Bed Stuy/ Bushwick

Owners of Bushwick’s most hated building cash in, put it up for sale

colony 1209
This can be yours, if you’ve got 80 million dollars

Hey, wanna feel kind of powerless just before the weekend starts? Of course you do! If you remember Bushwick’s Colony 1209 building, you might remember it as the apartment complex that literally presents itself as “homesteading” in a brand new neighborhood, which was one of many reasons people didn’t care for it. Well, it turns out your disapproval is meaningless, because the building which was bought for $58 million in April is now for sale with an asking price of $81.5 million.

The Commercial Observer reports that despite widespread laughter when the building was introduced and this in-depth Awl piece about the many problematic issues with the building, the owners are fixing to sell it for 46% more than they bought it for back in April. It probably has something to do with the fact that despite the marketing trades in the language of colonialism, a place on the edge of a new frontier and literally calling the people who live there “settlers,” the building is all rented up. Plus it comes with absolutely no property taxes for another 12 years thanks to being part of the 421-a tax exemption. So basically, it makes money, no matter how harshly you judge it or how many clever Twitter jokes you make, real estate always wins in the end. Something to think about over the weekend!

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