November 6, 2009

Affordable Housing on Tap

It may seem like there's not any affordable housing available, but, reports The Brooklyn Eagle, there are 700 units currently up for grabs through one non-profit development company alone in Brooklyn. The Housing Partnership Development Corp. which has created 30,000 units of affordable housing over its 25-year history, is currently offering "moderate-income" apartments at the newly-developed Bergen Street Co-ops at 1509 Bergen Street in Crown Heights (at right). The Partnership is also involved in other projects like 320 Sterling Street, which is about three-quarters done, and Atlantic Terrace next to the Atlantic Center (at top), which just started making applications available.
700 Affordable Homes, Apartments in B'klyn Now Available [Brooklyn Eagle]

November 5, 2009

House of the Day: 119 Fort Greene Place

Other than the exposed brick on the parlor floor, this brownstone at 119 Fort Greene Place in Fort Greene has a nice feel to it. Plenty of original details, nice width (21 feet) and an extention; we'd be surprised if you could actually get $2,800 a month for the garden rental but it's probably not far off. The asking price is $1,995,000. Not insane if you factor in the expected 10% discount in this market.
119 Fort Greene Place [Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark

November 3, 2009

Streetlevel: Flowers for Hanson Place

We're not sure exactly when this new flower store opened up at 33 Hanson Place, but judging from the handful of emails from readers last week trumpeting its arrival, we're willing to bet it was quite recently. Anyone been in? GMAP

November 2, 2009

Streetlevel: A Beauty Salon for Fulton

According to the DOB permit in the window, the former clothing store at 672 Fulton Street in Fort Greene is in the process of being turned into a beauty parlor. Word on the street it's being brought to you by the same guy who owns the sushi restaurant, the green market and the froyo place. GMAP

Widget Falls Way Short on South Oxford

Another reason we wish our programmer would finish the updated version ye olde widget: This one-bedroom at 60 South Oxford Street in Fort Greene was listed for $399,000. 58 readers weighed in on the price via the widget, with an average vote of $306,250. Once again the widget (and the seller) have the last laugh: The co-op just sold for $375,000. We're definitely a little surprised at how high a price this one fetched. You? GMAP

October 30, 2009

Development Watch: Adelphi Finger Half Way There

The ridiculously out-of-context tower rising at 122 Adelphi Street has now reached the six-story mark, putting it safely over the 50-percent-mark. Back of the envelope calculations suggest it's taking them about a month per floor, which suggests the 11-story building won't top out 'til some time in March.
Development Watch: Adelphi Finger Rising [Brownstoner]
Fort Greene About to Get Fingered [Brownstoner] GMAP
FG/CH Vesting: The Winners and Losers [Brownstoner] P*Shark DOB
Luxury (Or, More Likely, Not) On Adelphi Fringe [Brownstoner]
Adelphi Action [Brownstoner]

Streetlevel: New Restaurant Coming to 723 Fulton Street

Although it was filed over a year ago, the DOB application for work in the retail space at 723 Fulton Street in Fort Greene was only approved a month ago. The application references a new restaurant for the space. Anyone know anything more specific than that? GMAP

October 23, 2009

Puff, Puff! Cigar Bar for Fort Greene

In a former accountant's office at 108 South Oxford Street, a boxing promoter has created a cozy throw-back of a space that will house Fort Greene's first refuge for cigar smokers. Called Diamante's Brooklyn Cigar Lounge, the new space has quietly been open for a few days but won't have its grand opening until November 7. At that point, cigar aficianados can keep a locker onsite with their cigars (which can be purchased at the bar) and personal bottle, as the joint has no liquor license—not does it plan to get one. We were particularly impressed with all the architectural salvage the owner (who's family first moved to the area a century ago) used in rebuilding the space from scratch. GMAP

October 22, 2009

Co-op of the Day: 214 Carlton Avenue, #2

This one-bedroom co-op at 214 Carlton Avenue in Fort Greene ain't huge (looks like it's half a brownstone floor) but it's cute and has some nice old-school charm to it. And at $451, the monthly maintenance won't break the bank. We'll be surprised if the asking price of $455,000 is achieved but it never hurts to try. (Well, actually it can hurt to try but in this case the ask isn't high enough to stop someone from looking at it.)
214 Carlton Avenue, #2 [Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark

October 16, 2009

Atlantic Terrace Applications Available Nov 1

The Local reported yesterday on this week's October meeting of Brooklyn Community Board 2, during which it was announced that applications for Atlantic Terrace, the 80-unit affordable (ish) housing development at 669 Atlantic will be available November 1. According to The Local, "construction should be complete by May, followed soon after by a city-sponsored lottery." Other topics at the meeting included the Navy Yards, the new Fulton Street business improvement district called the FAB Alliance, and zoning and how it relates to stalled construction sites.
At the Board: Atlantic Terrace Coming Soon [The Local]
Development Watch: Atlantic Terrace Plods Along [Brownstoner]

October 14, 2009

Fulton BID Gets a Leader

We're still waiting for official comment but we thought folks in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill would want to hear the news that the Fulton BID has appointed its first director. Phillipp Kellogg, a former head of the Fort Greene Association, and a longtime resident of the area has gotten the nod. Great news as far as we're concerned! We hear some of the streetscape improvements are already in the works...Bring it on.

