Welcome back to Third + Bond after our holiday hiatus! For any readers whose resolution was to spend more time reading blogs and are new to our feature, here’s a quick recap of what we’re doing. We, David and Alison from the Hudson Companies, are developing a 44-unit “green” condominium located at the corner of Third and Bond Streets in Carroll Gardens. (Or Gowanus?) We closed on the land in May 2007 and since August of that year, we’ve been writing a weekly feature posted on Brownstoner most Thursday mornings. The idea is that we give you a look at development behind-the-scenes on everything from how we pick windows to writing the offering plan. Our last post (Week 65) recounted the topics of 2008. Why are we doing this? We get helpful feedback from readers, on and off the blog, and free publicity. Plus, it’s fun.
Work at the site has been progressing despite the holidays and lousy weather. The view from the first photo is about midway up the site along Third Street. You can see that we’ve completed waterproofing and rebar for the first three buildings and (in the distance) we’ve put up formwork for a fourth building. In the second photo, you can see that we’ve also installed underground plumbing (black tube within formwork, exiting into ejector pit in photo below). Next week we’ll start the concrete pour (into the white troughs).
In the third picture, you can get an idea of the second half of the site, where there will be four additional buildings. Over here we are storing big pieces of machinery and materials. We split the phasing into two chunks for a couple of reasons: 1) To keep things going. We started the middle foundation while doing underpinning at the far ends of the site. 2) To have enough of the site ready for a given trade to stay busy. No subcontractor wants to send out laborers and equipment for a half day’s worth of work, nor to have them stop and start over a period of weeks. 3) To give ourselves room to move on the site. It’s fairly tight as it is and soon we’ll box in the rear yard so that the only way to get materials back there is through the building or with a crane. Going through the building can be a hassle and risks damage. Cranes – well, why go there if you don’t have to?
Next week while the concrete is flowing at the site, back at Hudson’s office we’ll be taking a look at the latest iteration of the marketing materials and meeting with our yet-to-be-announced interior decorator for the model units. It’ll be awhile before we officially launch our marketing, but judging by the dreary economy that’ll be just fine
Inside Third & Bond: Weeks 1-65 [Brownstoner]
From our lawyers: “This is not an offering. No offering can be made until an offering plan is filed with the Department of Law of the State of New York."
