If you’re a very early morning reader, we apologize that a few posts lacked complete links early on. This was because our superb–excellent, wonderful, best of the best–Time Warner Road Runner service was on the blink again. Whether it was just us or the neighborhood, we don’t know. We updated everything once we were outside of Timewarnerstan. Given that our connection problems see to go one for days and days once they start, we’re keeping our fingers crossed. Meantime, we simply say: Meep. Meep. Yeah, right. And this: Not that we love Verizon DSL either, but will you clowns get your act together and offer DSL in GL’s neck of the woods so that we can lose the Road Runner.

We’re a little late coming to this party, but we love statistics and a couple jumped out at us when we read the NY Times story on the impact of females on the real estate market. We have long wondered what would happen to the Brooklyn market when all of the condos under construction come online. Our own theory is that there are parts of Brooklyn–say, Williamsburg–that are going to have a serious short-term problem absorbing all of the new units and that there is going to be a lot of downward pressure on prices. To put it crudely, people that bought in at the top of the market are going to take a bath. Or, at the very least, have to hold on to their property for years to break even. In any case, here is the info that provoked that outburst:

Brooklyn has 5,888 condominiums under construction and another 11,634 units planned, according to data gathered by Halstead Property…Apartments are taking far longer to sell. Apartments in Dumbo, Williamsburg and Brooklyn Heights sat on the market for an average of 111 days last quarter, compared with 62 days in the corresponding period in 2005.

None of this factors in the units coming on the market in Long Island City, which might be said to be targeting a similar market as Williamsburg developers. On the other hand, it should all be okay sometime between 2010 and 2030.

So, about all that oil on the surface of the Gowanus, a reader leaves the following comment on yesterday’s post:

That oil depot just north of Union St has applied under our New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program–a program that has us tax payers covering up to 25% of the cost of all the reconstruction on the brownfield site. But under this program, the oil depot guys have acknowledged that they participated in causing the contimination and there for are responsible for cleanup of all such contiminants beyond their site boarder. This cleanup is all going to be tricky given the water forces keep moving this stuff around–inland and through the estuary.

Interesting.

Related Posts:
Gowanus Water Quality Update: Still Oily
Leak Causing Gowanus Oil Slick?

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related information and images. On Thursday, we focus on food.

Food:

• Red Hook Smackdown: Good Fork vs. 360 (Good Fork Wins) [Chowhound]
• Gimme Coffee is ‘Damn Fine’ [Eating for Brooklyn]
• Wednesday Food and Drink Roundup [Brooklyn Record]
• Coffee & Pastry at Mona Lisa Apres the Dyker Heights Lights [Chowhound]
• Mr. Grimaldi’s Back in Business [Dumbo NYC]
• Park Slope Food vs. Fort Greene Food [Not Eating Out in New York]
• Schnitzel Haus in Bay Ridge [Project Me]
• New ‘Brooklyn Classic’ Pie at Layla Jones on Court Street [Brooklyn Record]
• Mangia on Fifth Ave. in Park Slope Serves ‘Slop’ [Chowhound]
• Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Food Wars [CPC]

Not Food:

• ESDC: Nearly Half Billion Dollars Less Revenue from Atlantic Yards [NYT]
• Cut 270,000 Square Feet of Offices, Lost a Half Billion? [AYR]
• Law School Librarian Killed by Truck in Brooklyn Heights [NYDN]
• Five Condos Come of Age in Dumbo [Gothamist]
• Life Improves at Hellish Adelphi Post Office [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Brooklyn Taxi Guide [Daily Slope]
• 29 Years Ago: Saturday Night Fever Opens, Watch the Trailer [Sunset Parker]
• Sky 485: New Condos with Awesome Prospect Expressway Views [Brownstoner]
• PLG is Not ‘WICKED Dangerous’ [Across the Park]
• Great Gift Idea: Chrismukkah Book [OTBKB]

Van Brunt Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn

Things continue to move at the site of the Revere Sugar Plant in Red Hook owned by developer Joe Sitt and Thor Equities. This flickr photo, one of several posted this morning by Keylimesteve (of Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie fame) shows that legally required signage identifying Breeze as the demolition contractor has gone up. Interestingly, the view through the Revere gate into the property has also been blocked. At least Thor won’t have to worry about more photos of demolition equipment and workers taken through the gate. Now, if they could only put up a curtain across the water at the Beard Street Warehouses, no one would be able to photograph or videotape the demolition at all.

