Toll Brothers Has a Secret

"I think that some of the big buildings being built on the water will not appeal to everybody," says Barak.

Thus far, about 40% of the 180 units at Tower 1 of Northside Piers have been sold, with about 70% of the units having been released for sale, says David Von Spreckelsen, a vice president at Toll Brothers who heads the New York City office. Eventually two more towers, totaling as many as 400 additional units, will be built in coming years at the site.

A visit to the Northside Piers sales office confirmed that Toll cut listing prices on 17 two-bedroom units in the project by $200,000, or about 20%. The units, which will eventually have views of the second tower to be built at the site next year, were "mispriced from the beginning," Von Spreckelsen says.

So far, the remainder of the building has sold at list prices near $850 per square foot, with some units seeing a 5% price increase since January, Von Spreckelsen says. Essentially all of the studios and one-bedrooms have been sold in the first tower. Two-bedrooms and three-bedrooms have been a "challenge to sell," he says. "It's a younger market than we thought."

Nonetheless, he expects the entire tower to eventually sell for an average price of $850 per square foot, putting it at the top end of pricing in Williamsburg. New condo projects in Williamsburg are selling at a range of $700 per square foot on the low end to $850 per square foot on the high end, says Prudential Douglas Elliman's Barak.