotiating has northwest view+balcony. From the models they have, it looks like we should still have a decent view even after the condo next door is completed. i tried a low-ball offer on my first attempt and the agents were not willing to even present that offer. We ended up much higher but with plenty of concessions. Did u get any concessions at 680/psf?

Vagabondo: I had an appraisal done for my unit but the numbers she gave me were all from the other buildings. According to her report, I am def overpaying. In my opinion, Lhaus, Hunter's View and Powerhouse are not exactly apples to apples. She is not an expert on the area so I would also love to hear what your appraisers come up with. Thanks.

Very good feedback vagabondo also can someone clarify the view is a land lease building? That should make it 20% cheaper then comparable buildings just on the land issue alone ie battery park or rooseveli is

Borough: Queens
Block: 00021
Lot: 0000

This will give you the records for the entire building - scroll through the pages to find documents labeled "Deed" to find out the sales price for individual units. It takes a while, but hey, this is a really major financial decision, so it pays to do the work. At the very least, I would want to make sure I wasn't paying more than someone in the same line but higher floor.

If you want to look at specific units, from the main ACRIS page, go to "Find Addresses and Parcels" and type in the borough, street number (without hyphens), street, etc.

Not sure which line you are looking at, but if you are looking at the '03 line (777 sq ft with 66 sq ft balcony that faces the bridge, but gets a "west" view if you go out the balcony), apts 403, 503 and 1003 sold at $510k, $520k, and $548k respectively.

Vagabondo - We were thinking of taking a look at Solarium. Layouts looked good and having parking in the building is nice. However, that floor buckling sounds like a concern. Was it just the bamboo flooring that buckled/warped? Or do you mean the concrete flooring itself has warped due to humidity (or leaking roof)?

Greenlc- isn't this the info that streeteasy records? the real problem is that we don't know the floorplans since they are not uniform and skip floors and have unique layouts. I have 1 bed with direct west views from living room - no need to step outside on balcony or at an angle --this is a true direct view for $700/sqft, is this a good deal?

LICman: if you go to The View's webpage directly, there are floorplans, at least for the units that they have posted for sale. They used to have them all. I have a few saved, but only for 2-bedrooms.

card-ny - Warped or uneven floors are a big red flag. Take it from someone who has been there. There is no way of knowing with a casual walk through why the floor has buckled. If the problem is with the wood flooring itself due to poor installation, that can be fixed, although it is a potential red flag in itself as an indication of poor quality of construction. The real problem is if the warping is due to a improperly poured concrete subfloor. The issue does not come from humidity or a water leak. When the floors are originally put down, the concrete is poured into a wooden frame. The concrete then sets and the wood is taken away. If the carpenters built the frame uneven, you get uneven floors. No floor comes out totally even. After the concrete is ready, a leveling agent is poured onto the floor to fill in any low spots. Once this sets, the wood flooring can be installed on what should be a flat surface. If the concrete is really uneven, however, no amount of leveling agent can fix the problem. Is this the issue at Solarium? I haven't been in the building and I ceratinly hope not. Only a licensed inspector can tell you for sure. DO NOT believe the sales agent on this - they probably have no idea about the process I just described and would lie if they did. If you really like a unit there, perhaps you could negotiate an independent inspection as a contingency into your contract. Either way, you'll know.

The solarium doesnt have poured concrete floors. Precast conrete beams were used over steel frame.

Has anyone noticed uneven flooring inside other apartments at the Solarium? I also saw the other thread on the small 30-gallon electric heaters at the Solarium likely being insufficient. Wondering if I should even bother taking a look with such important issues there?

I'm the developer of Solarium, and i have read the statements that have been made about our building. So i like to address them.

1. There are no buckle floors in our building. Feel free to walk through our building and show us this fact. Not one person has seen or said anything of the fact, except this one person who did an appraisal on our building. If what he says is true, then why do an appraisal on the unit if it's has buckle floors. Why go through all the trouble and waste your money, unless you are trying to use this as your plan to get a lower price.

