33 Comments

• Pedant

  Excellent. Build baby, build. two two story homes now will be 14 units. If they will be 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms that’s fit for a family. So 14 families.

  Let’s hope.

  To my mind, the most we as a community can hope for is that there is a ton of building, which units that can accommodate families in a pinch. Then local philanthropists can focus on getting yiddishe families in the buildings.

  All we can expect from developers is to make something than we can use. We cannot expect the developers to provide affordable housing, it’s too focuses a burden. Affordable housing is a laudable tzedaka pursuit, I am now convinced that the Rebbe wants this, but it’s not reasonable or feasible to expect developers to shoulder the entire burden.

  The only thing we can ask (we can’t *demand* anything) of the developers is to build in such a way as that a family can move in at market price. Then local gvirim have the opportunity to help yidden out with down payments.

  We’re going to have the usual rishoim show up here and tell us all about how affordable housing is wrong and pay to play and move out and …. just ignore it, we’ve had generations that were really good about tzedaka and generations that, well, were not so good about tzedaka, and it didn’t work out so well for them…

  At the end of the day, tzedaka is entirely voluntary (now days) and the only thing you can do is appeal to wealthy people’s neshama with old saws about the purpose of wealth and achdus Hashem and hope for the best.

  But 3 things seem clear to me:

  1. the Rebbe wants Yidden to live in CH.
  2. the more housing built the better.
  3. you cannot expect that the developers will shoulder the entire burden of the project.

• Lincoln Place

  Glad we got landmarked and don’t have worries of developers over-crowding our block with big developments.

• 1234

  Doesn’t make sense for this address. One of the houses is occupied. To build a condo in place of one house doesn’t make sense. Maybe across the street,the abandoned house

• Where?

  Which side of Empire is that?

• Anonymous

  Disgusting to make condos so small in this neighborhood of large families. This is exactly what the Rebbe got so upset about. Let’s face it, a developer making 1300 square feet condos in CH is trying to capitalize off the Rebbe. The high demand to live here only stems from the fact that it is the Rebbe’s neighborhood. Anyone building here in CH should be making their apts liveable with a minimum of 1800-2000 Square feet per unit.

  If this developer had to woo people to buy and not take advantage of the high demand, he would surely be thinking of the buyers’ needs.

  To the developer if you read this: Doing what the Rebbe wants will get you more bracha and more money in the long run.

  • Uh....

    I have a 3 bedroom that is 1300 sq ft. It fits 2 adults, 5 children, and a baby. Condos aren’t supposed to fit a circus. It is admirable to have a big, chassidishe family. It also comes with sacrifices. You live in a city that doesn’t have a lot of space. Deal with it.

    Some people take “bishvili nivra ha’olam” way too seriously….

• Mendy

  I thought there zoning laws ?

• who ?

  who lives in these two homes now ??

• Resident

  WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE ???? WE ARE SILENT AND KEEP GETTIN HIT. LETS ORGANIZE A PROTEST. EVERY BLOCK IS RUINED FROM THESE MONSTER DEVELOPERS.
  IN WILLIMABURG THEY WOULD NEVER DO THIS.
  WE ARE SUFFERING AND SILENT!!!!!!!!!!!!
  WILL ONE MAN STAND UP AND ORGANIZE A PROTEST??

  • Keyboard Warrior

    Enough! “We” are silent. “Lets [sic]” organize a protest. Stop projecting onto others. “Will one man stand up and organize a protest??” Either be the man who stands up and protests, or shut up and climb back in your hole.

    And please, for the love of everything holy, stop with the Williamsburg comparisons. The only things we have in common is that we pretend to learn chassidus and we blame our idiosyncrasies on a rebbe.

  • Pedant

    Who is this ‘We’ of whom you speak.

    We learn chassidus, not only on Shabbos but also on the weekdays.

    We don’t blame anything on the Rebbe.

    If you and your chevra have issues then deal with them, but don’t fantasize that everyone is where you are.

  • Eli Blokh

    I guess all the ‘outrage’ is like you, anonymous.

• High End

  Is that a pseudonym for “No Chasidim”?

  • Nope

    Since when did “chossid” become synonymous with “broke”? High end means exactly that – high end of the market. Top quality living for those who can afford it. BH there are a lot of younger people in our community who have the money to spend on nicer housing. Their financial status has nothing to do with their standing as chassidim.

• TERRIBLE IDEA

  This a terrible idea and will look vastly different then the single family homes on that side of the block. I hope community members come out to protest this property!

• C.R.

  “On and on it seems to go, but you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” or in this case: They paved paradise and put up a 7 story residential.

  • Well

    In this case, paradise was paved over one hundred years ago. They’re are just taking the parking lot and adding a few levels for additional parking. Great song, though.

• read, "luxury''

  this is for the yuppies who are ruining our place. who do you all think will teach our kids are be an innfluence on our kids if this keeps up. DEMAND TO STOP THIS, whats next ? Every day another hit we get on our head. this place is falling apart

  • Just Sayin'

    If you’re letting the yuppies influence your kids, you’re doing the whole parenting thing wrong.

