Forty-three townhomes will be offered at auction on March 29th at Hamilton Heights, a luxury condominium building notable for its spacious floor-plans, exciting amenities and desirable location in the prestigious Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn.

The homes, ranging in size from one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts with more than 1,300 square feet of living space, were originally priced from $140,000 to $280,000, according to USAuction, Inc., the Stamford, Connecticut-based firm which is conducting the auction marketing program.

They will be offered at minimum bids as low as $57,000, the company adds.

Common amenities in the building include a year-round swimming pool, private fitness center and a playground area.

The homes of Hamilton Heights are available for inspection every day prior to the March 29th auction from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The on-site Auction Information Center is located at 1211 65th street at the corner of 12th avenue.

COPYRIGHT 1992 Hagedorn Publication
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

Stephen Muss, owner of the Alexander Muss Co., is one of the more conservative real estate developers in the business. His New York holdings are limited to the 558-unit Seacoast Towers Cooperative in Brooklyn. His Florida investments, however, have been more numerous, but none the less selective and carefully crafted like the 1,206-room Fountainbleau Hotel in Florida and several other condominium developments in Miami and Key Biscayne. His last project in New York City was a 31-story, 28-unit apartment building at 733 Park Avenue in 1975.

His restraint, onlookers believe, has kept him from suffering the same unfortunate fate of some of his fellow developers.

So why is the Muss Co. willing to take a chance on a $280 million development next to his existing Seacoast Towers in economically marginal Brighton Beach during tough times in the real estate industry? And why would they undertake such an ambitious project in this sagging real estate climate?

"If we thought that this was the end of the real estate business, the whole country would be in terrible shape," said Hy Cohen, vice president of the Alexander Muss Co. and a "political powerhouse" in Brookly. Cohen is spearheading the effort to gain zoning variances and the demapping of streets of the 15-acre property where now stands the 80-year-old Brighton Beach Baths.

In place of the once popular, yet outdated, baths, the Muss Company hopes to erect "Brighton By the Sea," the largest, private development - to be built entirely without government subsidies - in more than 25 years in Brooklyn. New York City's largest borough of 4.5 million residents. The second largest private Brooklyn development is the $60 million hotel complex in Downtown Brooklyn, being built by Joshua Muss, a cousin of Stephen Muss. (Stephen and Joshua Muss are not in business together.)

The plan is being considered by the New York City Planning Commission and a ruling is expected on or sometime after June 10. The City Council could get be involved after the Commission vote.

The Brighton Beach development, designed by Costas Kondylis & landscapes by Paul Friedberg & Partners, is a much scaled down version of a project that failed to gain sufficient votes from the City Planning Commission in 1988. The plan currently includes five co-op and rental apartment buildings, one center building of 29 stories, two stepped-down 28-story and two stepped-down 24 story buildings. There will be a total of 1,600 apartments, including three-story townhouse-type buildings along the side of the main development. Those low-rise buildings will include 40,000 square feet of professional space.

Because the city demands that a view of the ocean be maintained from the main Brighton Beach Avenue, 39,000 square feet of commercial space has been eliminated from the plan. That includes the scaling down of a massive health club to grade level, which was to be the centerpiece of the plan.

While Cohen would not reveal who the other investors were for the project other than Muss himself, Cohen said this is a "golden opportunity" to build because few large-scale developments are being constructed in the present real estate climate.

"We can build at the right price because contractors don't have enough work," Cohen said. "While I can't say at this time who the investors will be because the plan has not yet been approved, I am pretty sure the financing will be available."

Muss recently said, in a new York Times interview, that he hopes to find another investment partner.

The Alexander Muss Company has a $6.8 million mortgage remaining on Seacost Towers and according to Cohen, little other outstanding debt.

Second Time Around

Cohen reflected on the last time the project went before the New York City Planning Commission in 1989. The Planning Commission, which had two vacant spots at the time, voted 3-2 in favor of the project, but, the project needed a four positive votes.

Before the plan reached the Planning Commission, Muss Co. encountered strong opposition from some area residents, residents of neighboring affluent Manhattan Beach and waterfront conservationists. The opposition formed a group called the Committee to Preserve Brighton Beach. Some of those residents who fought the former plan are also trying to thwart the one currently being presented.

Cohen, however, is considered Muss' secret weapon in its campaign for community support, and, he says, the project has plenty.

He has been active in both community politics and community groups for more than 30 years. Cohen served as president of the District 2 School Board; is a member of Community Board 13 (he abstained from the vote on his project which passed by a Land Use Committee Vote of 11-3); was former president of the Oceanfront Development Corporation, a forerunner of the Brighton Beach Business Improvement District); and has been active with numerous other community and religious organizations.

Cohen has not been afraid to pull up his sleeves and battle community groups. In the first go-around for Brighton by the Sea, he once packed a community board hearing full of construction workers that would benefit from the project. The workers loudly interjected yeahs and boohs where they saw fit. Moves like that made his opposition even more strident.

Leon DeMatteis Construction Corporation has announced it is nearing completion of a state-of-the-art U.S. Postal General Mail Facility in Brooklyn, New York. Headquartered in Elmont, Long Island, Leon DeMatteis Construction Corporation is a subsidiary of The DeMatteis Organizations, one of New York State's oldest and largest construction companies.

The three-year, $137 million project, located on a 32-acre site in the Spring Creek section of Brooklyn, contains a sprawling 695,500 square-foot structure, along with an adjoining 25,600 square-foot vehicle maintenance building and a 27,000 volt electrical substation. The Brooklyn General Mail Facility (G.M.F.) is the newest and most modern of the general mail facilities in the United States and the single largest distribution center on the Eastern seaboard.