2. The hot water heaters are fine. Our engineer and building dept have signed off on them. If you feel they are not to your liking you can always enlarge the hot water tank to a bigger size. So we do have the flexability.

Solarium is not saying their the best building in NYC, but we do provide and nice place to live. Yes, we are going to have people say what they like and what they don't like, but they do this with all buildings. I have yet to see a building not have a bad comment. You can't please everyone. You can ask, but it's up to you to decide what is best for you.

Clay123 - thanks for jumping in to address these concerns. I think it's good to hear both sides.

One question - you mention that Solarium isn't trying to be the best building in LIC, yet your prices are definitely the highest in the area, with less-than-comparable finishes. (Powerhouse selling at $625/sqft, Hunters listed at under $600) Any insight as to when Solarium might get more realistic pricing?

Clay123: I personally saw the unit. I did not view 7a initially. I viewed 7b. I did not notice any issues with the floor in 7b. Everyone else, don't take MY word for it. Go see unit 7a and look at the hallway in front of the water heater room. 10 days ago, the floor was buckled. Rick Rosa, your salesman saw it too and told me it was due to humidity. My appraiser also saw it. Then walk down the hallway towards the bedrooms, the floor pitches to the right. Put a ball bearing on the floor and see what it does. As a solution, a buyer could negotiate a cure cost for the floors when negotiating.

card_ny:Go look at 7a in the Solarium and see for yourself. The bamboo floor is buckled. The hallway floor has a definite grade. I can't tell you if there is an issue with the concrete underneath. There are more units than parking spots.

LICman: If you already own in the View and are very happy and are NOT a salesperson or developer, then why are you on StreetEasy defending, nay, promoting the View? Are you really trying to convince us the View is a good deal...or are you trying to convince yourself?

Yes, I do mean the larger units. You cannot comfortably fit a king sized bed into the master bedrooms. The one bedrooms have better layouts. I never said 80% owner financing was a BAD thing.
The people who bought early on got a guaranteed buy back plus a few percentage points. That was a relatively safe deal if you could get financing. If you paid cash, like some did, then it wasn't a good deal as you could have stuck all that cash into a long-term CD and made 5% year-over-year. It's all academic now, because they're no longer offering that buyback guarantee. I guess you can demand it. Good luck.

Look, I'm a straight shooter. I'm seriously looking to buy in Hunter's Point. I've rented there for over 2 years now and like the area very much. But the asking prices are still too high. That's not my personal opinion. It comes from my appraiser. The View's planning and construction began during the real estate boom. It was finished during the bust. That's why they were forced to rent out units to meet costs. Now, they're no longer renewing any more leases. They're going to let the current leases run their course and try to sell the units. By the way, I got back the appraisal for the View. His price was 20% lower than the asking price. The compared units were all in the View. Interestingly enough, the current appraised prices for the already owned units were all below their purchased prices. Anyone who bought last year lost value in their units. The Solarium appraisal is forthcoming...

Clay123, Why WOULDN'T one spend $450 dollars to find out what a house or a condo was REALLY worth? That's sober and prudent. Spending 600k to 1.7M shouldn't be a whimsical act. I spent the money myself because I have cash to purchase outright. A bank would automatically order their own appraisal if one wanted a mortgage. Mwade is right. The next step would be to order an inspection. Then hire a lawyer, get title insurance,etc. Look, this isn't the first house I'd be buying. Don't knock a guy when he's doing it right.

Oh, and don't insinuate that I'm a liar.

Here's a good book for you, Clay123: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-50th-Anniversary/dp/0205632645

The biggest turnoff in this building was the real estate agent. Attitude is not a terrific approach for a real estate agent.

The apartments themselves were okay. The flooring is notoriously problematic and a bad choice on the developers part. The kitchen is designed for people who like to cook a lot but a waste of space for people who live on take out.