Related Post:
Revere Sugar Demolition Porn Foreplay

We call the building pictured above, at Fifth Avenue and 13th Street, the “No Baby Gap Building.” That’s because it was originally rumored to be the home of a Baby Gap on the ground floor and the construction fencing still sports “No Baby Gap” graffiti. There doesn’t appear to be a Baby Gap going into the No Baby Gap building, which is said to be a seven-story condo, but we don’t know what the ground floor retail use will be. The building is rising on the site of the old Salvation Army Store. There is also a building demolition underway across Fifth Avenue.

There is news to report about the Child’s Restaurant Building, one of the gems of the Coney boardwalk, and a property that is not controlled by developer Joe Sitt and Thor Equities. Kinetic Carnival passed along word earlier this week from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (you can read the full text here at the Coney Island Message Board) that Taconic Investment Properties, which has leased the site and owns a very large parcel next door, is planning to turn the old restaurant back into–surprise!–a restaurant. The Daily Eagle reports:

Taconic signed a 49-year lease for the Child’s two-story building with an open-air mezzanine in August, with the option to extend the lease or purchase the property if the landlord decides to sell. That same month, the company acquired from the City Investment Fund, at no recorded cost, the 168,000-square-foot lot across the street, where the Washington Bathhouse once stood.

“We are developing our plan for Child’s right now,” said Bendit, co-founder of Taconic. “I think ultimately, we’d like to restore it to what it once was, which was a food-type enterprise,” with possibilities including a combination of a restaurant, market and catering service. “I think [plans for the lot] are really going to be predicated on what the EDC and the city come up with.” Bendit added that he didn’t want to go into specifics about Taconic’s wishes for the site before the city made its final zoning determinations. But according to Recchia, housing is definitely on the table.

The Fund bought the lot in June for $90 million from Thor Equities — $77 million more than Thor had paid for the property only a year earlier.

The Child’s property and Taconic’s plans are also featured in a story by Jotham Sederstrom in today’s Daily News:

In addition, a residential building with retail components is being eyed for a 180,000-square-foot lot across W. 21st St. from Childs. How high it will rise has not been determined, said Charles Bendit, chief executive at Taconic.

No restaurant had been chosen for the landmarked terra cotta building, Bendit said, but plans call for a food court, restaurant, grocery store or catering hall.

The wonderful Child’s building is one Coney landmark that truly deserves a bright new life. If you’ve never strolled by it and looked at it closely, you should. It’s a seaside treasure.

The Empire State Development Corporation sent out Atlantic Yards condemnation notifications on December 8 addressed to “Dear Interested Party.” The Ratnergram letter, which appears here in a form too small to read, basically notifies the “Interested Party” or parties that the ESDC has authorized the use of eminent domain to acquire land for the Atlantic Yards project. (You can view the PDF of the letter by clicking here, in case you are simply a curious party rather than an interested one. Even if you are a vaguely interested bystander who enjoys reading tormented bureaucratic legalisms.) Develop Don’t Destroy–one of the most interested of the parties involved–writes: “For all those elected officials (for example our Public Advocate whose spokesman said “If eminent domain is part of the project she’s not supporting it.”) and un-elected ones, who said eminent domain would not be used for “Atlantic Yards,” your notice is below. Now watcha gonna do?“

Tenants, residents and business owners have until January 11 to file legal action against the taking of property.

Now, try to picture what Sheldon Silver‘s e-mail inbox is looking like right about now.

