April 6th, 2007 · Comments Off on Gowanus Comfort Inn Closing in on Opening Day
The newest lodging to grace the Gowanus Hotel District is making significant progress toward opening. We headed over to Butler Street to check on the new Comfort Inn and found the fencing down, curtains in the windows and signs that it will be open soon. The new hotel is on Butler Street, between Nevins and Third Avenue in Gowanus. It belongs to McSam Hotel, which also developed the Gowanus Holiday Inn Express on Union Street.
The new 106-room Comfort Inn, which is at 279 Butler Street, on a pretty bleak industrial block in Gowanus. Its closest neighbors in terms of residential real estate are the Gowanus Houses and Wyckoff Gardens. Some of the south facing rooms will probably have great unobstructed Gowanus views.
Gowanus’ other nearly complete hotel–the boutique Le Bleu on Fourth Avenue near Sixth Street looks to be a couple of short steps behind as interior work is still going on, but it’s approaching an opening too.
Places in the neighborhood for assignations to find a room for mom when she visits.
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April 6th, 2007 · Comments Off on GL Construction Site Du Jour: 63 Roebling
We’ve featured this site before, when a pile driver showed up and started banging away and noted that Williamsburg No. 1 architect, Karl Fischer, is designing the new building. (Along with what seems like half the buildings in the neighborhood, with the other half coming from the offices of Robert Scarano. Just kidding. But not entirely.) In any case, as we wandered by the site–which we are watching for a bunch of reasons, some of which have to do with the Roebling Oil Field–we noticed that 63 Roebling qualified for GL Construction Site Du Jour status. Why? Because the gate was left open wide enough for a child or thin hipster to go pay in the mud and wander amidst the field of creosote soaked poles scattered all over the property. Good work, 63 Roebling.
A few food and retail rumblings to report in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens:
1)Cafe Eleven, on Seventh Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets is now up and running. We passed by there yesterday to get the photo you see above and can report that it looks like a nice space. A writer on the Park Slope Forum describes it as “bustling with people.” This is a good development, given Park Slope’s significant shortage of cafe seats versus people who wish to sit in them. The storefront to the right in the photo above is also morphing into something new.
2) The space at the corner of 10th Street and Seventh Avenue that once house a Japanese restaurant and, most recently, an Asian soup spot, is being renovated into a new restaurant. Building permits are up, but no word on what the new place will be.
3) Drive by that oasis of fried Oreos on Fifth Avenue known as the Chip Shop, and you’ll notice that it’s been sliced in half. The Curry Shop part of the operation is no more and the space on the corner is now occupied by a new Turkish restaurant called Alaturka. Bye bye vindaloo, hello borek.
4) Finally, ’round Carroll Gardens way, our friends at Racked, the hot new Curbed retailing blog, report the opening Go Fish! It’s a vintage furniture store and boutique on Sackett Street. They’re at 187 Sackett Street, which is between Henry and Hicks. Go forth and shop some more.
April 6th, 2007 · Comments Off on Check Out Red Hook From Above
Red Hook’s Chris Curen sent us this photo of his neighborhood as viewed from a great vantage point. While we’ve featured some shots of Red Hook and its waterfront before, this photo shows the expanse of the Red Hook Houses, which cover a significant amount of land in the neighborhood. This photo gives a sense of exactly how big the complex is.
While we’re on the topic of Red Hook, the new Real Deal has an interesting story on that whole neigbhorhood “hotness” thing that we’ve poked some fun at from time to time. The story says that there isn’t that much buying up of Red Hook going on because there isn’t that much to buy up:
Despite hype about the neighborhood being oh-so-hip, a lack of inventory is discouraging buyers. Yet brokers are still hopeful that new projects in the area may help turn the tide…But there are also several obstacles to Red Hook’s renaissance. Most of the neighborhood is zoned for industrial, manufacturing, transportation and utility usage. The housing supply for buyers is low, and that won’t change without modifications to zoning laws. This would require various interest groups and politicians to agree on the future composition of Red Hook — a task that has been left unfinished for the last 20 years.
