Building of the Day: 360 Schermerhorn Street



(Photograph: nycago.org)

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: The Baptist Temple, originally First Baptist Church of Brooklyn
Address: 360 Schermerhorn Street
Cross Streets: Corner of Third Avenue
Neighborhood: Boerum Hill/Downtown Bklyn
Year Built: 1893-1894, reconstructed after fire: 1917-1918
Architectural Style: Romanesque Revival
Architect: Weary & Kramer, reconstruction: Dodge & Morrison (1917-18)
Other Buildings by Architect: Weary & Kramer- Crawford Memorial United Methodist Church, Bronx, Buildings on Oberlin College Campus, Ohio. Dodge & Morrison – Large addition to the Bedford Presbyterian Church, Nostrand Ave, Crown Heights North.
Landmarked: No, but on National Register

The story: This congregation has the distinction of being the oldest Baptist church in Brooklyn, founded as the First Baptist Church of Brooklyn in 1823. It’s the second oldest Baptist congregation in all of Long Island. Their first church building was on Pearl Street, between Nassau and Concord Streets, in what is now DUMBO, and more specifically, an on-ramp to one of the bridges. They didn’t stay there long, moving to another site on Nassau Street, which was destroyed by fire in 1848. They rebuilt, only to lose this church to another fire in 1873. By this time, their DUMBO location was becoming an industrial area, so they joined with a splinter group that had broken off to become the Pierrepont Street Baptist Church, in the Heights. There, both congregations worshipped in a building designed by the great Minard Lefever. They soon outgrew this building too, and in 1892, the church sold their site on the corner of Pierrepont and Clinton Streets to the Brooklyn Savings Bank, and went looking for a new site. They found it here at the corner of Third Avenue and Schermerhorn Street. (more…)

By Montrose Morris | | Comment

Building of the Day: 24 Fourth Avenue


Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Church of the Redeemer (Episcopal)
Address: 24 Fourth Avenue
Cross Streets: Corner Pacific Street
Neighborhood: Boerum Hill
Year Built: 1866
Architectural Style: Gothic Revival
Architect: Patrick C. Keely
Other Buildings by Architect: in Brooklyn – St. John the Baptist School and Church, Bed Stuy. St. Boniface, Downtown Bklyn. St. Charles Borromeo, Brooklyn Heights, and more.
Landmarked: No, but should be somehow, either individually or part of a HD.

The story: The history of any place is greatly written by the houses of worship that have been built there. This is especially true in Brooklyn, where the story of immigration can be tracked by the churches, synagogues and mosques along the way. By the 1850’s, Brooklyn was growing rapidly outward from the Fulton Ferry and the riverfront, and the city had reached the Times Plaza area, a part of town that would become a nexus of transportation and commerce in the years to come. By 1853, however, it was the edge of the neighborhood of Boerum Hill. (more…)

By Montrose Morris | | Comment

Open House Picks


Park Slope
33 Montgomery Place
Corcoran
Sunday, 1:00-3:00
$3,650,000
GMAP P*Shark

Park Slope
92 Garfield Place
Warren Lewis
Sunday, 11:30-1:00
$2,650,000
GMAP P*Shark

Boerum Hill
200 Wyckoff Street
Halstead
Saturday, 11:00-1:00
$1,600,000
GMAP P*Shark

Ditmas Park
241 Stratford Road
Brooklyn Hearth
Saturday, 12:00-1:30
$1,275,000
GMAP P*Shark

By Brownstoner | | Comment

House of the Day: 204 Dean Street



This new listing at 204 Dean Street has great bones (moldings, floors, etc.), nice width (over 22 feet) and a location (prime Boerum Hill) that’s sure to please. The big question is whether $2,450,000 is the right price for a townhouse that, in the broker’s words, is “Oh so ready for a makeover.” Waddya think?
204 Dean Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark

By Brownstoner | | Comment

Condo of the Day: 384 Warren Street, #3R



Given the high ceilings and outdoor space, this 800-square-foot one-bedroom would seem like a pretty good deal at $519,000 were it not for the proximity to the Gowanus Houses. Still, it’s a nice place with lots of light and, even though it officially be called a two-bedroom, plenty of room for a second sleeping area. We suspect it’ll fare pretty well on the open market.
384 Warren Street, #3R [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark

By Brownstoner | | Comment

Corner of 3rd Ave and Bergen May One Day Look Like This



On Friday, Crain’s brought word (and the new rendering above!) of plans for the long-stalled site at 3rd Avenue and Bergen Street, which had been on the market for $7 million. According to the story, the site has new owners—the Naftali Group and AEW Capital Management—who intend to build an 85-unit, luxury rental. Here’s the scoop:

The new development is near the long-awaited Whole Foods market that was recently approved for construction at Third Street and Third Avenue, next to the Gowanus Canal. It will include a health club, a resident lounge, a courtyard and roof deck with views of both Brooklyn and Manhattan. The Park Slope area has attracted a number of institutional investors in recent months. In December, Invesco paid a reported $57.5 million for a 95-unit residential building called Arias Park Slope., which was conceived as a condo but was later converted into a rental. Currently apartments in the area are fetching per-square-foot rents close to $54—almost $10 more than the prices they commanded a year ago.

It’s true that the building will only be .7 miles from the coming Whole Foods. It will also be .3 miles away from the Barclays Center.
85-Unit Apartment Building Slated for Brooklyn [Crain's]
Stalled Third Avenue Site on the Market [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 316 Bergen Street [Brownstoner] GMAP
Rendering c/o ODA Architecture, via Crain’s

By Gabby | | Comment

Open House Picks


Park Slope
117 Berkeley Place
Corcoran
Sunday, 3:00-4:30
$1,900,000
GMAP P*Shark

Prospect Heights
218 St. Marks Avenue
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday, 12:00-1:30
$2,999,000
GMAP P*Shark

Boerum Hill
270 Dean Street
Realty on the Greene
Sunday, 1:00-3:00
$1,800,000
GMAP P*Shark

Boerum Hill
108 Bergen Street
Douglas Elliman
Sunday, 12:00-1:30
$1,495,000
GMAP P*Shark

By Brownstoner | | Comment

Closing Bell: Cobble Summer Camp Banner Stolen Again!



As of Monday morning, a banner that small business owner Michelle Thaler had put up on Court and Bergen advertising her summer camp Food Art for Kids had been stolen—marking the second time it had been thieved in a month. Michelle had this to say to us in an email: “So I waited a month, and on Saturday I hung a new banner, much smaller than the previous one at the same spot (corner of Court and Bergen). To my surprise, within less than 2 days, that banner went missing as well! Now, being a lawyer, I know that this form of advertisement does not require a permit or a license, as long as I get the permission of the owners of the lot (which, of course, I did). The banner, as you can see in the pic, is not an eye sore, and did not ‘uglyfy’ the street scenery in any way! There are many banners similar to mine in the neighborhood… religious institutions put them up on their fences all the time and so are other businesses … it just makes me wonder why mine is causing so much opposition!” Michelle is flummoxed by the the thefts and doesn’t suspect that it was teenagers since they usually get bored after pulling a stunt once and don’t do it again. Again, in her words: “I thought about going to the police but that actual damage is just the banner’s value ($200). I can’t even begin to describe the damage to the business side being that summer is close and I want as many families to know about my camp. I was a lawyer in my previous career, and I know that my banner was legal.” We’re filing this under news of the weird. Why would anyone steal a banner like this twice?
Summer Camp Banner Stolen on Court Street Last Night [Brownstoner]

By Gabby | | Comment

Fedders Building Replaces Brick Beaut in Boerum Hill



Says a reader: “There was once a perfectly good federal brick townhouse at 11 Wyckoff Street in Boerum Hill. Now there is an ugly, seemingly over-height ‘Fedders Building.’ After months of demolition and construction, the scaffolding was recently taken down and the new building is a perfect case for landmarking.” Check out a picture of the brick townhouse once there after the jump. GMAP (more…)

By Emily | | Comment

The Flying Saucer Cafe is Going Mediterranean



Earlier this week we wondered if the Flying Saucer Cafe was done for. Not quite, says a reader, who wrote in: “The Flying Saucer shut down two weekends ago for renovations. Their rent went up a lot and they’re going to change it into more of a tapas restaurant/bar, but Flying Saucer it will be no more. The guy who runs it told us it’ll be at least three months. They’ve got a whole new menu of Mediterranean type plates and specialty cocktails. Sad to see the Fly go though.”
Is Atlantic Avenue’s Flying Saucer Cafe Done For? [Brownstoner] GMAP

By Emily | | Comment

Is Atlantic Avenue’s Flying Saucer Cafe Done For?