    Before there was a much higher percentage of non-Jews living in Crown Heights. The vast majority of them were African American and from “the Islands”. The way you stopped them from influencing your kids was to teach your kids that they were black so they were animals and we weren’t like them. Now that white people moved in, you can’t use race to divide us anymore and it’s a tragedy of mass proportions. They “are ruining our place” and “will teach our kids are [sic] be an influence on our kids of this keeps up”.

    How about trying to teach your kids that they are different because mir zeinen frume yidden mit an Eibishten un ah Rebbe? How about instilling them with a chassidishe foundation based on yiras shomayim and shmiras torah u’mitzvois in your own home? Then, maybe those yuppies won’t proselytize your children. Oh, wait… that’s what we do to them, not the other way around… My bad.

• Irritated

  Lubavitchers need to stop selling properties to outside developers

• Tal reality

  Tal reality works with nonoJew owners convincing them to ask for a bigger price and they offer them a better customer, when sold through them and mostly to non-Jews.

• and the price is??????

  ALL THOSE WHO HAIL THIS PROJECT AS INNOVATIVE AND NEEDED ARE FOOLS!! ONLY THE ELITE WILL BE ABLE TO BUY AND WHAT HAPPENS TO THE STRUGGLING FAMILES!! BLOCK THIS NOW AND GET DEVELOPERS WHO HAVE OUR INTERESTS AT HEART? CHANINA SPERLIN, SLAVIN AND COHEN WHY ARE YOU SILENT IN THE FACE OF THE DESTRUCTION OF C’V’S THE REBBE’S NEIGHBORHOOD..?? WHERE ARE ALL YOU BIG CHASSIDIM? OR THIS DOES NOT AFFECT YOU BECAUSE YOU ALL READY HAVE WHAT YOU NEED!!

• Landlord

  By the way, market rate 1300 sq ft apartment on that block with three to four bedrooms would be about 3000 a month or more, and sale would be about 625to 725. Check zillow and rentometer.com tp confirm.

• empire

  You guys can all thank the selfish person , one of our own that sold these satmar dogs the house. This is what we get, please don’t sell to these dirty people who don’t care about us or our children.

  • Confused

    This lot contained 2 single family homes, fit for… TWO families. Now it was sold to someone who will turn it into 14 places for families to live. It was private property you had nothing to do with and were never entitled to.

    1 – How in your twisted reality does this developer not care about your children?

    1a – Why is the developer supposed to care about your children? Developers develop, teachers teach, parents parent. It’s not his job.

    2 – Why are the people who sold their houses selfish? Before only they could live there. Now 7 times the amount of people can live there…

    3 – “These satmar dogs”, “these dirty people” Seriously?? Go drink some battery acid.

• Guess What!

  This is being developed by a Crown Heights Lubavitcher hiding behind someone from williamsburg.

  All you need to do is see who’s house it is and you will find your answer ;-)

  • youre a fool

    Gosh sometimes the need to publish ludicrous allegations is too tempting! you have no idea what you speak of – this house ( well one) WAS owned by a lubavitcher who had it on the market for sale for nearly a year ( where were all you smarties then!!) and SOLD to a developer – sadly you haven’t done your research!

• # 10 in his own words

  “We” pretend to learn Chasidus? Stop projecting onto others…

• lousy thing to do

  1 that is not the block for it. those are 1 family homes and this would be an eye sore and inappropriate for that location

  2 if some developer is doing it there he is out for the big bucks so my guess is they will be small apartments that he will rent to yuppies for the max income

  3 no consideration to the people who have lived on that block for decades

• Milhouse

  The more building the better. The world was created to be populated, not to remain empty, and the more people can live somewhere the better.

  I don’t understand all these people complaining. If the units are too small for you, then don’t buy them. There are many people with smaller families for whom they will be suitable, and when Hashem expands their families they can sell them and buy something bigger. Isn’t it obvious that more options is always better than fewer?

  And no, nobody ever has an obligation to sell or rent his property for less than he can get from someone else. Not in CH and not anywhere else. Everything in the world is worth whatever the highest bidder is willing to pay for it, and not a penny more or less. Selling or renting for less than it’s worth means giving the buyer or tenant a gift, and what have they done to deserve such a gift? If the seller wants to give tzedakah there are plenty of places he can give; he is not obligated to exercise his tzedaka to whoever walks into his office first.

• Big Z Schapiro

  I have a question the new condo building plan this owner is a Satmer person?

• C.R.

  I’m with you ‘Resident.’ Let me know when and where and I’ll show up to protest.
  So sad and ironic that the Rebbe said over 24 years ago that the physical world has been purified, the Geula is here and we should open our eyes and live accordingly. And yet Lubavitchers turn around charge millions of dollars to live in Crown Heights??
  Please really think about it. Do you honestly think the term “landlord” will even exist in the Geulah??? ‘Landlord’ and ‘developer’ are golus words that will cease to exist in the Geula. And please don’t give me that ‘the Rebbe wants all Jews to be rich’ rhetoric. The Rebbe does not want Jews to become rich through the suffering of other human beings, and certainly not at the expense of the poor teachers and Yeshiva families, and even Gentiles (see previous article) living in Crown Heights!

• Great Start!

  The only way we will be able to slow the crazy rent increases in this community is if developers build more houses. There are many people who want to live in CH and the only way to keep prices from skyrocketing is to build more. Anybody who wants rent not to continue to increase as it has in the past will support developers, it is our the only feasible way to slow the rent increases.