On Thursday, June 25, Digital DUMBO is having their sixth event at Water Street Lounge (66 Water Street) from 6:00 – 8:00pm. Digital DUMBO was created with the thought of bringing together the digital minds of DUMBO to connect, network and share ideas.

This month, DumboNYC is sponsoring a drink round (or two). One of the goals in maintaining a blog for Dumbo is to support and highlight local entrepreneurs, small businesses, and non-profits, and we think this sponsorship supports that. Working in the tech area ourselves for our day job, it’s great to see Digital Dumbo grow. It takes people with courage to create and build businesses, but to see people with passion to create successful businesses in Dumbo is inspiring.

This month’s presenter include presentations by Dumbo-based media company Sawhorse Media (twitter.com/sawhorse).

Past presenters include Dumbo based media people from Freedom + Partners (from the 5th event), HUGE (David Skokna (founder, partner and creative director from the 4th event), drop.io (3rd event), Carrot Creative, outside.in, and The Jar Group.

What: Digital DUMBO Drinks #6
When: Thursday, June 25, 2009 from 6:00 PM – 8:00 pm
Where: Water Street Lounge (downstairs at 66 Water Street)
For more information on Digital DUMBO and RSVP, go to digitaldumbodrinks.eventbrite.com and follow them on Twitter @digitaldumbo. Follow us on Twitter @DumboNYC. See you there!

(100 Gold Street)

From time to time, we’ve kept an eye on the cheapest Dumbo apartments on the market (how many of us can afford the million dollar condos (at buildings such as 30 Main, 1 Main, 70 Washington) or the Dumbo-premium priced $8.5 million One Main St loft?)

In 2007, the entry price for Dumbo was $475,000 or approx $820-880 per sq ft (these were sold at asking). In June 2008, the entry price was approximately $550,000 or approx $745 per sq ft. One year later, Wall Street turned upside down, economies crashed, and housing market tanked across America. But somehow Dumbo seems to be holding up, at least according to recent sales and by brokers.

Currently the cheapest Dumbo condos are:

• $450,000 (100 Jay Street, $773/sq.ft)
• $475,000 (100 Jay Street, 11F, $899/sq.ft)
• $525,000 (100 Gold Street, $750/sq.ft (see See prior info @ 100 Gold)

Recent closing prices are equal to 2008 pricing but less than 2007. We’re still waiting to see how far (if at all) down closing prices go. We’ve said before, is Dumbo real estate protected from its proximity to Manhattan?

(Photo by Josh Derr)

The following are selected links from this past week on blogs and websites with discussion about Dumbo (and its neighboring areas):

• New signs of life at Bridge ‘Park’, 15Jun09, Brooklyn Paper
• Waterfront Media To Move From 45 Main?, 14Jun09, NY Observer
• Free Outdoor Movies in NYC this Summer, 15Jun09, Mommy Poppins
• Brooklyn Flea Spending Sundays Docked in Dumbo, 15Jun09, Racked
• Mikey’s Hookup Dumbo in NY Times, 14Jun09, Mikey’s
• Brooklyn Philharmonic Lease at 55 Washington St, 15Jun09, Brooklyn Eagle
• Dock St Dumbo Op Ed, 17Jun09, Brooklyn Eagle
• Jacques Torres’ New Ice Cream Shop, 18Jun09, YourNabe
• Council Approval Came After Walentas Donation, 19Jun09, Brooklyn Eagle
• Two Trees’ New Building in Clinton Manhattan, 19Jun09, NY Times
• Hip Hop Festival Founder Wes Jackson interview, 19Jun09, Brooklyn Eagle
• Dumbo Roadwork Ahead, 19Jun09, YourNabe
• Yassky Sold out Dumbo?, 16Jun09, Queens Crap
• Brooklyn Bridge Flea Complainers, 19Jun09, YourNabe

We’re not ones to complain too much about Dumbo (gotta take the good with the bad, right?), but we get a steady stream of people who complain to us about things in Dumbo. And sometimes, getting the word out could lead to a better quality of life (e.g. CO at 133 Water, car break-ins, NYPD Skywatch, construction violations, etc.) Below are a sampling of questions/complaints in the past 2 days sent to us or heard on Twitter:

1) Still no tables at Pedro’s

This one is just a photo lament that a reader sent us. Earlier this month, the city revoked outdoor seating at Pedro’s for 120 days.

2) Guma Construction causing too much noise in the morning

“Guma Construction, the wonderful dumpster company on Plymouth St (owned by Joshua Guttman) loves to drop off dumpsters on Bridge St @ close to midnight almost every other day for the construction at the corner of Bridge & Plymouth early in the morning. Other than calling 311, what can we do to stop the noise ordinance violations?”

3) “Dumbo screamer”

Reader epc wonders who is screaming and hooting in the morning between Washington and Main on Water Street. We’ve heard before that it may be a lookout person doing a signal call while another looks for cars to loot, but in the morning, it’s likely the students at the League Treatment Center at 30 Washington Street, no?.

Do you have any (constructive) rants? Comment or email below.

The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival 2009 will take place on June 18th, 19th and 20th at the Empire Fulton Ferry State Park, 1 Main Street, Dumbo Brooklyn from 12p.m. – 8 p.m. Events include a retrospective photo exhibit of the first four years, a kick off party, Family Day, The Main Day, and the Official After Party. Performers include big names in the industry: Pharoahe Monch, DJ Premier, Styles P, dead prez, Smif N Wessun, Grand Puba, J Period, Torae and Marco Polo, Tiye Phoenix, Keys N Krates, Brown Bag All Stars, DJ Parler, DJ Misbehaviour, Metermaids and hosted by Ralph McDaniels. For the full event schedule, go to brooklynbodega.com.