A tipster sent along this inquiry: “Any word on if the Flying Saucer Cafe at 494 Atlantic is out of business? It’s a personal favorite, and the gate has been down with a crude “closed” sign on the door for a week or so now. I’d be sad if it was–it certainly stands out from the wedding and baby photo storefront invasion that has taken over that part of Atlantic.” Indeed, the spot was closed during business hours a few days ago and no one answered phone calls. The business Facebook Page doesn’t shine any light on the matter, either. Anybody know what’s up here? GMAP

By Emily | | Comment

Work Begins at Former MTA Property 166 Smith Street



According to the Realty Collective blog, construction workers began the transformation of what was once considered one of the fugliest buildings in Brooklyn, on the corner of Smith and Wyckoff. DOB approved permits for a four-story, eight-unit building at the site of the windowless, concrete bunker at 166 Smith Street. It does not look like the original structure will be demolished, though. Grasso-Menziuso Architects is on the job, but hasn’t yet returned calls for more details. The building sold last November for $3.5 million.
166 Smith Street Under Construction [Realty Collective]
MTA Sells Smith Street Eyesore [Brownstoner]
Three Brooklyn Winners on AMNY’s Most-Fugly List [Brownstoner] GMAP

By Emily | | Comment

Midtown Equities Inks Deal for Prime Boerum Hill Corner



Last year Massey Knakal started marketing a ground-lease availability for the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Boerum Place, a deal that could theoretically involve a new building rising at the site. According to a lease agreement filed in city records, the site has found a taker: Midtown Equities, a firm that owns 205 Montague Street and plans to bring a stalled Williamsburg site back to life, complete with a Whole Foods. Massey’s listing was asking $1 million a year and noted that the property offers 172,500 buildable square feet. The owner of the lot is the William M Casey Foundation, owners of the adjacent 66 Boerum Place, which is better known as St. Vincent’s Services. One interesting point from Massey’s offering plan: “The Lessee is prohibited from developing, using or occupying the Premises for the purposes which are considered inimical to the doctrines or teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.” So we’re probably not going to be seeing a seminary to train women to become priests here or an abortion clinic, but a lot of other uses are possible. Click through for a sketch from Massey’s offering plan of what the massing of the building could look like. GMAP (more…)

By Gabby | | Comment

Open House Picks


Boerum Hill
109 Wyckoff Street
Corcoran
Sunday, 1:00-2:30
$2,195,000
GMAP P*Shark

Park Slope
222 14th Street
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday, 1:00-3:00
$1,575,000
GMAP P*Shark

Windsor Terrace
502 Prospect Avenue
Betancourt
Sunday, 2:45-4:15
$1,485,000
GMAP P*Shark

Prospect Heights
463 St. Johns Place
Marjorie Thompson
Sunday, 12:00-2:00
$1,300,000
GMAP P*Shark

By Brownstoner | | Comment

Closing Bell: The Mosaic on Wyckoff Street



Today the Brooklyn Bureau profiled the artist behind the house mural at 108 Wyckoff Street, a work in progress of ten years. Susan Gardner, the artist and Boerum Hill resident of 40 years, began the mural in earnest after the September 11th Attacks. “It was one of those things that seemed to change the tilt of the world,” she told the Brooklyn Bureau. “Once I started [the mural], I couldn’t stop.” Now she spends every summer expanding upon the artwork. (She plans to work on it for another ten years.) There are a few good stories about passerbys stopping for a picture and people leaving broken plates and beads on her doorstep. And one lady tells Gardener, “I don’t know what it is, but when I’m feeling down, I come by this house. And like that, I’m feeling good again.”
Brooklyn Edges: A Mosaic Grows as Boerum Hill Changes [Brooklyn Bureau]

By Emily | | Comment

Open House Picks


Fort Greene
60 South Elliott Place
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday, 2:00-3:30
$2,400,000
GMAP P*Shark

Park Slope
635 10th Street
Douglas Elliman
Sunday, 12:00-1:30
$1,925,000
GMAP P*Shark

Park Slope
365 6th Street
Warburg Realty
Sunday, 1:00-3:30
$1,675,000
GMAP P*Shark

Boerum Hill
281 Wyckoff Street
Brownstone Real Estate
Sunday, 2:00-3:30
$1,595,000
GMAP P*Shark