We’re almost afraid of what would happen to Red Hook in a rezoning, given the way the city has treated the neighborhood with something verging on callous disregard in the past. The forces that will be set in motion when the 800 pound gorilla–the waterfront Ikea–enters the room, remain to be seen.
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All City, one of the Village Voice blogs, found and posted this gem. They call the star, who walks around asking people on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, “Why people do hang shoes on electric wires?” the Borat of Billyburg. Riveting.
Our recent photo encounter with the Brooklyn Monk Parrots at Green-Wood Cemetery naturally raised the question of the status of the poaching situation that was widely reported last year. (Dozens, if not hundreds, of parrots were snatched from their nests, wiping out several colonies.) So, we asked Steve Baldwin, of Brooklyn Parrots, who is the authoritative source when it comes to our cool green friends, if parrots were still being poached and if the situation was getting better or worse. His answer: the poaching seems to have diminished, but several of the parrot colonies have been pretty decimated.
Mr. Baldwin said that, as far he knows, birds are no longer being snatched from their nests in significant numbers. “My concern is as the weather warms, and street activity increases, we may see more incidents,” he said. “This is why I’ve tried to ‘wake up’ the neighborhoods to the fact that people should be on the lookout for suspicious activity.”
He mentioned the hopeful fact that new birds have even reappeared in a few nests from which others were taken, but added that he isn’t anxious to publicize the locations because he doesn’t “want to tip off any bad guys who might be Googling for the parrots!” Several of the colonies were decimated by poaching last year. A colony on Avenue I in Midwood was “hit hard” as was Marine Park. Sadly, Mr. Baldwin noes that “I believe all the nests on Gerritsen Avenue are now empty.”
At least one freelance parrot poacher operating around Brooklyn College was said to have been caught last year. “His modus operandi was to park his van on Campus Drive, and sit in the driver’s seat, reading a newspaper to divert suspicion from any regular passing police patrols,” Mr. Baldwin said. “He set up a wooden box by the kerb, baited it, and attached a line to the box. He watched when the birds came close, and if any went under the box, pulled the line. He nabbed about a dozen birds this way. Eventually, neighbors became suspicious, and raised the alarm.”
Another poaching tale came from a pet store on Kings Highway. Mr. Baldwin said that a friend was in the shop looking at Quaker Parrots. “One of the employees, apparently a teenager, casually mentioned that his roommate had grabbed a few birds from somewhere in South Brooklyn,” he said. “She played dumb, as if she was unaware of the poaching, and let him spill his tale. Apparently his roommate thought doing this was legal, and completely OK. I think this poacher was just a one-timer, not a systematic poacher.”
GL is certainly glad to hear that the parrot poaching problems seems to have diminished, but there is the possibility that the people taking these wonderful birds could strike again. Mr. Baldwin sadly had to remove his wonderful Brooklyn parrot Google map mashup from his site because he didn’t want to provide poachers with a location guide, but we can tell you that the Green-Wood colony in the main gate on Fifth Avenue is worth checking out. The nests are very high up, so the parrots are safe. Visit them if you are passing by. You’ll be glad you did.
April 5th, 2007 · Comments Off on Patriotism and Danger in Greenpoint
This interesting juxtaposition of images comes to us from our Greenpoint correspondent, who knows a good street scene when she sees one. The interestingly angled Porta-Potty for the adventurous worker that needs to go, no matter what the angle, is located at 164 Norman Avenue, which has been the location of some working condition-related issues in the past. The flags in the frame are a bonus. We don’t want to know what will happen if that thing tips over.
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April 5th, 2007 · Comments Off on Atlantic Yards #2: Another Lawsuit to be Filed Today
Another expected Atlantic Yards lawsuit–this one challenging the validity of the Environmental Impact Statement process and the approval of the project–is being filed tomorrow. The suit seeks to block the project. Twenty-seven co-petitioners, including Develop Don’t Destroy, are part of the suit against the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) and Forest City Ratner. The suit challenges the “fatally flawed environmental review…and approval” of the 8 million square foot, $4 billion Atlantic Yards plan. The suit also seeks a preliminary injunction to enjoin the project from proceeding, including: demolitions, construction, disposition of public property or commitment and expenditure of public funds. Other litigation challenges the plan to take land for the project via eminent domain. The announcement is at 11:45 AM at Brooklyn Bear’s Community Garden, which is at the corner of Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue.
