Midsummer night's dream edition

Brooklyn brownstones, Finger Lakes, Tanglewood, Laser Wolf, more

Jul 14, 2023

∙ Paid

REAL ESTATE • Townhouses

Brownstone Brooklyn can stand the heat

Along with much of the rest of NYC’s real estate market, the townhouse market in Brooklyn has cooled from last year, with 197 Brooklyn townhouses going to contract in the first half of 2023, versus 255 in the first half of 2022. But the market's far from dead. New townhouse listings in the borough are spending an average of 45 days on market in 2023, compared to 142 days for Manhattan townhouses (per StreetEasy). And despite persistently high mortgage rates, Brooklyn townhouse prices have held steady since last year at a median ask of $3 million. Here now, three townhouses that went to contract in the past month, all well above the $3M median, in Bed-Stuy, Park Slope, and Brooklyn Heights.

→ 367 Greene Ave. (Bed Stuy, above), 4BR/2.5BA townhouse, recent renovation with backyard and wood-burning fireplace. In contract: 6/26/23. Closing ask: $4.35M. Monthly taxes: $705. Days on market: 45. Listing broker: David Feldman, Brown Harris Stevens.

→ 608 3rd St. (Park Slope), 6BR/4BA multi-family townhouse with two units. In contract: 6/30/23. Closing ask: $4.9M. Monthly taxes: $1652. Days on market: 241. Listing brokers: Charlie Pigott & Jackie Torren, Corcoran.

→ 35 Remsen St. (Brooklyn Heights), 7BR/3.5BA townhouse, five stories of historic detail. In contract: 6/23/23. Original ask $8.995M, closing ask: $8.5M. Monthly taxes: $3280. Days on market: 53. Listing broker: Deborah Reiders, Corcoran.

NYC REAL ESTATE LINKS: Luxury residential tower at Hudson Yards proving a tough sell • Extell named in lawsuit about damage to art studios on Billionaire’s Row • 123 West 57th steadily rises along Billionaire’s Row • Savoy Club amenities debut at GM Building in Midtown • Demolition has begun at the Tombs.

GETAWAYS • The Nines

Summer weekend, Finger Lakes

Lake House on Canandaigua (Canandaigua), design-forward luxe lakefront hotel with spa
F.L.X. Table (Geneva), intimate seasonal prix fixe restaurant
Kindred Fare (Geneva), local flavors, convivial atmosphere
Argos Inn (Ithaca), historic downtown building with classic bar
Moosewood (Ithaca), home of the iconic, vegetable-forward cookbook
Inns of Aurora (Aurora, above), inn vibes and modern comforts, including spa, on Lake Cayuga
Elderberry Pond (Auburn), putting the farm in farm-to-table eating
Mirbeau Inn & Spa (Skaneateles), French manor meets spa retreat
The Krebs (Skaneateles), clubby fine dining since 1899, updated for this century

Additions or subtractions? Reply to this email or to found@foundny.com.

GETAWAYS • Finger Lakes Report

Once more to the lake

Mid-honeymoon in Curacao, the adult film industry descended on our hotel for a convention. We were caught unaware. One afternoon, we were blissfully paddling in the Caribbean and sipping daiquiris at the empty swim-up bar, the only soundtrack streaming from our newly wedded, rapidly beating hearts. By the next day’s lunch, all of the resort’s seafaring vessels were checked out and there was a DJ pumping beats imported from Brooklyn to a packed, warming pool.

Cut to: 19 summers later at the Lake House on Canandaigua in the Finger Lakes. We had just checked in for a few nights with the kids when we learned there was a wedding of a professional athlete on the premises during our stay. We greeted the news with some apprehension. We had lived the perils of mixing events and leisure stays.

The Lake House opened in 2020 after a complete, luxe redo of what was formerly the Inn on the Lake. It’s a gorgeous, amenity-laden property with sweeping views of Lake Canandaigua and artful design by TBHCo and Post Company (which also outfitted upstate getaway Inness and Raf’s with the A+ vibes in Noho). Blessedly, it seems to have been built for this type of occasion. The wedding, even when it closed the waterfront restaurant for a rehearsal dinner, was amusing background. The pool was open, the kayaks available, and the windows on The Barn, the event space where the DJ played dance music, nearly soundproof.

