Dumbo
January 30, 2008
Closing Bell: It's Good To Be The King
Of Dumbo, that is. As if his Clocktower pad wasn't already sweet enough, David Walentas recently had work completed on the solarium, just in time to avoid any pesky dealings with the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
1 Main Street Rooftop Solarium [Dumbo NYC] GMAP
Anyone Want a Brownstoner Sweatshirt?
Last week on a whim we popped into Neighborhoodies at 26 Jay Street in Dumbo and ordered a blue American Apparel sweatshirt with "Brownstoner" hand-sewn on the front. It was done in 24 hours and we've barely taken it off since. It wasn't exactly cheap, so we figured we'd give any interested readers a chance to get a group discount. Check out the selection of Classic Lite colors and sizes and then drop us an email at brownstoner@brownstoner.com with your preference. (Note: Like most American Apparel items, these sweatshirts are cut on the slim side.) We'll aggregate all the orders and pass along to Neighborhoodies, who will handle all the billing and delivery. Depending on the response, each sweatshirt should end up costing somewhere in the $40 to $45 range.
January 29, 2008
Condos of the Day: Price Pressure at The Beacon
Most of the units at The Beacon in Dumbo appear to have been sold by now. The last seven apartments, however, are presenting a challenge to marketers. (Corcoran has six of the units, Elliman one.) Five of the seven have already had price reductions, including, most recently, Apartment 20B, a 947-square-foot space that was just cut from $890,000 to $825,000. Given the high floor and the relatively low price per square foot for the area, we could see this moving at the new price. On a side note, we noticed when perusing the past sales that one investor (a Boerum Hill liquor store owner, as far as we can tell) was responsible for buying eight of the units. Interesting.
85 Adams Street Listings [Street Easy] GMAP P*Shark
Photo by Atomic LLC
January 24, 2008
10 Jay Street to Get Another Five Stories
DumboNYC reported yesterday that the nine-story building at 10 Jay Street, currently full of "creative" commercial tenants, is slated to get a five-story addition. If they can ever get the Stop Work Order lifted, that is. The design for the addition is being done by TKA Studio, one of the building's tenants. Back in October, we speculated that rooftop cabanas were in the works; evidently, we underestimated the owner's ambitions: Curbed theorized yesterday that the addition could be a prelude to converting the entire building to residential. Think that's likely? Any long leases still in place?
5 Story Extension Planned For 10 Jay Street [Dumbo NYC] GMAP DOB
Historic Dumbo Building to Have a New Growth Spurt? [Curbed]
Cabana Envy in Dumbo? Prepping at 10 Jay & One Main [Brownstoner]
January 14, 2008
Condos of the Day: 70 Washington Street
In addition to the five units at 70 Washington in Dumbo currently available on the Two Trees website, there are another six resales on the market, ranging from an 915-square-foot mini-loft for $845,000 to a corner two-bedroom for $1,675,000. The seller of a third one, Apartment 9K, just had to scale back the visions of windfall profits dancing in his head. Originally bought for $1,220,00 in early 2005, the 1,560-square-foot pad went on the market in September for $1,595,000. It was reduced last week to $1,495,000.
70 Washington Street [Street Easy] GMAP
Available Condos in Dumbo [Two Trees]
January 10, 2008
The Destruction of St. George's Church Continues Apace
It's been almost two months since we broke the bitter news that the Tocci family was preparing to demolish St. George's Church at the corner of Gold and York in Vinegar Hill. Since then, we've heard plenty of hammering and banging coming from inside, but it wasn't until yesterday morning that we saw workers beginning to dismantle the exterior, unhindered, apparently, by the Partial Stop Work Order that's been in effect since November 26.
Dumbo Historic District Designation Report [Dumbo NYC] GMAP P*Shark DOB
January 4, 2008
Streetlevel: Dumbo Getting More Bookish
PowerHouse and Akashic books will soon have a new neighbor in Dumbo: Melville House, an independent publisher of political fare. According to Publishers Weekly, Melville's move from Hoboken to Brooklyn was influenced, not surprisingly, by the arts-friendly strategy of landlord Two Trees. "The deal for the space is something we could not have gotten anywhere else," said Melville's Dennis Loy Johnson. "Brooklyn is just an amazingly vibrant scene and we wanted to be there."
Book Publisher Plans Move To 145 Plymouth Street [DumboNYC] GMAP
Melville House Moves to Brooklyn [Publishers Weekly]
Guttman Back in Business at 187 Plymouth Street
After trying to sneak one past the Dumbo community and the DOB back in November, Joshua Guttman got his project at 187 Plymouth Street back on track again shortly before Christmas. After an (insincere) act of contrition in his December 14 application to the DOB ("Respectfully Requesting a PAA to Submit Revised Plans with Proper Propsed [sic] Building Height") the unpopular developer had the Stop Work Order lifted on the 18th and has been back at work since. It's not entirely clear to us, though, what, if anything, he's done to address the charges that he had overbuilt the building. (It was supposed to only be 13 feet tall and he had gone up to at least 20 feet.) As far as we can see, all he's done up top is to lay some tar strips. Any neighbors with a view from above care to elaborate?
A SWO for Guttman at 187 Plymouth [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark DOB
The Mysterious Case of 187 Plymouth Street [Brownstoner]
January 3, 2008
Closing Bell: A Peek Inside the New Galapagos
It's been seven months since news of Galapagos' move from Williamsburg to Dumbo broke and judging from this photo from just before Christmas it'll be a few more months before the performance space (the city's first such "green" space) at 16 Main Street is ready to rock. Should be a nice shot of adrenaline for the otherwise sedate neighborhood.
Galapagos: Goodbye Billyburg, Hello Dumbo [Brownstoner] GMAP
January 2, 2008
Wednesday Food & Drink Round-Up
In New York magazine's Where to Eat 2008 restaurant guide, Adam Platt adds a few new eateries to Brooklyn's "honor roll of perpetually booked, yuppie-approved neighborhood dining destinations like Franny’s, Applewood, Dressler, and The Good Fork." His picks include Park Slope's Korean restaurant, Moim, where Platt recommends the "darkly caramelized oxtails soaked in sugar and soy sauce, stacks of soft, garlic-flavored pork ribs, and strips of the deliciously sizzling short ribs." He also raves about the "hot, matzo-thin pies" at Lucali in Carroll Gardens and "the thick grilled pork chop, which is bathed, like some elaborate Vietnamese version of steak au poivre, in peppercorns and a salty-sweet fish," at Silent H in Williamsburg. He also gives shout-outs to the Front Street taco joint, Hecho en Dumbo, and Sunset Park's Lucky Eight, where "the bizarrely fresh 'Hong Kong Bay style' lobster... costs roughly $10 less than it would in the Chinatown of Manhattan or even Queens."
After the jump: Park Slope's newest pizzeria opens tomorrow...