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April 5th, 2007 · Comments Off on Atlantic Yards #1: A Traffic Circle for Atlantic & Flatbush?!?
Some local officials are turning their attention to the traffic mess that the Atlantic Yards development would create at the already traffic-clogged intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues if the project goes forward. Jotham Sederstrom outlines some of the possibilities including “a Grand Army Plaza-style circle near the site” in a piece that we are reproducing, in part, because it did not appear on the “new & improved” Daily News site. (Note to NYDN: Can someone please work on New & Improved V.3.0 and launch it, like, tomorrow? V.2.0 is awful beyond words.) In any case, here’s some of the detail:
In an April 2 letter to city and state officials, Councilman David Yassky and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries laid out a wide-ranging list of remedies to handle the 3,000 extra cars an hour expected to flood downtown Brooklyn at peak times once the controversial $4.2 billion project is completed.
“Everybody who lives near the area knows that traffic is already a nightmare on Atlantic and Flatbush Aves., but when the arena is built, the traffic will be utterly disastrous,” said Yassky (D-Brooklyn Heights), who said that if developer Forest City Ratner refuses to fund the ideas, the money should come from the city and state.
The recommendations, ranging from tunnels and overpasses to increased parking meter fees and express buses, comes as a response to an environmental impact statement that anticipates gridlock at intersections near the project but offers no solutions.
Among the most ambitious ideas are three options to combat traffic at Flatbush, Atlantic and Fourth Aves., including a circle, a tunnel under Atlantic Ave. and an overpass on Flatbush Ave.
“The core point is that that intersection is already impassible for hours each day, and it will only get worse,” Yassky said. “I don’t think you can deal with traffic in the area without first dealing with that intersection.”
The recommendations are outlined in a letter sent to Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff and Pat Foye, the new chairman of the Empire State Development Corp. They include:
A Park Avenue-style overpass on Flatbush that would rise over both Atlantic and Fourth Aves.
Designing the arena so that all loading and unloading of trucks takes place off the street.
Express buses on Atlantic and Flatbush Aves.
Reducing tolls at the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel to divert traffic away from free bridges such as the Manhattan Bridge.
Free LIRR, MTA or ferry passes with each Brooklyn Nets ticket sold.
Raising the cost of parking meters in the area to discourage commuters from driving.
Readjusting traffic lights to allow pedestrians more time to cross Atlantic and Flatbush Aves.
Some are cosmetic changes, some have already been proposed and some, like the overpass idea, get at broader urban design problems with the proposal. We will simply note that (a). the traffic concerns were downplayed during the Environmental Impact process and (b). it is interesting that the proposal has state and city taxpayers footing the bill for improvements if the developer won’t and (c). the city’s print media was either boosterish or unquestioning during the approval process. Had the review process been more straightforward, open and inclusive–and had print media given the story the space and analysis it deserved–transportation issues (and dozens of others) might have been dealt with before approval was even considered.
April 5th, 2007 · Comments Off on New Documentary to Capture Coney Island Change
The YouTube clip below is a trailer for a documentary being made about Coney Island by four NYU film students. It was produced in the last couple of days, because it includes footage from last Friday’s “Save Coney Island” rally at City Hall. They write, “this film will document what might be the last season for amusement park rides at Coney Island before the area becomes gentrified.” Definitely worth viewing, especially as it includes Coney Island demolition porn. We know of at least one other filmmaker doing a documentary on the current situation, as we ran into him on a very cold day (when Coney Island did not seem a very year-round place) back in February.
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Remember the No Baby Gap Building in on Fifth Avenue in the South Slope? Well, the site of the old Salvation Army Store has a very new look. It’s now the Five One Five Condo as photographer and photoblogger Sam Horine (aka f.trainer) noted. The website promotes it as “Juicy Real Estate, Brooklyn-Style” and the new building is being sold as an environmentally-friendly green development with a green roof, bamboo flooring, solar-powered outdoor lights and more. “featuring planters filled with colorful succulents.” The roof actually includes “Xpotential Sleepers…created from recycling scrap car parts.” Then, there is bamboo flooring, rubber tiles made from renewable tropical rubber plants and Toto Plumbing Fixtures, which leaves us picturing a little dog from Kansas doing his business in a state-of-the-art bathroom on a green roof in Park Slope. Oh, and solar-powered outdoor lights. Two bedrooms are listed between $650,000 and $700,000. The corner has come a long way from the Salvation Army days.