At the end of the wedding evening — Friday, July 7 — there were fireworks over the lake. We couldn’t decide if they were leftover from the 4th or an event planner’s flourish. Either way, everyone at the Lake House that night enjoyed them together. –Josh Albertson

GETAWAYS LINKS: Clear users now required to show ID at each airport screening • Ruth Reichl’s Hudson Valley picks • Inside Iggy’s, Nashville’s hottest restaurant opening • Aspen real estate market returning to pre-pandemic ‘normalcy’ • The 10 most chaotic airports in Europe this summer.

CULTURE & LEISURE • Classical

‘Neath the tangled wood

Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte”, Tanglewood (Lenox, MA), Sat @ 8p, Shed premium, $87 per
Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major, Orchestra of St. Luke’s & Hélène Grimaud, Caramoor (Katonah, NY), Sun @ 4p, tier 3, $142 per
Swan Lake, American Ballet Theatre, Met Opera (Lincoln Center), Fri @ 730p, Grand Tier, $147.50 per

CULTURE LINKS: Fort Greene’s historic Paramount Theatre to reopen as live music venue next year • Don’t miss Serge Charchoune at Rosenberg Co. • Frieze Art Fair acquires New York Armory Show • Hudson Valley art spaces hit hard by storm flooding • The Lower East Side’s folk historian.

GETAWAYS • Friday Routine

One last tour

ANDY BERNSTEIN, founder and executive director, HeadCount
Neighborhood you live in: Great Gorge Village, Vernon, NJ

It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
This Friday starts from a hotel room in San Francisco, being a featured panelist for a virtual talk about voting and social justice hosted by the King Center, the non-profit run by members of Martin Luther King's family. This is my last year as executive director of HeadCount, which registers people to vote at concerts, festivals, and community events, so experiences like that are ones that I really take time to cherish.

Tonight, I'll be switching gears for the closing shows of Dead & Company's "Final Tour" at Oracle Park. HeadCount has been part of every Dead & Co. tour, registering voters and running Participation Row, where we host various non-profits and promote civic participation. We also raise a ton of money through auctions. At this weekend’s San Francisco shows, we're auctioning guitars signed by the whole band, including John Mayer and Bobby Weir. We expect to gross over $1.5 million for the tour, with about $500,000 coming in this weekend — all going to charities.

Any restaurant plans for the weekend?
I'll be eating backstage catering. Depending on the venue that can be one of the best, locally sourced meals you’ve ever had — props to Saratoga Performing Arts Center — or something entirely worse.

Any weekend getaways?
When I’m not on the road, I live in a slopeside condo at Mountain Creek (above), the ski mountain closest to NYC (and onetime home to Action Park). I bought the place in 2011 as a weekend getaway when I lived in Hell's Kitchen. Then in 2018 I gave up city living and moved there full-time. So for me, every day is like a weekend getaway. When I wake up in my own bed there, I feel like I'm exactly where I want to be.

What was your last great vacation?
I've been traveling a ton, for both work and pleasure (but all fun). I went to Iceland, then to Tennessee (to see my favorite band, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard). A few weeks later I did a family vacation on a lake in Maine. I recommend them all. Iceland is so easy to get to. Direct flights from Stewart Airport in Newburgh, NY. Who woulda thunk?

RESTAURANTS • Make It Nice

Shades on the Wolf

Make It Nice is FOUND’s ongoing documentation of the small, distinct touches of restaurant, retail, bar, and hotel service that separate the sublime from the solid.

Michael Solomonov's perpetually booked rooftop spot Laser Wolf in Williamsburg is distinct in a few ways. The most plain of them? It's actually a great outdoor rooftop experience. I've yet to have anything less than a lovely time there, and yeah, I'm surprised, too. It's a rooftop restaurant.

Another reason to love it: A recent meal there saw a friend and I seated near a window, just a couple ticks before magic hour, the sun searing our retinas. My friend didn't have his sunglasses with him. In solidarity, I holstered my own. Lo: There appeared a waiter, with an offer of gratis house sunglasses. We love to see it — shades up, of course. –Foster Kamer

LOST & FOUND • Behind the Paywall

Dispatches from the frontline, from FOUND subscribers for FOUND subscribers:

A handful of favorite NYC restaurants from this week’s new subscribers: Joji (Midtown East) • Jolene (Noho) • Raku (Soho) • Agi's Counter (Crown Heights) • Gramercy Tavern (Flatiron).
Re: Hamptons Restaurant Nines, subscribers add three that didn’t make our list: