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Is the SoBro Moment Finally Fading?

Don't look know but the SoBro boomlet may finally be fizzling. Brokers are blaming the one-two punch of a shortage "an inventory of renovated properties appealing to buyers seeking deals on the fringe" and the credit crunch. The new issue of the Real Deal takes a look at the SoBro Moment and concludes that "the end of cheap financing" means that buyers have "largely missed the bus on the much-hyped southern portion of SoBro." The first-ever condo in Mott Haven, for instance, was just finished this year. Called Bronx Bricks, it's a five-story converted print shop with 11 lofts that went on sale last July. Ten of the 11 units have sold for prices ranging from $395K to $795K. Then there are Mott Haven townhomes (a few blocks worth) selling for $500K (unrenovated) and 1,600 square foot condos on the Grand Concourse for $250K-$300K. None are apparently moving very well right now. Eh, it'll come around again.

No First Saturday This Month at Brooklyn Museum

Attention fans of First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum: there will be none this month. Well, there will be a First Saturday, but there just won’t be anything going on at the Museum. The Urbanite blog reports “It’s not happening!” and a check of the museum’s website shows that the next listing for First Saturday is October 4 when there will be a Special Salsa Dance Party from 9-11 PM. Festivities will start with the Rude Mechanical Orchestra on Eastern Parkway. It will be the Tenth Anniversary Party for the popular series.

New Orleans Residents Can Return, Mayor Says

NEW ORLEANS — Mayor C. Ray Nagin announced Wednesday that all residents of New Orleans would be allowed to return to their homes immediately, reversing a decision that prevented them from returning until Thursday following the evacuation of the city in advance of Hurricane Gustav...

Mr. Nagin said in the interview on Wednesday that his goal in setting the Thursday return date had been to get generators in grocery stores and other businesses up and running before letting people back into their neighborhoods. But with nowhere else to go, evacuees gathered on the outskirts of New Orleans — some sleeping in their cars, others in parking lots and in the streets — clamoring to be let back in.

“What are they going to do about people that get stuck out on the side of the road without money or gas?” asked Raymond Taylor, a taxi driver from the Gentilly neighborhood, sitting in his cab.