In discussing the project, Alfonso DeMatteis, who served as construction supervisor, said it represents state-of-the-art design and construction.

"To build this type of a facility was both exciting and challenging," DeMatteis said. "Not only will it better serve the Post Office's present needs, but it is a model that will alter the way future mail facilities will be designed and constructed."

The Brooklyn G.M.F., which replaces the antiquated seven-story General Post Office in Cadman Plaza, is built on a site that once housed a landfill. "Before we could even begin our initial phase of construction, we had to remove more than 40,000 used tires that had been dumped there," DeMatteis said.

Because there was an abundance of land, the architects were able to design a horizontal system to replace the old multi-story design. "This," DeMatteis said, "allowed us to construct a building that would maximize the efficiency of a standard conveyor belt system, making the movement of mail faster and more efficient."

The main features of the Brooklyn G.M.F. include $16 million worth of high-tech equipment for sorting and moving mail, all controlled by a bank of personal computers. This unique capability, coupled with a fiber optics information and communication system (the first installed in a U.S. Postal operation) will give the Brooklyn G.M.F. the distinction of being the first of its kind to process 40 trays of mail per minute.

Additional features include 57 separate loading docks and an employee cafeteria that seats 1,500. An on-site public bus stop for three different bus routes and parking for 1,000 cars will handle the 5,000 employees who will work in three, eight-hour shifts.

The U.S. Postal Service is in the process of testing the equipment. Once initial testing is completed, the building is scheduled to officially open in early May.

COPYRIGHT 1992 Hagedorn Publication
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

Citing the "not-in-my-backyard" opponents of the project, Coletti said that "the facts are we need to do something about the city's garbage and do it now." The city's only landfill is nearing capacity and is certain to close before the year 2000, he explained. New York's out-of-state waste-hauling options are narrowing, he said, as a result of impending federal legislation aimed at banning inter-state waste hauling.

Continuing, Coletti pointed out that recycling, presently accounts for 12 percent of the city's garbage. This is projected to rise to 41 percent -- or 11,500 tons per day -- but even this recycling level would leave 16,500 tons of garbage a day to be disposed of, he declared, and he pointed out that the planned Navy Yard waste-to-energy facility is intended to complement the recycling effort.

Coletti told the hearing, "We can't afford to wait any longer. The project will significantly help to improve the city's quality of life."

Urging adoption of a comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan, Building Congress President Louis J. Coletti also urged that construction of the Brooklyn Navy Yard trash-to-energy project be accelerated.

In testimony before City Council/Sanitation Department public hearings on the Solid Waste Management Plan, Coletti endorsed the Plan's proposal for three methods of disposing of our garbage--recycling, trash-to-energy and landfilling. The Brooklyn Navy Yard project," he asserted, "is a critical component of the Plan."

The Congress President said: "Health and environmental standards must and will be met, and the project will create hundreds of needed construction jobs in an industry that is suffering from 50 percent unemployment. It will bring economic development to the Brooklyn waterfront area, will infuse millions of dollars into the local economy and will save energy costs by creating steam for Con Edison. The project is ready to go now," he added.

The public supports the trash-to-energy method by wide margins, Coletti noted. In a recent Building Congress poll by the independent firm of Johnson Survey Research, 76 percent of New Yorkers rated the technology as favorable--far more than favored landfilling or simple incineration with no energy production. "The public supports trash-to-energy because it wants to see energy--as well as garbage--recycled," he said. Support for trash-to-energy was solid in Brooklyn and even in the area surrounding the Navy Yard.

The project, Coletti said, has undergone extensive reviews of its environmental impact by the state Departments of Health and Environmental Conservation, "and received a clean bill of health."

"This type of facility, the same one in full operation in 36 states and 136 locations nationwide, is safe and non-threatening to our health," Coletti said.

COPYRIGHT 1992 Hagedorn Publication
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

When a residential real estate investor investigates a property, the first thing he looks at is cash flow. Today, however, monthly rental income rarely surpasses the monthly cost for the property. But at Kings Village, the popular cooperative community in the Flatlands of Brookly, positive cash flow is a reality.

On Sunday, the 26th of July, 25 destabilized Kings Village apartments will be offered for auction by Carlton Property Auctions. Almost all of these units presently have tenants with either short term or month-to-month leases and rentals that exceed their maintenance costs. The residences will be offered either in packages or in bulk and are expected to sell well below their market value.

Kings Village currently has over 50% of its units sold. The auction will also be offering several vacant units to residential purchasers.

Kings Village is a five building, mid-rise complex with newly refurbished lobbies, landscaped courtyards and on-site security. A wide selection of studio, 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments are available. Kings Village is located near Brooklyn's largest shopping center, Kings Plaza Shopping Mall, as well as the beaches and parks of the Gateway National Recreation Area.

COPYRIGHT 1992 Hagedorn Publication
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

The New York City Council last week passed the Brooklyn incinerator compromise package by a vote of 36 to 15, clearing the way for its construction beginning in fiscal year 1996 after signature by the Mayor.

Prior to seeking construction financing for the hightech incinerator, which will be located at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Council stipulated that a curbside recycling program would begin a year sooner and pilot programs to expedite full-scale recycling would be established in one district in each borough. To implement the new solid-waste management plan, two other incinerators will be closed while a third, also in Brooklyn, will be retrofitted with newer technology. Additionally, an ashfill site will be located outside of the City.

Real Estate Board of New York President, Steven Spinola said, "We've been lobbying for this for the last few weeks. I think it was an important act by the Council and the Mayor to work for the compromise and they demonstrated a lot of courage in making a tough decision on a really controversial issue. In our judgment, this was the right decision."

Most of the opposition came from Brooklyn Councilmembers.

COPYRIGHT 1992 Hagedorn Publication
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group