So, now we know what it takes to get a traffic signal installed in Red Hook. The factors include a signficant increase in traffic, the death of pedestrian, community protests and a city traffic study. After all that, B61 Productions is reporting that a traffic light will be installed at Van Brunt and Sullivan Streets. B61 writes:

Other recommendations include “daylighting” the Van Brunt intersections at Wolcott and Coffey Streets to improve sight lines for motorists. “No Standing” signs have already been installed on Van Brunt between Wolcott and Dikeman Streets.

P.S. 15 Principal Kathleen Leonard welcomed the changes. “Our Safety Committee meets regularly with DOT to discuss traffic issues and this light has been on our wish list for some time. We’re glad it’s coming,” she said.

As anyone who has crossed Van Brunt Street recently can confirm, the light is sorely needed. What boggles the mind is that the entire process took this long and that it will be another four months before a light is installed. Which would make it about a year between the time the Red Hook Fairway opened and the light was installed. One wonders if the entire process would have been this convoluted in, say, Park Slope. (Yes, we know, it would have been awful too, but we don’t think it would have taken quite this long.)

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related news and images.

Tunnel:

• Atlantic Yards Finance Update: Half Billion in Tax Revenue Vanishes [AYR]
• Atlantic Yards Foes Hope for Silver Christmas [Village Voice]
• Christmas Carol Adaptations Not Popular at Atlantic Terminal [Curbed]
• Did We Mention the 15-Story Atlantic Yards Signs are Animated? [No Land Grab]
• Time Running Out as Eminent Domain Notices Served [NYP]
• Working for $45 a Day for Sunset Park’s Labor Ready [AlterNet]
• Greenpoint Craptacular [New York Shitty]
• Henry Street Woes [Brooklyn Heights Blog]

Light:

• 70 Lefferts Place Landmarked [Brownstoner]
• Historic Joralemon Street House to be Restored [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• Ode to Brooklyn [mathaba.net]
• Lost Clinton Hill Cat, Giuseppe, Comes Home! [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Fitness Guru Gym Opening in Dumbo in January [Dumbo NYC]
• Holiday Time in Brooklyn Vid [Brooklyn Record]

Depends:

• NYC in 2030 Maps [Gothamist]
• NYC 2030 [PlaNYC]
• NYC Could be Boon or Bust in 2030 [NYDN]
• We’re Growing Right to Hell [NYP]
• Housing [NYP]
• Transportation [NYP]
• Infrastructure [NYP]
• Energy [NYP]
• Environment [NYP]
• Play Space [NYP]

We first took note of a Red Hook Beach blog in September and have been watching it for more information ever since. Well, the blanks have now been filled in. The map outline above shows the area in Red Hook that would include Red Hook Beach, which would be built by New York Water Taxi, the same outfit that created Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City.

It’s part of a much bigger proposal for a Brooklyn Maritime Center, which would be part of the huge waterfront redevelopment that will eventually extend from from Pier 7 to Pier 12. The entire plan is part of a pitch by developer Douglas Durst. The rest of the Brooklyn Maritime Center would include space for artists, a “destination spa and boutique hotel,” docks for working boats and a workyard, a recreational marina, waterfront esplanade, the Brooklyn Greenway, a New York Water Taxi port, and more. Supporters point out that it would not displace the New York Container Port–whose fate will be a point of contention with those opposing plans that would remove it–and that all of the development would be low rise.

There are competing proposals for this part of the waterfront and some of them are likely to be very contentious. There is a City Council Committee hearing on the Red Hook waterfront on Thursday and the battle that will decide the future of more than a mile of waterfront will likely be one of the more pitched Brooklyn development battles of 2007. There are many competing visions, some of which would entirely eliminate the working port. The amount and nature of housing included on various parcels is likely to be a major sticking point.

You can absorb the details of the interesting Red Hook Beach/BMC proposal here.

Ninth Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn

Here is our Brookvid of the Dyker Heights Lights, the annual Christmas display in Dyker Heights. Music is Death Cab for Cutie’s version of Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home). It’s just like being there, except no SUV’s crawling up the street in Christmas light-related traffic blaring Frank Sinatra Christmas carols. Eh, you still need to see this with your own eyes and ears. But, in the meantime, click on this link to go over to youtube or just click on the embed.