Vagabondo, I went into 7a and did not see anything. So please set up an appointment with my partner and I, and show us this claim you have with our building. You also stated that this was the only unit that had this issue. So what your telling us is, only 7a is your issue with flooring. Vagabondo, i'm only keeping to the FACTS. Again, set up a time and show us this so called issue you stated.

Vagabondo, as for your appraisal, we have one already from the BANK on that unit. The bank's appraisal superseeds any buyers or sponsors appraisals to date. I was told the agent offer to show you the BANK'S appraisal, but you decided to get your own, which gets voided by the bank. In other words, it means nothing. The bank will not take our or your appraisal, only their own. These are the FACTS. To spend $450 on an appraisal on a building you don't like puzzles me.

One thing you forget Vagabondo, is that our work is warranty, outside of wear & tear.

Vagabondo, if you don't like our building, that's fine, but please do not make up stuff. Don't state how many contracts or flooring is buckling. Again, we will be waiting to hear from you for our walk through together.

jcmil2, Our pricing was reset based on "HSBA" appraiser. We had the bank appraise our building to get the market rate. ie: 3A was appraised by the bank for $745,000 and our price is set at $743,700 for that unit. So we have been following what the bank's appraisal came up with, and since "HSBC" is doing loans, it's only wise to follow thier apprasial.

Another thing that was factor in pricing was location, and low common charges. We are across the street from a park, where noone will build in front of us facing south. It has a nice resale value knowing you will not be blocked by another building. As for common charges, ie: 3A common charges & Real Estate taxes combined are $448.00. Most common charges and RE Taxes out there are $900- $1,000. So for every $525.00 you spend a month, it the same as having $100k mortgage for 30yrs. If you think about it, our pricing is really $100k less when adding up your monthly cost. And common charges are not tax deductable, but 80% of your morgtage is for the first 5 years.

jcmil2, those (3) was the biggest factors to how we came to our pricing. As for the other developments, it could be that no one wants those units. Maybe they don't like the layouts or they're on the ground floor. I do know that those building sold units in the higher price range than ours.

Btw, we are making deals with buyers, that both sides are happy.

I hope this helped.

Glinda, I'm sorry to hear that the agents were a turn-off for you. Can you tell us what it was that turned you off and we'll have a talk with them.

As for the kitchens being large. We do this for (2) reasons.

1. Handicap issues. We want to make sure a handicap person can move around in our units without being restricted. This one is a key factor.

2. Our buyers in our other building, "Prestige Condos & Galaxy" love having a big kitchen. It was a positive feedback. They hated having small kitchens and bathrooms.

There is always a reason behind why things are done when building a building.

I was not impressed by solarium the finishes at l haus were better and for the price they are asking there is nothing that sets them apart from other lic developments that are selling for much less. I always wonder if these developers want to sell why are they holding on to such unrealistic pricing?

Clay123, I will meet you at the Solarium at 10AM on 1/19/2010. If you have corrected the problems, then I will post it here.

And I have a copy of your appraisal. I wanted verification. What's wrong with that? I don't need a bank. I only buy with cash. I don't "make stuff up". You're an ass to imply that I'm lying.

Ask Rick Rosa, your salesperson, if he saw buckling on the floor. Then post here what he said to you.

Buyer11, the Solarium is using "green" as a selling gimmick. Their own salesperson told me so. The finishes are lower in quality than what one would expect of units with such high offering prices.
The developers spent lots of money building during a declining real estate market. They're trying to re-coup as much as they can.
They feel if they hold out for just a bit longer, then the market will recover. They hope some rich ,and dumb, "foreigners" with cash will come along on their white horses.
The Solarium comped their large units with the View. Really?

Clay123, perhaps you didn't read Glinda's post carefully. ATTITUDE.

saw the bldg:
pros: low RE & CC, green bldg, nice rooftop!, pretty close to subway
cons: small 2nd bdrm, bathrooms seem to have too much wasted space, priced too high, studios are tiny!

personally, wish the few 1300+ larger 2bdrms were priced more realistically -- there aren't many, they're on the top floor and are priced so high. All the other 2bdrm units are smaller (and that 2nd bedroom is really an office space or a tiny baby room) and the layouts have the two bedrooms next to one another as opposed to the split model. Don't like the smaller units and the larger units are too expensive --- Not going to buy.

