The new & improved BrickUnderground is here!

If things look a little different around here, that’s because BrickUnderground’s gut renovation went live this weekend.   We’re still working out some kinks (be sure to drop us an email if something looks strange and let us know what browser you’re using), but most of the fruits of our seven-month labor are ready for sharing.
 
Besides a completely revamped look, the highlights of the new BrickUnderground include:

• Easier navigation  Our three new sub-channels--The Building, The Market and Your Home--will help you get where you want to go faster.  And all of our recurring columns—from My Big Fat Board Interview to the NYC Renovation Chronicles--are now also accessible from one central location.

• Expanded, easier to use, and moderated (!!) discussion boards We’ve added a “neighborhoods” forum so you can do a shout out for the best drycleaner in Gramercy Park, and we’ve also brought on board a pair of passionate, articulate, non-business-as usual moderators who also happen to be real-estate obsessed, vertical-living junkies.  They will be starting provocative threads, sharing their prodigious knowledge, maintaining a reasonable quality of life in the forums, and even providing cover for shy would-be commenters.  And under their watch, we can now offer anonymous commenting, so that commenting or asking a question is now a total no-brainer.

• New contributors  Today marks the kickoff of CompsQueen, a new weekly column devoted to demographic and pricing trends in New York City real estate, as well as the dark art of using comparables and common sense to determine an apartment's value. Later this week we will hand the reins of our NYC Renovation Chronicles column to Manhattan architect David Katz, who, in the process of demystifying the renovation process in NYC, plans to explain how a plumber is like the drummer in a symphony orchestra.

So, come on in, take a look around and stay awhile.   And if you spot something we should add to our punch list, let us know.