Maybe most living organisms can’t grow in the Gowanus Canal (though we hear the oysters are doing swimmingly), but a bunch of pollution hasn’t stopped man-made growth. A number of new venues are opening, detailed in this month’s issue of The Real Deal. Union Hall is opening a new club in the neighborhood, joining Bar Tano on the eastern side of the canal. Danny Tinneny, Jr. is finishing up a coffee shop and wine bar this summer that would have waterfront seating, joining The Yard and Gowanus Yacht Club on the canal’s west side (possible grounds for an East Side, West Side rivalry). Some people can see the sleepy industrial area becoming Brooklyn’s newest hot spot for gallery and bar hopping, the only place in the city where you can down your favorite night cap alongside a real live canal. What could possibly top that off? Massey Knakal broker Ken Freeman thinks a down-scaled, Gowanus version of the Chelsea Market where light manufacturers could make and sell their work. Freeman is marketing two sleeping giants on Third and Bond Streets, one for $15 million and the other for $10 million, where such a project would be as-of-right. The market would be adjacent to the Third Street bridge and kitty-corner from The Hudson Companies’ townhouse project meticulously documented by principal David Kramer on this blog. “To me, you have to use the water,” Freeman told The Real Deal in an accompanying article. “If you have a little promenade on the water and a café over there, I think you’d be amazed at the amount of people who would sit and eat by the water, or take laptops and work there all day.” What do you think? Could you see it?
More places to see art, party in Gowanus [The Real Deal]
Defending Gowanus [The Real Deal]
Oh My Rockness: Union Hall Expanding in Gowanus [Brownstoner]
Brooklyn Nibbles: Carroll Street Cafe Coming [Gowanus Lounge]