April 5th, 2007 · Comments Off on Save Coney Island: The Cartoon
Here’s a cartoon in this week’s Village Voice that captures last week’s Save Coney Island demonstration. As of now, it isn’t posted on the Voice’s cartoon page, so this is from a scan that is making the round in Coney Island circles.
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There is a certain fatalism that many North Brooklyn residents express when it comes to the health effects of the Greenpoint Oil Spill and other toxic problems. After all, these are communities where a half-century after some 30 million gallons of oil were spilled along the banks of Newtown Creek, and much of it is still sloshing around underground. Government only recently began trying to force a faster cleanup and that is only because organizations like Riverkeeper have worked hard to litigate and force action.
It is not a stretch to say that the Greenpoint Oil Spill is one of the nation’s greatest known environmental horrors, yet an astounding lack of information surrounds it and–just as seriously–all of its smaller cousins in Greenpoint and Williamsburg. No one knows the exact parameters of the spill, for instance, since it has moved on the water table over the decades and the state hasn’t done any testing to definitively track it. Some residents fear that is has spread far south of its original boundaries, traveling deeper and deeper into residential areas including areas that are now sprouting luxury condos. Nor has anyone analyzed the health problems from which residents are suffering. No comprehensive studies have been done, despite indications of frightening cancer clusters that experts believe are related to industrial pollution. The problem is far wider than the Greenpoint Oil Spill. As of several years ago, more than 160 businesses in Greenpoint alone were engaged in activities that could cause toxic problems. The issue is just as serious in Williamsburg.
We received a copy of an email written by Laura Hofmann, a lifelong Greenpoint resident who has been trying to get attention for the health problems afflicting residents and demanding that public officials conduct thorough studies to determine the extent of contamination-related health problems.
It is written with the voice of someone who is not a public health expert, but who knows what she sees in her community. Here is some of what she writes:
I’ve lived in Greenpoint all my life and my family medical history reads like an Area 51 report. Besides that, it just struck me that I knew of too many people with autoimmune diseases, too many people with brain tumors or brain cancer and so on. I always thought that brain cancer was pretty rare. I found that I was correct. I found plenty of info on the internet showing that brain cancer is indeed a rarer form of cancer when it’s a primary type and not metastatic. Health and environmental officials have never thought very much of my concerns.
Well, a couple of weeks ago we learned that my own mother has primary brain lymphoma. (confirmed at Sloan Kettering hospital.) Now that we are getting an education about types of cancer, we learned that it is pretty rare (even for brain cancer) for someone without an altered immune system to have this type of brain cancer. It’s more common in folks with HIV, organ recipents and rare birth immuno disease. I then got curious about folks I knew with brain tumors. Turns out that our friends wife, who died over 7 years ago, died of the same type of brain cancer. And his sister also has this same rare brain cancer. They all live in Greenpoint. There are others we know who’ve had brain cancer. We’re presently looking into what types…Make no mistake, that I will get a preliminary view complete and I’ll do everything I can to get the story into the press and embarrass the hell out of health & environmental agencies for not doing their job here.
I think it is nothing short of manslaughter to knowingly encourage folks to move into the community without adequate warning about community environmental offenders.
And guess what? Brain cancer can be caused by benzene, pvc and dioxin exposure as well as other chemicals. We’ve been exposed to all of that and then some. And I’m not surprised. It’s common sense. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that bananas are good for you and benzene is not.
There must be other folks in the area, who suspect the same as I. And there must be others who have loved ones suffering with brain cancer/tumor.
Ms. Hofmann is collecting information on her own. (She can be reached at bargeparkpals (at) webtv (dot) net.) The Federal, state and city governments have not conducted any comprehensive studies of the health of residents.