October 13, 2009

Streetlevel: Lafayette Grocery Overhaul

We noticed last week that the Lafayette Grocery at the corner of Lafayette Avenue and Cumberland Street in Fort Greene was getting a much-needed major overhaul. We were a little surprised when we couldn't find any record of the renovation filed with the Department of Buildings. Turns out we weren't the only curious ones: The Local blogcalled the Landmarks Preservation Commission to see if the project was LPC approved. The answer? Nope. As a result of the call, the work has been stopped until the owner successfully files plans with the commission. You'd think the grocery folks would have learned a lesson from the experience of the Nigerian restaurant across the street that originally flouted the LPC only to get bogged down in a multi-year mess. GMAP

Ingersoll Center Finally Open (Sorta)

It's taken seven years, but the Ingersoll Community Center is finally open. Well, not really open yet in terms of the public being able to use the 18,000-square-foot facility, but it was used to host the Ingersoll Tenants Association meeting a couple of weeks ago (just in time, too: Tenants Association head Ed Brown told The Local in August that, “If it hasn’t opened by late September, we’re going to have to hold a major protest”) and, we hear, a ribbon cutting ceremony is not far away. In the meantime, we've noticed chairs, tables and exercise bikes being set up. Bureaucracy at its best!
Seven Years and Counting for Ingersoll Center [Brownstoner] GMAP
Ingersoll Community Center to Open as Soon as July [Brownstoner]

October 7, 2009

Co-op of the Day: 25 South Oxford Street, #5

This top-floor garrett at 25 South Oxford Street in Fort Greene hit the market last month asking $599,000 but was just reduced to $550,000. The 900-square-foot two-bedroom has some cute elements, namely the skylights and windows, but doesn't appear to have much in the way of original details. The maintenance of $750 is neither here nor there. We bet this goes in the low $500,000s.
25 South Oxford Street, #5 [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark

September 29, 2009

House of the Day: 329 Adelphi Street Reduced

The beautiful but crumbling wood frame house at 329 Adelphi Street has a new broker and a new price tag. The shingled corner house started out asking $950,000 last May. According to a few people we know who've now been inside, though, it needs so much work that that price was unrealistic. The new asking price of $795,000 is still more than the pricing widget called for last go-round, which normally wouldn't be an issue given the widget's track record of underpricing by 15 percent or so. In this case, though, we suspect the masses may have some wisdom: An architect we know said you're looking at a million bucks of work here.
329 Adelphi Street [Ahrlty.com] GMAP P*Shark
House of the Day: 329 Adelphi Street [Brownstoner]

September 25, 2009

Look, Ma, No Wheels

Fort Greene has been very, very good to one band of merry car strippers. A reader sent this photo in yesterday of an Infiniti sedan—minus four tires—parked on Cumberland Street off Lafayette Avenue. That's gotta hurt.

September 24, 2009

New Website, Logo for 80 Dekalb

80 Dekalb is getting sooooooo close. With just about every window in place, the 36-story rental project from Forest City has put up its splash site. There's no pricing info yet, but you can check out the nifty new logo and motto. And how about that url! Nice 4-letter dotcom: dklb.com.
Development Watch: 80 Dekalb Getting Close [Brownstoner]
80 Dekalb Tops Out [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark DOB
Development Watch: 80 Dekalb Facade Spreading [Brownstoner]
A Touch of Glass for 80 Dekalb [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 80 Dekalb Reaches 25 Stories [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 80 Dekalb Avenue Halfway There [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 80 Dekalb Avenue [Brownstoner]
Taxpayers Paying Up for Downtown Rental [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 80 Dekalb Avenue [Brownstoner]
80 Dekalb Avenue: Get Ready for Take-Off [Brownstoner]

September 21, 2009

House of the Day: 135 Lafayette Avenue

This five-story, 5,810-square-foot townhouse at 135 Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene hit the market a couple of weeks ago with a price tag of $2,875,000, unusually expensive for house not on a park block. The house has been updated in a tasteful way and looks particularly spacious in the new Corcoran full-screen photo viewer. On the downside, it's right next door to a less-than-scenic deli and doesn't have much of a backyard to speak of. Reactions?
135 Lafayette Avenue [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark

HBO Does Fort Greene

Did anyone watch "Bored to Death" last night? The Local's Andy Newman ran an interview with the show's writer and main character, Jonathan Ames, last week about the process of representing/misrepresenting Brooklyn on international television. Newman and Ames, who live in Park Slope and Boerum Hill respectively, talk about how the show takes place in Fort Greene even though Ames never lived there (the central character lives on South Portland), how the trailer showed only white people despite Fort Greene's diversity, and Ames' predilection for the ladies who frequent Smooch Cafe. The interview was light-hearted and full of banter, but some of the topics covered are hot-button issues for Brooklynites. Did anyone see the first episode? How did HBO's Fort Greene compare to the real thing?
Bored to Death [Official site]
A Sense of (Semi-fictionalized) Place [The Local, NYT]

