Whoops! Development Site Forgot The Garage

Man, don’t you just hate it when a developers try to sell their residential units based on amenities that don’t exist?

That’s why every time I passed by 1702 Avenue Z (on the corner of East 17th Street) for the past year or so, my eyebrows raised. Dreamlife Realty, a mysterious broker that took over after bigger names abandoned the project, posted a sign in one of the upper windows advertising “Indoor Parking.”

To which I asked, “Where?!”

There simply was no garage to be found, and newly-planted trees lined the sidewalks, barring any potential auto entrance. Then wooden planks went up over a ground-level section on Avenue Z, and I had an aching suspicion that the first floor’s commercial square-footage was about to shrink and some baby trees were going to die.

And I was right. Two weeks ago, construction crews were seen tearing out the trees and curb, and building curb cuts. One of the construction workers explained to us that the developer was having trouble selling units without parking (duh!), and so they were putting in a garage. He said the garage was already built and the curb cuts were the last step (the curb cuts are now complete, and the wooden planks remain). Cars will enter the building and pack into the ground-level space.

The worker also said there will only be seven parking spots, despite the fact the building has 10 residential units and three floors of commercial space. But, hey, in Southern Brooklyn real estate terms – that’s more than enough, right?!