While many of the illnesses are likely connected to the Greenpoint Oil Spill (and carcinogenic vapors have been detected in homes), there are also cancer clusters in locations that are a distance from the spill. There is, for instance, a cluster of very, very rare bone cancers on Devoe Street that is a significant distance from the oil spill. In fact, a group named Neighborhood Roots says that health problems are as great or greater in Williamsburg. The group says that public officials like Sen. Charles Schumer that only want to study the oil spill area are “ignoring a potentially very serious health disaster in the Williamsburg community…The State DEC is aware of toxic industrial sites in Willliamsburg near Devoe Street that could potentially be the cause of these rare cancers, but no one is calling for that study.”
The issue of North Brooklyn’s environmental “hot spots” and their effect on the health of residents will only become greater as time goes on, especially as large numbers of formerly industrial sites sprout new residential buildings. Unfortunately, it will likely be another 20-30 years before the impact on thousands of new residents are known, assuming someone in the public sector thinks it important enough to pay attention in a systematic way.
Check out this specimen. You’re looking at 141 Dupont Street. It was sent in by our Greenpoint correspondent and actually displaced another site in Williamsburg we were going to feature today. Why? Our correspondent writes:
This is very dangerous. A lot of small children live on this block; children small enough to get through the opening of this fence.
Not be cynical, but one can sense the tragic way this could go. A couple of children will be injured or killed somewhere in Greenpoint or Williamsburg, where there are dozens, if not hundreds of demolition and construction sites with flimsy fences and ones that are open wide enough for a child. Afterwards, the Department of Buildings will finally react.
We are puzzled by many things, and one of them is the frequent nonfeasance of New York City’s Department of Buildings, an agency which is so vital to the quality of life of every Brooklynite, yet which is apparently incapable of handling some of its responsibilities. Like making sure construction sites aren’t wide open to any child on the block, for instance.
The fact is that a poorly trained bear could drive around North Brooklyn and cite dozens of construction sites whose lousy walls and gate are a threat to public safety in a good hour’s work on any given day after working hours. The interesting question is why the Department of Buildings doesn’t devote a couple of hours to the task. We don’t feature these things because we’ve got a fence fetish. Rather, every time we see one, we picture a child, a pet, or the occasional idiotic drunk stumbling into one spots and getting hurt or killed.
April 4th, 2007 · Comments Off on Gag Me: Why Do Mr. Sitt and Mr. Ratner Like Silence?
As anyone who’s been following the Thor Equities Coney Island saga or the earlier Forest City Ratner buyout of property owners in the Atlantic Yards footprint, confidentiality clauses are the latest fashion accessory in development deals. The new issue of the Real Deal offers a nice picture of the trend:
Thor offered its tenants in Coney Island the opportunity to stay on for one year. In return, the business owners must remain silent about redevelopment efforts that “may generate opposition from other landowners, businesses and certain members of the public” for four years after signing…Violators would pay $10,000 to Thor for each infraction.
In addition to stipulating that tenants promise not to “engage in any activities intended to oppose or address the redevelopment or rezoning of Coney Island,” including public speeches, rallies, parades or marches and the gathering or signing of petitions, it also forbids them from making “any statement to any person concerning or relating to the redevelopment activities of [Thor] or its members or affiliates.”
The developer says the gag rule is necessary not to keep tenants from speaking out, but to protect confidential information.
Thor said confidentiality requirements are necessary because the developer is providing information to bought-out tenants that it does not want made public.
“Thor offered all of the tenants, licensees and operators on the Boardwalk the opportunity to remain for an additional season and to be a part of the permanent project moving forward,” said Lee Silberstein, spokesman for the company. “In the process, it became clear that Thor would be sharing confidential information with them and therefore decided the confidentiality clause is needed.”
This doesn’t explain how participating in a demonstration would betray “confidential information,” but okay.
The story also notes that “at a time when development projects face concerted, organized opposition — thanks in part to blogs, which give anyone an electronic soapbox — it makes sense to buy the silence of the people most directly affected by a development: the ones who are displaced.”