Single Tickets for the Main Day are available for free or for a suggested donation of only $10 at www.brooklynbodega.com. [Tickets also available at Fat Beats New York, 406 Avenue of the Americas # 1, New York, NY 10011, and (212) 673-3883 and Halcyon, 57 Pearl St, Brooklyn, NY 11201, (718) 260-9299]

The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival is funded, created, inspired and produced for Hip-Hop by Hip-Hop.

For more information
visit www.brooklynbodega.com, follow them on Twitter @brooklynbodega, or email info@brooklynbodega.com.

The 30 Main street unit we featured in October closed last week. According to the owner, after posting the FSBO website, they enlisted Charles Homet of Halstead Property to market the property in mid-November. After 6 months on the market, the condo sold at $1.425mil (10% less than the $1.585mil asking).

Considering the market, 10% below asking seems like the seller got a good price. Back in March 2009, when we talked with a few Dumbo brokers, they said “Dumbo’s condo prices have lowered somewhat around ~5%, it seems to be weathering the economic downturn due to its proximity to Manhattan and the fact that the neighborhood is very small.” But a Time article written yesterday predicted that home prices in metropolitan NYC (which includes Westchester, northern New Jersey and other nearby areas) “will fall 40.6% from the prices that prevailed in March.” But again, Dumbo is a small neighborhood with limited stock. Another FSBO at 70 Washington Street we featured in late April 2009 is already in contract after only 2-3 weeks with Sotheby’s. Time will tell how real estate will play out in Dumbo.

Previously:
{FSBO: 70 Washington Street, #4S, 20Apr2009}
{FSBO: 30 Main Street, C Unit, 21Oct2008}
{FSBO: 84 Front Street #4D Sold, 15Sept2008}

The Dumbo Improvement District has noted that the Water Street reconstruction will begin in a few weeks. Per their email sent to us today:

In late spring 2009, the City of New York will commence the historic Water Street Reconstruction. This is a multi-phased project, set to commence on Water Street then continue to Washington Street. As with any construction, we anticipate certain inconveniences arising. We look forward to working with the City of New York and our community to mitigate the impact of construction on all who live, work and visit DUMBO.

From a Brooklyn Paper article on the subject in January, the $20.5-million reconstruction project will rebuild the Belgian blocks on Water and Washington streets. The two year project is higher than basic roadwork because of the restoration and preservation of the blocks, and will replace the water and sewer mains under the street. This will help storm water drain faster. Once completed for both streets in 2011, the Dumbo Improvement District hopes for other streets to get reconstructed.

{Belgian Block Reconstruction to Begin This Week, 04May2009}

The 84 Precinct Community Council meeting will be held tomorrow (Tuesday, June 16, 7pm) in Dumbo at 45 Main Street, Suite 411, Brooklyn NY. There is a presentation by NYPD Crime Prevention unit. They will also present:

• Cop of the Month Award
• Transit Police Report
• Precinct Crime Report Action and Results
• Questions and Answers

Transportation will be provided by the police department to and from the meeting. Call community affairs 718-875-6850 to arrange transportation. The 84th Precinct covers these residential areas: Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, Boerum Hill, Vinegar Hill and the Farragut Residences.

The Brooklyn Flea moved into its new Sunday home for the summer underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. The weather couldn’t have been better, and a large crowd of people turned up to browse and buy. (Click on the jump for more photos and a recap). Read the rest of this entry »

(Photo by Tim A. Taylor)

The following are selected links from this past week on blogs and websites with discussion about Dumbo (and its neighboring areas):

• Buyers Flipping BK’s Priciest @ 1 Main, 09Jun09, Curbed
• Hip-hop festival returns to DUMBO, 10Jun09, Brooklyn Paper
• Jacques Torres Ice Cream in Dumbo, 09Jun09, NY Times
• Bikini Under The Bridge Fest 7/12/2009, 09Jun09, JRG
• Non-Profits Move to Dumbo, 08Jun09, Brooklyn Eagle
• 17-Story Tower Going Up In DUMBO, 11Jun09, WNYC
• Water Taxi Beach and Vinegar Hill House Add Brunch, 10Jun09, NY Mag
• BBPDC To Assume Control of Fulton Ferry State Park, 11Jun09, Brownstoner
• Burger Bash in Dumbo Oct 9, 09, 11Jun09, Brooklyn Paper
• Brooklyn Bridge Park Slowly Takes Shape, 12Jun09, Brooklyn Eagle
• Dock St at Lambda Night, 07Jun09, noticingnewyork
• Brooklyn’s Two Freshest Pizza Joints: Ignazio’s and Anselmo’s, 09Jun09, Chow
• $8.5mil for 1 Main Penthouse, 09Jun09, NY Observer
• Dumbo’s David Byrne of Talking Heads Opened ‘Celebrate Brooklyn’, 09Jun09, Brooklyn Paper
• Surely There Couldn’t Be a Threat to the Brooklyn Bridge, Right? Wrong, 10Jun09, PreservationNation
• Dumbo’s Dock Street Project Approved, 11Jun09, Gotham Gazette