Related Post:
Dyker Heights Lights! The Photos

What episodic collection of Brooklyn gift suggestions would be complete without a small journey down the road known as Atlantic Yards? Certainly, not ours. The thought was planted when we saw what the Lower East Side spot, Fuck Yoga, had done. So, we added a couple of thoughts, including some to try to balance out the Fuck Frank t-shirt you will find below, and that was that. (We strive for fairness in our Brooklyn Gift Guide.)

In any case, here are some suggestions for the Atlantic Yards lover or hater in your life, or for that person who’s on the fence but has a special sense of irony:

Fuck Frank Gehry t-shirt. Uh, that’s what the shirts say. For that person in your life that really doesn’t like Frank Gehry. We have a feeling that these will be the thing to have if Miss Brooklyn becomes more than a concept and those 15-story electric signs and such rise along Flatbush Avenue. The shirts come in brown with orange lettering and blue with silver lettering. This may make Frank O. the only architect at the moment that has his own “F*ck” t-shirt. And if this doesn’t float your boat, Fuck Yoga also sells Fuck Yoga shirts, yoga mats and the like. Thanks to No Land Grab for bringing this particular gem to our attention.

Sketches of Frank Gehry DVD. This is the Sydney Pollock film about his friend Frank. It “makes for a delightful window into the world of creativity and genius,” says Amazon. Definitely worth giving to those with an interest in Atlantic Yards and the architect that has become closely identified with it.

Develop Don’t Destroy t-shirt. These are the t-shirts sold by Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, which is fighting the Atlantic Yards proposal via lawsuit and organizing. Funds from sale of the shirts–which are nicely designed–support DDDB. They come in black, gold and red. There’s also a pink tank top.

Frank Gehry Architect. This Guggenheim Museum Publications Frank Gehry coffee table book is big, glossy and expensive. It’s also quite the book for the lover of Frank O’s work.

Blight Me t-shirt. The shirt says “Blight Me,” a take on one of the conditions often used to justify the use of eminent domain by the public sector in taking land, like the blocks of Prospect Heights that would be taken for the Atlantic Yards “footprint.” The shirt comes from the Institute for Justice, which, among other things, doesn’t like eminent domain.

Bilbao Museum Poster. From the Guggenheim a gorgeous photo of the project that put Mr. Gehry on the global architecture map, his Guggenheim Museum building in Bilbao, Spain.

Ratner Sucks t-shirt. This one is available via the Cafe Press website. Simple and to the point, it says “Ratner Sucks.” The beauty of this t-shirt is that it comes in sizes from Kids Small to 4X. Given that, why don’t we see more Park Slope kiddies wearing “Ratner Sucks” t-shirts?

Nets Wastebasket. We were torn between the wastebasket, the officials Nets dartboard cabinet and the big Nets neon sign, but opted to feature the wastebasket because it is affordable and oddly symbolic both for fans of bringing the team to Brooklyn and those that wish they’d go somewhere else. The wastebasket says “New Jersey Nets,” one of the handful of Nets products that actually says “New Jersey.”

(Yes, we’re aware of Frank Gehry’s product line. It’s easy to find and we’ll leave it up to you if you are so inclined.)

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related news and images.

• Protestors Urge Clock Stoppage on Atlantic Yards [AYR]
• Opponents Make Last Ditch Effort to Stall Atlantic Yards Plan [Sun]
• First Street Building Frenzy [Brownstoner]
• Real Answers on the Fulton Street Dig [Brooklyn Record]
• Prospect Heights Guide [NYMag]
• Dumbo’s J Condo Art Fence Now for Sale in Gallery [DumboNYC]
• Potentially Harmful Businesses in Bensonhurst [AESONYTIN]
• Clinton Hill Volunteer Opportunities [Clinton Hill Blog]
• 3 Brooklyn High Schools Among Those Being Closed [NYP]
• Weird Detail About Chicken in Bloody Fort Greene Story [The Cannon]
• Bodega Cats [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Sunset Park Bride, 1963 [Sunset Parker]
• Special Holiday Edition of Brooklyn Reading Works, Thursday [OTBKB]
• Hark! The Herald Angels Burn Energy! [Daily Intel]
• Taking the Trolley Tour of the Prospect Park Lights [Dope on the Slope]
• Brooklyn Hanukkah Events [About Brooklyn]

