Monthly Archives: June 2005

The folks at Big Cities Big Boxes are none too pleased about the lawsuit against Ikea getting rejected. According to BCBB, Ikea has purposefully overstated the unemployment situation in the area to push their case:

Ikea claimed that unemployment among racial minorities in Red Hook was epidemic. Ikea systematically incited racial divisiveness in the community, but its claims about unemployment were simply false. As revealed on the blog BigCitiesBigBoxes, publicly available evidence proves that Ikea secured City Planning Commission approval for the gigantic Ikea-Red Hook big box store by misrepresenting the number of unemployed residents of Red Hook Houses, a public housing project. Ikea stated, misleadingly and repeatedly, that there is a twenty per cent unemployment rate at Red Hook Houses, the local public housing project, which as of the Year 2000 census had 7,278 residents, most of them African-American. The records of the Department of City Planning, however, show that in fact there were only 568 unemployed persons of working age in Red Hook Houses as of the 2000 census, not 1456, as Ikea’s arguments suggested. In addition, hundreds of retail jobs are already available within walking distance of Red Hook Houses, at Lowe’s and Home Depot, and another 200 union jobs will be available when Fairway opens.

Press Release: Ikea Lied [Big Cities Big Boxes]

June 30, 2005, NY Times — Ruling in a lawsuit against a proposed Ikea furniture store in Red Hook, a state judge has upheld the city’s approval of the project. The decision, by Judge Karen S. Smith of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, was dated Monday but released yesterday, and it completes the public review part of the development process. The company still needs permits for work on the Erie Basin waterfront from the State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Army Corps of Engineers. The lawsuit sought to void several land use approvals, declare zoning changes for the project illegal, and block construction. The suit contended that the company’s plans for a 346,000-square-foot store with 1,400 parking spaces on a 22-acre site would overwhelm the neighborhood.
Metro Briefing [NY Times, 2nd Item]
Judge Axes Ikea Foes’ Suit [NY Daily News]

Set Speed points out the recent ad on Craigslist for the new-and-improved Roanoke apartment building on the corner of Lafayette and South Oxford. Gone are the days of double-parked drugged dealers. One reader comments:

I noticed something was going on with that property, but have to say i’m shocked. Somehow I thought the Roanoke would always be gentrification-proof. Interestingly enough, this building was renovated approximately 15-20 years ago following a gigantic fire that nearly burned it down. But many of the units didn’t sell, the bank foreclosed, and the occupants were stuck in a building that quickly became worthless as the utilities stopped functioning. Soon after came the squatters, and then the above-mentioned luxury cars, etc. Let’s hope they have better luck this time around.

We bet they will.
Revitalization of the Roanoke in Ft. Greene [Set Speed]
The Victorian Homes of Flatbush [Set Speed]
Fort Greene’s Luxurious Condominiums [Set Speed]

Developers of the Candy Factory building at 20 Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights have been sent back to the drawing board by the Landmarks Commission. The LPC was concerned that the proposed nine-story addition would compromise the original modernist design from when the building was originally converted into artists’ lofts; in addition, they were concerned about views of the unique garden design being obscured. The building has attracted significant attention of late: The former owner bought out of the Mitchell-Lama program two years ago and the current owner, The Praedium Group, has already begun evicting tenants in preparation for the obligatory luxury condominiums.
LPC Sends 20 Henry Back to Drawing Board [Brooklyn Eagle] GMAP

As of a couple of weeks ago, the development at 702 Ocean Parkway was topped out and the facade was partially complete. A contributor to the Wired NY Forum on Brooklyn development dug up this rendering of the project. Anyone know who the developer is or who’s marketing it?
702 Ocean Parkway [Wired NY Forum] GMAP