1. 18 October 2010 · 06:59 PM ·

    Widening the Net

    It’s been awhile since our last post…we are continuing our search, and may have found a potential building, but nothing is confirmed yet.

    This is exciting news, but it’s also somewhat sad news for myself and the others since we’ve decided to widen our search outside of Red Hook.  There just aren’t any available buildings that suit our needs and budget, and the myriad of vacant lots are rotting the neighborhood from within, like, well, rot.  Owners are clutching onto their lots with the dream of scoring Big and selling to a developer for millions. They think the zoning will change to allow towers like Williamsburg or 4th Avenue. I have a secret for them: it won’t.

    In the mean time, all the vacant lots keep Red Hook impoverished both economically and aesthetically. It’s a self-defeating cycle: the vacant lots prevent further development, but at the same time the lot owners are waiting for more development to raise property values before they sell. See the problem?

    If I were in charge of things (and why not?), the NYC Finance Dept would seize any land that has unpaid taxes and auction the lots off in a lottery to residents of the neighborhood. No developers, no absentee owners. Allow appropriate residential and commercial growth, owned and built by residents of Red Hook for the benefit of the neighborhood.  A girl can dream, can’t she?

    After many frustrating attempts to contact land owners or find an existing building that works for us in Red Hook, we realized we had to start looking outside the neighborhood if we want to find anything. We are not in a huge hurry, but at the same time we don’t want to wait for a year, two years, three years or more to find a place in the neighborhood.  The market is favorable for buyers now, but in a year or two, who knows?

    We are still hopeful that something may turn up in Red Hook, but we are not putting all our eggs in one basket, even if they are Red Hook Poultry Association eggs (http://tinyurl.com/3xrtuxw).

    The Hunt Red Hook

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