[Photo of Gowanus oil slick courtesy greenbrooklyn.com]

About a month ago, we posted an item about oil bubbling to the surface of the Gowanus north of the Union Street Bridge opposite the Bayside Fuel facility. Small bits of fuel seemed to be coming to the surface and, then, greatly expanding and floating downstream. Since then, we’ve also posted about how Gowanus water quality has been more horrid than usual. This is all a long way of saying that the new blog Green Brooklyn, which hails from Gowanus, has new photos of the oily slime on the surface of the Big G. The slick seems to be coming from–you guessed it–north of the Union Street Bridge by the fuel depot. The blog entry is called Scenes from Gowanus, and it has a number of photos of the ongoing pollution.

Seems to us that it’s going to be hard to clean up the Gowanus when obvious pollution goes unchecked. And, we’re not even talking about runoff during storms and other pollution from industrial neighbors that still goes directly into the canal.

We warmly welcome Green Brooklyn and look forward to reading a tremendous amount about environmentally sound projects and developments.

Related Post:
Leaking Oil Causing Gowanus Slick?

Some historic photos of Fourth Avenue under water because of Gowanus Canal flooding that we posted prompted a reader to send us a photo of the avenue under water this past summer. Yes, the picture is more than 48 hours old, but worth a look, as it’s striking proof of some of the, um, drainage issues in this formerly swampy part of Brooklyn. The writer notes, “I can assure you that this type of flooding happens a few times a year on this corner still, always during or after a major storm. This past July water was rushing through our building’s front door and down the ground floor hallway.” Fun stuff, especially given the amount of development on Fourth Ave. Definitely ask for a raft before signing the contract to buy that condo, and take a pass on the underground parking.

18th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn

We posted this over at Curbed yesterday, but wanted to put it up here too in case you’re interested in the fate of the Revere Sugar plant in Red Hook and didn’t see it. (Some are deeply upset to see this icon go; others, well, they seem to be cheering its demise.) We invite anyone with photos or info about Revere to email us at gowanuslounge (at) gmail (dot) com and we’ll post the pics or info. As luck would have it, we were walking on Fifth Avenue (the Manhattan one) late yesterday afternoon and looked up to see the sign for Thor Equities corporate offices from whence the demolition orders were issued.

Related Post:
Revere Sugar Death Row Report: Skinned Alive

Without question, you’ve gotta check out the Christmas Lights of Dyker Heights. We did on Saturday night. There was traffic and a lot of Brooklynite, New Yorkers and, even, tourists, checking them out. Click here for a slideshow of our flickr set, which has 46 photos. Or, just click over to the set. For the 2005 edition, click here.

If you want to see them with your own eyes–which is best–the area where the lights are centered is between 80th and 86ths Street and 10th and 13th Avenues, with 84th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues having the most, um, festive displays. If you’ve never been, Dyker Heights is next to Bay Ridge. You can click on this Google Map for help finding the area.

We also have a Brookvid of the Dyker Lights, because you can never get too much Dyker Heights Christmas goodness.

Related Post:
Brookvid: Dyker Heights Lights!

Thor Equities appears to be killing the Red Hook waterfront’s preeminent landmark slowly, at least for now. This weekend, workers were hacking at the skin of the former Revere Sugar plant. They were peeling out walls, exposing entire sections and poking holes in the building. It appears that Breeze, the demolition firm that Thor has hired to conduct the execution, is working on removing the exterior before moving with heavy equipment to complete the task. Today’s Daily News reports that as many as six buildings mixing residential and commerical uses, rising up to four stories, are planned for the site. (That is, if the developer wins the development fight that is sure to develop over the site. Whether bitterness over Revere’s fate and the way in which Thor Equities went about destroying a neighborhood landmark fuels the debate is unclear. We did not in discussions with some people in the neighborhood this weekend a degree of anger that no discussion took place before the demolition hammer started coming down.)