Maybe you remember the guy who went a little nuts in the head at the Kensington Post Office and became a YouTube star? (If you didn’t catch it, here’s another easy opportunity, to the right.) Well, Jotham Sederstrom wrote about him this week after he “outed himself” to the Daily News. We’re reposting the article here because the “new and improved” NYDN website is so awful that it has rendered itself almost useless. (Note to NYDN web people: Please fix it. We can’t blog or link good Brooklyn stories that we can’t find.) Here’s some of what Mr. Sederstrom wrote:
The outraged customer of a notorious Brooklyn post office whose profanity-laced outburst was immortalized on YouTube.com wants to put the mess behind him.
Unemployed receptionist Richard Marino, 44, outed himself to the Daily News as the man in the video having an explosive postal meltdown after enduring long lines and rude service at the Kensington post office branch. The tirade drew sympathy from many fellow customers, and the five-minute, 43-second clip became an Internet sensation.
“I am struggling to put it behind me and move forward. I want to send positive vibes out to all concerned, without any animosity and grudges, and let God take care of the outcome,” Marino told The News.
The clip shows an irate Marino demanding to see a manager – until cops step in. “The customer’s always right; you were wrong!” Marino shouts to an unseen clerk, apparently the only one working the windows that afternoon.
“You were wrong. You’re an a—–e,” Marino says as he paces.
But Marino said he isn’t the lunatic he’s made out to be in the YouTube clip, which has been viewed more than 20,000 times – 18,000 of those after The News identified the videographer last month as fellow Kensington resident and marketing executive Jefferson Pang, who captured the footage in December.
“I am a very active, involved, diligent, mindful, aware, alert, watchful member of my community,” Marino said last week, adding that he is a detail-oriented, regular participant in Community Board 12 and 66th Precinct Community Council meetings.
The McDonald Ave. post office came under fire recently after customers complained of routinely spotty service, employees’ bad attitudes and a lack of postal equipment.
As of last week, however, it was clear that some fellow customers at the Kensington branch seemed to believe the location still needed more improvement.
“To everyone who is like, ‘Oh my gosh, that man is way out of line!’ Um, no, he isn’t,” one YouTube viewer wrote…
Marino said he wants to let bygones be bygones.
“During this season of Easter and Passover, which is a blessed, holy, peaceful season, I have decided to keep the peace and move on,” Marino wrote in an e-mail to The News. “God wants us to be instruments of his peace, and those of us whom believe in Jesus Christ abide by His teaching of forgiveness and letting it go.”
We checked in on the Roebling Oil Field–the site at N. 11th Street and Roebling in Williamsburg where oil has oozed from the ground–on Sunday and found that despite the fact that the building is now rising above street level, a slight scent of oil can still be detected on the western side of the site near Driggs Avenue. As of yesterday afternoon the Department of Environmental Conservation had begun drilling “test wells” at N. 11th and Roebling, which GL had been told they would do about a month ago.
Neighborhood sources report that construction workers continue to work on the end of the site that is being excavated without any protective gear. GL talked to News 12 Brooklyn about the site on Monday and the developer apparently told the station, after a report in the New York Times based on GL’s coverage, that testing will be done to determine the source of the contamination. (Oil began oozing into the site last fall when excavation began. The most likely source is a ruptured oil tank under a nearby building, which is shown on neighborhood environmental maps.)
Meanwhile, a local resident told GL that oil was discovered at a different development site on Bayard Street, but its presence was not reported to environmental officials. “There was oil coming out of the ground,” he said. “They pumped out some of the surface oil and laid a foundation without a protective membrane,” he told us. “They literally covered it up.”
He referred to the site as “the Poster Child for everything that’s wrong with oversight.”
If the report is accurate, it would be the fourth site within a quarter mile radius in Greenpoint where oil has been reported in the ground at a construction site. (This is not the site of the notorious Greenpoint Oil Spill, which is some distance away, but has raised concerns about residents of a broader spread of that oil or of significant neighborhood contamination.)
