Top 10 Stories on Brownstoner This Week: Inside Empire Stores, Controversies and More

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    Brownstoner featured several view-worthy homes this week, including a nice flip in Bed Stuy and a “pre-construction” building with original details. Readers also flocked to our history-themed posts on Brooklyn’s “Great Mistake,” the saga of Empire Stores, and how Buttermilk Channel got its name.

    We also visited the most dilapidated and depressing home in Brooklyn Heights, considered why Kingston and Brooklyn avenues still don’t have bike lanes, and asked “should NYCHA lease land on public sites to private developers?”

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    House of the Day: Bed Stuy Brownstone With Modern Finishes, Double-Height Bedroom
    This newly overhauled Bed Stuy brownstone is on the market for $1,499,000. Located at 192 Hart Street, it features some modern finishes that will be a lure for some and a repellent for others. As such, commenters were mixed, with one saying it was “super duper repellent” and another said, “As flips go, this one is really nice.”

    Brooklyn Bridge postcard
    Walkabout: “The Great Mistake” — How Brooklyn Lost Its Independence
    On January 1, 1898, Brooklyn the city disappeared, and Brooklyn the “outer borough” was born. There are some in our fair borough who still to this day talk of the consolidation of New York City as Brooklyn’s “Great Mistake. Montrose Morris explains how and why it all went down.

    722 Quincy Street
    House of the Day: All the Details in Bed Stuy
    Photos of this house at 772 Quincy Street in Bed Stuy revealed lots of lovely original details, but not much else, leaving open some questions about what kind of shape it’s in. The listing copy calls the property a “pre-construction” sale and “an amazing opportunity for customization.” No kitchen or bathroom is pictured.

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    Condo of the Day: Modern Two-Bedroom With Radiant Floor Heating in South Slope
    This condo is a two-bedroom number in a five-year-old, three-unit building at 481 18th Street in the South Slope. Modern and minimalist, it’s on the market for $1,080,000. One commenter thinks it looks like a doctor’s office.

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    Lovers Rock Opens on Tompkins in Bed Stuy With Reggae and Caribbean-Themed Cocktails
    A Caribbean-themed bar with all sorts of inventive cocktails opened in late July at 419 Tompkins Avenue in Bed Stuy. Lovers Rock is across the street from BBQ joint Peaches Hothouse and around the corner from Bed Vyne Cocktail. A couple of commenters have already been there to check it out; mtanski says, “The Cocktails are great and on the weekends the backyard brings out a pretty diverse crowd.”

    Buttermilk Channel
    How Red Hook and the Buttermilk Channel Got Their Names
    Choppy water that looked like churned milk? Or Dutch farmers crossing the channel with milk that churned into buttermilk by the tossing of their boat? Montrose Morris explains the disputed name origins of the Buttermilk Channel and other Brooklyn locations.

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    Empire Stores: From Cargo Warehouse to Ruin to Development Site, 1868 to Present
    The long-abandoned Empire Stores warehouse complex along the Brooklyn waterfront is slated to open to the public in spring 2016; here’s its history in photos. Brownstoner also went on a hard-hat tour of the site, which doesn’t look anywhere near ready.

    de Blasio NYCHA controversy
    De Blasio vs. Critics: Should NYCHA Lease Public Land to Private Developers?
    New York is in a housing crisis, for both affordable and market rate units. So de Blasio’s plan to lease NYCHA land to developers in exchange for cash and more affordable and market rate apartments should appease everyone, right? Nope. Brownstoner lays out the terms of this debate.

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    Long-Blighted Brooklyn Heights Building Racks Up DOB Violations
    After years of slow disintegration, the dilapidated Greek Revival domicile at 100 Clark Street is getting renewed scrutiny from the Department of Buildings. The DOB’s Emergency Response Team called out the building’s “partial open roof,” “cracked” and “bulging” facade, and unsafe sidewalk shed, among other complaints in violations last month.

    Kingston Pacific Brooklyn bike lane
    Streetsblog: The DOT Doesn’t Know How to Market Bike Lanes
    Both Kingston and Brooklyn avenues are optimal thruways for bike lane implementation. They meet up with east-west bike lanes at multiple junctions and are in an area with a significant number of riders who commute to work via bike. So why have the DOT’s proposals for bike lanes on the stretch been rejected by three separate community boards? Streetsblog has drawn the conclusion that the DOT is bad at communicating with community boards — and also that community boards are often nearsightedly hostile toward street safety projects.

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