Vagabondo & greenlc -- really appreciate your input! Keep them coming!

Clay123 --

The kitchens being large is definitely NOT a turn-off to me or my husband. We LIKE to cook and so the size of kitchen, much larger than the average LIC apartment, was a big plus. But for younger or less "domestic" buyers it might seem a waste of space. That's all I was saying there.

However with a 1000+ sq foot apt, the larger the kitchen the smaller something else is. That, in your building, seems to translate to smaller BRs. For me that is a disappointment since I have a home office in a portion of my and my husband's BR. The second BR for my daughter, while smaller than what she has now, is workable for her. I don't think our living requirements work in your layout and you seem to have only one 2-bedroom layout no matter the floor.

But that is my opinion and doesn't translate into the requirements of anyone else necessarily. I still like the kitchen though.

The agent was inept and rude. But not every RSE can be as gracious and winning as Joan Dunne from Corcoran? PDE? Wherever?. Ms Dunne is so gracious and charming that she could sell manure to a dung beetle. She should definitely hold a seminar on how to treat clients and prospective buyers.

Glinda, You are right on the money. Joan Dunne from PDE is an absolute dream! She is the epitome of grace and charm. Plus, she lives in Hunters Point and knows the area intimately. I would highly recommend her services.

Vagabondo, how did your meeting go today at Solarium?

We never met. Nobody answered the door.

The building and units are available for viewing and inspection by all legitimate and honest buyers any day of the week 9-5 (we were in the building all day Monday).

My partners and I are very proud of the building we constructed. We constructed this building ourselves, used quality construction materials and went the extra mile to build a great building that we would live in (I live in one of our previous buildings). Therefore, we do not take it lightly when people shamelessly promote a competing broker on a blog for our building and furthermore have an ax to grind because they did not get the pricing they wanted in a building they wanted. Nor are we inclined to join a public tit for tat immature and personal diatribe.

My offer is available to any legitimate and honest buyer, come see for yourselves the units and the building and you be the judge. You can contact our broker Rick Rosa (who is in fact a very nice person) at rrosa@nancypackesinc.com or me directly at joseph@jceconstructions.com and we will be happy to address any of your questions in person and explain our pricing, common charges, construction and anything else you desire.

This is a public blog, Joe. You obviously can't stand it that there some obvious issues with your building. You are also a first class jerk for saying I'm a liar and insinuating that I'm illegitimate and dishonest. I don't get any benefit by saying that Ms. Dunne is nice. She just is. And I'm obviously not the only one who thinks that your staff has an ATTITUDE. It seems like he learned it from you. And by the way, who's writing your responses for you? or did you take a crash course in English?

Clay123 - if you do not want to join in a "public tit for tat immature and personal diatribe", you should not respond to all blogs that talk about the solarium and try to refute everyone's thoughts and observations. And you've also let it escalate to the point where you are accusing people of saying things because "they did not get the pricing they wanted in a building they wanted" - not very mature or professional.

You broker, while he might really be a nice person, did not come across that way when I visited the building. He came off as being snooty and disinterested and was definitely one of the more unpleasant broker experiences that I have had (worst was this girl for the Powerhouse, forgot her name but she had a boycut haircut and glasses). He didn't really sell the building at all and if I had actually loved Solarium and wanted to buy a unit, I would probably be thinking that I hope this broker doesn't get much commission because he wasn't very nice to me at all. People may be in contact with brokers for less than 20 minutes, so first impressions do count. And just because people don't like your broker doesn't mean they are trying to promote other brokers. The lady currently at the View from Nestseekers (Silvette?) was really nice and pleasant - I'm not trying to promote her, I'm just saying that dealing with her was a much more pleasant experience than the broker at the solarium. I'm sure at one point, probably before the real estate bubble, brokers were all very focused on (1) knowing their product really well and (2) being very likeable to clients - they are salespeople and if they don't have this skillset, what good are they?!?! But with the real estate boom, I guess a lot of people became brokers who really should be doing something else...
I know you are proud of your building, but believe it or not, a lot of people on this blog are just looking for an apartment to call home and don't have evil alterior motives. One person saying that your building is not good should not worry you - if it is not true, then everyone else will see this without you resorting to name calling and hair pulling.

well said.