Several years ago, New York State declined to do testing of conditions on the Williamsburg waterfront, where toxic contamination left behind by manufactured gas plants and oil facilities is believed to be severe. The state left it up to developers to conduct testing on their own sites. Williamsburg activist Phil DePaolo recalled a visit with executives of Trans Gas, which has lobbied to build a generating plant on the waterfront. The firm did soil testing down to bedrock because most of its facility would have been underground and it kept samples in a freezer. Mr. DePaolo described the deep soil sample he was shown as smelling like “tar, sewage and oil that had been left in a jar in the sun to cook for a month.”
Maps show that branches of the Bushwick Creek once ran from the East River to the site we call the Roebling Oil Field.
“I’m not comfortable with leaving it up to the developers to tell us that everything is cool.”
(Coming Up Tomorrow: More on Alarming Cases of Brain Cancer in Greenpoint)
Is Enrique Norten the Brooklyn starchitect of choice? Well, Atlantic Yards has Frank Gehry, but Mr. Norten and his firm TEN Arquitectos could be closing fast. Mr. Norten will apparently be designing new buildings on Thor Equities property in Red Hook where the Revere Dome stood until recently. A neighborhood source says that Mr. Norten’s work there is “a certainty” and that he would design up to six mid-rise buildings. That is, if the zoning on the property is changed from manufacturing to mixed use, including housing.
Elsewhere, Mr. Norten has a design for a project known as the Park Slope Apartments on Fourth Avenue and Sixth Street (rendering above). While there’s no sign of movement on the site, the properties–391 and 393 Fourth Avenue and 278 Sixth Street–were bought for nearly $8 million by 6th Street Development LLC. The gas station in the rendering here has since been sold and is being developed as a condo. The building surrounded by black netting is Leviev Boymelgreen’s Novo Park Slope.
Mr. Norten, of course, has also produced a design for the Brooklyn Visual and Performing Arts Library. That is the interesting-looking glass structure pictured above and to the left whose progress has been stalled for some time.
April 3rd, 2007 · Comments Off on Hanging Out with the Brooklyn Parrots
It’s been a while since we wrote about those cool Brooklyn Monk Parrots, but we were reminded of them in a big way when we visited Green-Wood Cemetery this weekend. As we were leaving, we heard their unique squawking. It’s a sound unlike any other bird you’ll hear in New York City. We looked down and saw two of them playing in the grass. Then, we looked up and saw another pair in the trees. At that point, we trained our telephoto on the gate, where we know they nest, and it didn’t disappoint.
We wonder about whether the outrageous parrot poaching problem has diminished or is still going on. A couple of months ago, Brooklyn parrot expert Steve Baldwin actually removed his parrot map from his Brooklyn Parrots website. The fact that Mr. Baldwin had to drop the map to protect the birds is very, very sad. In any case, if you’re around Green-Wood Cemetery, check the birds out. They will put a smile on your face no matter how rough a day you are having.
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April 3rd, 2007 · Comments Off on Feeling the Heat: Sitt Softening on Astroland Closing Date?
Looks like developer Joe Sitt may be feeling some heat from all of the protests and concerns about his plan to close Astroland at the end of the 2007 season, possibly one-two years before any replacement project is approved. Mr. Sitt tells the New York Post that he is “‘willing to keep Astroland open’ – or some form of it – for at least the 2008 summer season if his project is delayed.”
Opponents of his plan have recently keyed in on the possibility that he will demolish vast parcels of property and leave Coney Island bereft of activity for several years. Sitt, however, told the Post that “The last thing I want is for Coney Island to go dark.”
The sticking point, of course, is Mr. Sitts demand for including luxury condos as part of his $2 billion redevelopment plan. There is strong opposition to rezoning the heart of Coney Island’s “amusement district” to including housing.
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April 3rd, 2007 · Comments Off on Red Hook Graving Dock Starts Looking Like Ikea Parking Lot
[Photo courtesy of Chris Curen]
What you are looking at above, is an “action shot” of Ikea work crews filling in the historic Graving Dock on the former Todd Shipyard property in Red Hook. The vast dry dock is now almost full. The conveyor on the right is used to dump fill into the dock, which is brought in by ship. Preservationists and working waterfront advocates had pleaded with Ikea to preserve the dock and the Municipal Art Society had filed a suit to prevent the filling. The Swedish firm began filling the dock shortly after the lawsuit was filed, saying it needed the area for surface parking.