We noted workers wearing breathing gear to do the job. Ironically, an indie film named Life in Flight–which is about development and architecture–was shooting across the water at the Beard Street Warehouses, and a film crew member was stationed on the Revere property to quiet the workers when scenes were being shot. Periodically, the horrendous sounds of Revere’s death–hammering, banging and sawing–could be heard coming across the water. At one point, a worker wheeled out what looked like a gurney, to carry off pieces of fallen facade.

Don’t look now, but Lord Norman Foster has a plan to build a major attraction under a huge tent in Kazakhstan. Don’t laugh–it could be just the thing for those looking to turn Coney Island into a “year-round” destination. We only mention this because “year-round” beach locations in the Northeast are hard to come by (should be easier, though, by 2100 or so, after some serious global warming).

Lord Foster’s tent/dome is both a signature structure and functional. (It’s also retro, calling to mind the US Pavillion at Expo ’74 in Spokane, Washington.) Check it out, from the BBC:

The tent is being made from special material that absorbs sunlight to create the effect of summer inside. Astana lies in the very heart of the Central Asian steppe. Temperatures there often drop to -30C in the winter. The final shape of the world’s biggest tent was revealed in a 3D model by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Underneath, in an area larger than 10 football stadiums, will be a city with squares and cobbled streets, canals, shopping centres and golf courses. The idea is to recreate summer, so that when the outside temperature is -30C, the residents of the Kazakh capital can play outdoor tennis, take boat rides or sip coffee on the pavement cafes.

Make it retractable, and you’ve got the perfect Coney winter solution, plus a starchitect and something that people will flock to see. If it’s good enough for Kazakhstan, it’s good enough for Coney Island. Never say that all GL does is complain bitterly and throw sharp little verbal daggers.

Brooklinks is a daily selection of Brooklyn-related news and images. By way of explanation, the photo above is of a Christmas tree set up by the grip crew of an indie film called “Life in Flight” that is shooting in Red Hook, across from the doomed Revere Sugar plant.

• Revere Plant Coming Down [NYDN]
• Big Urbanism is Back [NYT Mag]
• Brooklyn Gun Violence [The Cannon]
• Developer Tax Break Backlash [Courier Life]
• The Ground Beneath Our Feet (& Cornstarch) [IMBY]
• No Trans Fat for You! [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
• Myrtle Ave Storefront Update [Clinton Hill Blog]
• Quadruple Murder-Suicide in Fort Greene [NYT]
• $35K Bogus Charge Spree at Atlantic Center Target [NYPost]
• Swimming With Polar Bears, Part I [The Vanity Projector]
• Swimming With Polar Bears, Part II [The Vanity Projector]
• Forget Brooklyn Trees, We Cut Ours on Long Island [Brooklyn Mama]
• Christmas Lights on Aster Court [GerritsenBeach.net]
• PS321 Holiday Craft Fair Finds: We Want a Sock Monkey Too [OTBKB]
• Unexpected Holiday Gifts [Random Brooklyn]

(Our condolences to the Gothamist family. The co-editor of Phillyist, Star Foster, passed away suddenly on Sunday. She was very young and very talented and it is very, very, very sad.)

Remember Brooklyn-style Pizza? Well, here’s Brooklyn clothing–the Brooklyn Clothing Co., to be exact. If you’re thinking that it’s in Brooklyn or Manhattan or the East Coast or, even, in the Lower 48, you’re wrong. It’s in Vancouver, Canada.

Dumbo NYC, the excellent Dumbo blog, brings it to Brooklyn’s attention, noting that it’s in “trendy Yaletown.” Their slogan is “Get What You Want” and they only carry men’s clothing. Here’s a taste of their marketing pitch:

And cool stuff, too… clothes that normal guys will actually wear. No stretchy designer trousers… no sheer, sparkly, blouses either. Just THE freshest denim lines from Europe and the US, coupled with the coolest shirts and shoes.

All of which only goes to show you that Brooklyn’s an excellent brand name.