I think this is all great feedback, from both sides.

It's damn cool that the developer is here and engaging everyone. If I built the building, I might be a bit defensive as well.

And yes, even great brokers have good days and bad days.

I agree. I've seen dozens of new development buildings. Every one has flaws, whether it's built by a large corporate developer or one that's doing it for the first time, and every one in between.

With a smaller developer you are going to get some personal touches and niceties that wouldn't make it through the sieve of larger developers. You also see lots more of the architect's original vision, for sure.

But those are some of the trade-offs that create different values for different buyers.

greenlc, I don't mind answering questions regarding our building, but when the name calling like, (i'm an ass or i'm a jerk) came into play, it started to turn ugly. I don't like to disrepect nor do i like to be disrepected. I do like opinions, good or bad about our building, but when a statement is made that is false, that statement needs to be address by us. If most people were in our shoes, i believe you'll do the same.

We welcome opnions, it's helps us as developers. It allows us to know what people are looking for in a home. This is our (6) building that we've developed in LIC. In everyone of our buildings, we have asked our buyers what they like and don't like about our building. I think people's opinions are a very helpful tool in development, as long as you have a thick skin to take the good and the bad.

I've been living in LIC for 15 years before this Real Estate boom ever started, and i'll be here still. I'm part of this community, and i hope our buildings can provide a better place for people to live. Development is hard, if it wasn't, everyone would be doing it. We always ask ourselves, how do we design and build a building that is pleasing to mostly everyone? The answer is you can't. You can take from your notes what everyone you talked to likes and apply it. But in the end it's all about personal taste.

greenlc, if my statement above has offended you then i'm sorry.

Thanks for your time.

Clay123, perhaps you could discuss your decision not to have any 1 bedrooms on your building. Also, what other buildings in LIC have you done?

Just to comment on some of the suggestions above about the broker. We've been to the sales center this weekend, and he has been more than accommodating and pleasant. We are not buying into this building because it's over our budget, otherwise I can't say anything negative about the project, very well done.

be careful about the view.
they are selling used units, which was leased for a year or so.
and they didnt even bother to mention this fact?
i know it's gonna be refurbished, but still, for me, this is a very big thing and they dont even tell you??

Solarium needs to be priced under $600/sqft in order to sell. There finishings are just not high end enough like The View, 5SL, or Powerhouse...needs to be priced closer to L Haus pricing.

Completely agree LICman. Finishes in Solarium are sub-par compared to just about every other building that has recently or is currently selling in LIC. L-Haus, Hunters, and Powerhouse are all going for $580-$625. There is absolutely no reason that Solarium should go for any more.

I would think that the lack of contract activity they've seen in their first few months would give them a clue, but apparently not. Has anyone had experience with offers there? How negotiable have they been to date?

I agree that the finishes are sub par as well. Also, the bathrooms are nothing to write home about: no bathtubs, lack of storage. Also, who really is going to use the outdoor flat screen tv on the rooftop? Waste of money. They are marketing as "first green building in LIC" but I think they probably forced the issue by having to concede certain features in order to be certified green (e.g., no bathtubs).

Was in this building a few weeks ago and I agree with all of the above. The builder made a poor choice picking a fight on this message board about the floors because they are indeed uneven. I have some experience in this area and I must say those floors were the worst I have ever seen.

