An Unlikely Contender in a Developers' Beauty Contest

THE NEW YORK TIMES
May 25, 2003

By TARA BAHRAMPOUR
The New York Times

Earlier this year, when the National Association of Home Builders announced the five finalists for its 2003 award for the country's best for-sale housing community, most contenders were from places like Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., and Bonita Springs, Fla.

But one had a grittier provenance: Brooklyn, N.Y. That development, the Oceana Condominium and Club in Brighton Beach, is, in fact, the only finalist from New York City to be found among all 31 award categories - from best loft development to best garden apartment community - that the association has created.

The project, still under construction, will have 16 buildings with 850 apartments along the oceanfront where the Brighton Beach Baths long stood. The Muss Development Company of Forest Hills, Queens, is building the $250 million complex.

Today, it is a gated, landscaped complex with a gym, a large lawn, and indoor and outdoor swimming pools. With red brick exteriors and decorative cement globes, the design is meant to evoke traditional Brooklyn housing, but among the more modest buildings of Brighton Beach, it stands out like a gleaming resort.

When luxury housing was first proposed for the site, some people argued that local residents would be priced out. After some concessions, like lower building heights (they now range from 7 to 12 stories), Community Board 13 supported the plan.

At $400,000 for a two-bedroom apartment and $1.2 million for a four-bedroom waterfront penthouse with a large terrace, the condominiums are still out of reach for many local residents. But two-thirds of the apartments have been sold so far, said Diana Jabber, senior vice president of the development company.

Manuel Chiuten, a plastic surgeon from the Philippines, moved into the complex with his wife three years ago; since then they have bought two more units there.

"We used to go to the beach often, then we saw the sign," he said, referring to a billboard that presented a rendering of the complex to passers-by on Brighton Beach Avenue. His wife, who is from Ukraine, said the area reminded her of childhood vacations on the Black Sea.

Oceana did not win the home builders award. But Ms. Jabber was not too disappointed, considering the competition.

"These are these beautiful places that they put up in Carmel, Arizona, Florida, where you have these exquisite golf resorts," she said. "For a Northeastern urban community to get this far - it's just not done here very often."