By Brownstoner | | Comment

Dumpster Project Installation Now on Show in Cobble Hill



The Dumpster Project, a collage/art installation by Mac Premo that was featured at The Dumbo Arts Festival in the fall, now has an installation parked in a lot on Bergen between Court and Smith through early May. This was the description for the Dumpster Project at the arts fest was as follows: “The Dumpster Project is a work of transportable public art. …Fundamentally, though, The Dumpster Project is a physical taxonomy of one man’s existence. A visitor to the installation will walk into a modern-day “cabinet of curiosities”, where objects of nostalgia (i.e. a Yankees cap Mac wore through most of the 1990s) have a place beside items culled from international travels (i.e. the curiously named ‘Long Life’ brand of cigarettes from Hong Kong). Each object will be numbered, and a mobile application will enable the viewer to use his or her smart phone to access a eulogy Mac has written for each item, as well as a studio photograph of the object set cleanly against a white background.” All photos are by Cara Greenberg, who writes writes Brownstoner’s weekly Insider column, and more are on the jump, including some close-ups on featured items! (more…)

By Gabby | | Comment

293 Pacific: An Argument for Landmarking



We received this photo of the recently completed renovation at 293 Pacific Street from a reader along with the comment, “Hard to argue against landmarking when this is the outcome.” Took the words right out of our mouth. GMAP

By Brownstoner | | Comment

The Atlantic Yards Effect on Real Estate: Still Unknown



The Times has a story today that looks into how much money commercial property owners near the Barclays Center could stand to make when the arena opens in the fall, and landlords and brokers say it’s very much an unanswered question: “The owners of Triangle Sports, members of the Rosa and Shapiro families, and their broker, Geoffrey Bailey of TerraCRG, have not set a price for the property. Conditions in the area are changing so quickly, Mr. Bailey said, ‘that we prefer to let the market come to us.’ Indeed, among real estate professionals, the mood around the Barclays Center — the only part of the controversial Atlantic Yards project that has come to fruition — could best be described as optimistic uncertainty, as the arena’s opening event, a Jay-Z concert on Sept. 28, approaches.” The story includes fun tidbits like one owner opining that commercial landlords haven’t been letting tenants sign multi-year leases in case they’re able to get much more for their properties in the near future, and a quote from Michael Pintchik, who owns a lot of buildings near the arena, about how “his ground floor retail spaces have recently begun attracting interest from national retailers and Manhattan restaurateurs who, he said, had not considered Brooklyn locations before.” Pintchik also says he hopes to construct a new building nearby that he semi-seriously notes would work for an Apple store! Beyond all that, there are quotes from owners and developers about how the Barclays Center will give the nexus of Fort Greene, Park Slope, Prospect Heights and Boerum Hill an identity as a neighborhood in its own right. Meanwhile, a French hotelier is looking to build nearby: “Cyril Aouizerate, the owner of Mama Shelter, a stylish boutique hotel in the outlying 20th Arrondissement of Paris, said he was ’90 percent sure’ he would be opening a Mama Shelter at a site near the arena. Mr. Aouizerate said he had rejected neighborhoods like Williamsburg as ‘too bourgeois-bohème,’ in favor of the less established Boerum Hill area, where he is negotiating with property owners.” (As a side note, this is the first time we’ve ever heard Boerum Hill described as “less established” than Williamsburg, and we have no idea what that means.) All this talk of the potential of commercial real estate property aside, the article ends with a question that surely tie into the flavor of the retail that will be attractive to people in the area in the future: “[The recent sale of a warehouse near the arena] could also indicate that knowledgeable investors do not expect the residential part of the Atlantic Yards project to rise anytime soon. And that means that long after the Nets play their first game in the neighborhood, there will be a large hole in the arena’s backyard.”
In Barclays Center’s Shadow, Awaiting What’s Next [NY Times]

By Gabby | | Comment

Summer Camp Banner Stolen on Court Street Last Night



Last night on Court Street someone decided to steal a banner advertising a cooking summer camp for kids. Here’s a message we received from the woman who runs the camp and has had the banner up for several months now: “I am Michelle Thaler, owner of Food Art for Kids, a cooking summer camp in Brooklyn Heights. For the past few months, I have been renting some fence space from Trezza Management, owners of the parking lot on Court St @ Bergen St. I use that space to hang my banner, as shown in the attached picture. It is a great corner with many pedestrians and cars passing by every day. It is my second year in business and I had a similar banner at the same spot last year, with no interruptions. As of this morning, the banner went missing! Per my investigation it was removed sometime after 8 pm last night… I know that because the owner of the parking garage was walking her dog at 8:15 pm last night and the banner was still there. Unfortunately there are no surveillance cameras installed at the surrounding businesses. At first, I suspected one of the production companies who are shooting on the street tomorrow but when I called them, they assured me that it was not them. I have no idea who can it be! but would like to get to the source of it, being that this is my time to advertise and those banner cost a lot of money to produce.” What an odd theft! If you have any info on the perp, get in touch with Michelle via her website.

By Gabby | | Comment