I got a chance to see Solarium and I agree, the floors are uneven. The rooftop projector sounds cool but useless. The finishes are ok and I love the size of the bathrooms, but that could have been put to better use. Pricing is unrealistic and they need to come down quite a bit. I must say the maint. charges are very attractive tho.

mwade and rcap, thanks for confirming that the floors are uneven. Every buyer agrees the prices need to be much lower. The problem is that when a developer builds, they borrow the money. The lenders are usually not just one bank or organization but a consortium of lenders. The lowest acceptable psf price is set when the numbers are crunched and a profit margin is set and agreed upon. In order for the price to go lower, every member of the lending consortium must agree to the new price. Now, anyone who bought in the building or bought anywhere in the area for that matter, is not going to be happy with any new lower price psf. After all, it would lower the price of THEIR units as well. Furthermore, any developers planning or looking to build in the area in the future will have have a lower price point with which to compare against. So, the seller/developer is between a rock and a hard place. Building condos in this economy was unlucky at best and lunacy at worst.
I will buy when I know 2 things: 1. I have 10% equity on a property the moment I close. 2. I am able to sell that property immediately after buying it. Neither of those conditions have been met.

Is the heating in the Solarium electric? If so, won't that be very expensive and less efficient in terms of feeling warm during the upcoming winter months?

No, not necessarily. Electric heating units can be pretty cost efficient and are obviously more controllable than steam/radiator heating. I have HVAC units in my place and while they are different units, I actually spend less in the winter than I do in the summer. For what it's worth.

"Electric heating units can be pretty cost efficient and are obviously more controllable than steam/radiator heating."

Anything's better than a radiator in a pre-war building that either blasts horrible heat through your apartment, or it's turned off and you are freezing.

btw, I think that LIC is overpriced because it's a lousy neighborhood with a few incongruous residential skyscraper buildings which say "the only reason I live here is because I was too poor to afford Manhattan."

I visited recently. I didn't see the floor issues. Perhaps they were fixed?

I've been to the building a few times with some of my clients, not once have i noticed a floor issue.
If i'm the developer, i would go after these posters here whom are making defamatory allegations about their product.

Took a look at one of the three bedroom units, and was disturbed to see mold growth growing just above the baseboards in one of the guest bedrooms. Also looked liked there was some rainwater leakage from one of the windows onto the A/C unit. Pros: HUGE floorplan, can easily be converted to a four bedroom. Cons: the mold and leakage make me question the construction quality.

Also, the rubber squares (recycled tires, we were told) that are on the terraces and rooftop deck is just plain ugly.

I spent the day looking at units, i went by this building and thought it was very nice...

Some thoughts about solarium.

Observation: lots of units r being sold for $700 / per sq.

guess: people feel like the lower common charge will compensate/justify the price analysis:

point A: imagine a building and b building are built with similar cost, after built, a manages building in a cheaper way. But maintenance is an on-going cost. While it's a good strategy from the seller, there is no reason that a buyer shud pay more for a than b when their development cost is similar.

point B: yes, solarium's common charge is a lot cheaper now. But you have to pay ALL utility, everything will be powered by electricity and that's not going to be cheap. Ok, green design saves energy when heating space, but it does little when u r heating water. It might be costly to enjoy a bath tub. when you have to pay all energy consuming activity, it will change ur behavior, yes, it will be more env friendly because u r more conscious about energy usage, but is it a better life style for you?

conclusion: don%u2019t just pay higher because you think u r earning the present value of future saved maintenance fee.
as a buyer, there is only one fair price: the lowest price.

Did anyone have issues with just 1 elevator? I thought that elevator was small and cramped, which would make moving a pain.

Any further comments about this development? The website claims it is 80% sold - is this the case? How does parking work - can you rent or do you have to buy? If the latter, how much does a spot cost (assuming spots are still available)? Is the gym nice? Thank you.

The layouts look nice, but now adays its 900k (listing Price) for resale 2BR. Is that reasonable and does anyone live there and can share what their winter/summer electric bill is since it's not gas?

how do you think this compares with 5SL next door? Also what are the elctric bills in the summmer/winter months in a 2BR there

Thanks!

Also if theres no baths- then how can you bathe your infants?