September 17, 2009

$15 Million for Two Navy Yard Projects

Yesterday it was announced that the State Senate has approved $15 million to fund two green redevelopment projects at the Brooklyn Navy Yard: a 220,000-square-foot "Green Manufacturing Center" from adapted WWII buildings and an exhibition and visitor center, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at Building 92, which will include the reuse of the former Marine Commandant's house. This is in addition to the news in April that Mayor Bloomberg had opened a green industrial facility there, the Perry Building, and announced plans for another one, the Duggal Building. The $15 million comes from the NYC Council, the Borough President, and the State Environmental Protection Fund. Construction on the green center will begin in Spring 2010, predicted to last 18 months, and work on the visitors' center is set to begin in October, ending mid-2011.
Bloomie Announces Navy Yard Historical Center [Brownstoner]

September 16, 2009

Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

The Best of Hot Plates Live
We checked out Metromix's premiere Hot Plates Live event at the Bell House on Monday night, sampled beer and cheese, ate lots of great food from new Brooklyn restaurants, and wholeheartedly recommend that you check out the next Hot Plates tasting event. (We'll keep you posted when Metromix plans another.) Our favorite bite of the evening was the Chinese sausage and sticky rice with chili-lime sauce (pictured above) from Umi Nom. We've been long-time fans of this dish at Kuma Inn on the LES, so we're excited that chef King Phojanakong has brought it to Brooklyn. Sui Ren's quail egg wrapped in seaweed and maguro was another favorite. We'll be adding both spots to our restaurant database shortly.

Opening This Week: Mercat Negre
65 Grand St between Kent and Wythe Aves, Williamsburg; no phone yet
"This sister location of the East Village’s Mercat features an open kitchen in which [Barcelona's chef Oriol Sala] Colomer will cook shareable dishes, such as grilled red mullet with eggplant puree and marinated endives," says Time Out New York.

No Reservations: NYC Outer Boroughs
In case you missed Tony Bourdain's recent romp around the boroughs, you can check out all the places he visited on the No Reservations website. We thought it was a pretty solid episode, featuring stops at Tortilleria Mexicana Los Hermanos in Bushwick, East Harbor Seafood Dim-Sum Palace in Sunset Park, and Diner and Marlow & Sons in Williamsburg.

After the jump: Hecho en Dumbo is leaving Dumbo, Chicago dogs, dumplings, Chickadee Chick's menu, Spanish wines, and more...

Continue reading "Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up"

September 14, 2009

Closings Underway at the Classic Modern

As The Post pointed out back in June, one of the few bright points on the Fort Greene development landscape this year has been the eight-unit project at 268 Cumberland Street known as the Classic Modern. At that time, all but one of the units had been spoken for. There's still one unit available, but, according to StreetEasy, closings have begun in the rest of the building: In the last couple of weeks #1B and #2A have both made it official.
A Little Momentum for Fort Greene Developments? [Brownstoner]
Checking In On The Classic Modern [Brownstoner] GMAP
Development Watch: 268 Cumberland Street [Brownstoner]

September 11, 2009

Crime Down in Fort Greene, Despite Unease

“There’s an overall feeling that things are not going right in Fort Greene,” Paul Palazzo of the Fort Greene Association told The Brooklyn Eagle. Several crimes in the area have made the news, adding to the foreboding feeling in the neighborhood: the brutal attack on Pratt student Eddy Sanchez and disposed human remains found in the trash along Walworth Street. “You get the impression that the sky is falling in Fort Greene,” says Captain Anthony Tasso, commanding officer of the 88th Precinct, but at Wednesday night's meeting of Community Board 2, he stated that overall crime is down 12 percent—the only crime to increase, he added, is residential burglaries, which went up 13 percent compared to last year; otherwise, robberies, car break-ins, rape, and shootings are all down. He also mentioned a recent increase in robberies around Fort Greene Park at night, and has increased patrols accordingly. If you look at the statistics (PDF) for the year to date, for example, all categories of crime have decreased compared to the same period of 2008. Meanwhile, reportes Brooklyn Heights Blog, crime is also down across the board in the 84th Precinct (Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, Boerum Hill) as well.
Crime in Fort Greene Is Down, Captain Says [Brooklyn Eagle]
Despite Brutal Assault, Crime Down in 88th [Brownstoner]
Precinct Crime Statistics [NYPD]
Photo by Dominic Ridolfo

September 9, 2009

Co-op of the Day: 96 South Portland Avenue, #8

The buyer of this co-op at 96 Portland Avenue may have to enter through the rear (no jokes, DIBS) but he won't go hungry. The one-bedroom apartment is located right above Greene Grape at the corner of South Portland and Fulton in Fort Greene. It's pretty underwhelming aesthetically—low ceilings, no architectural details to speak of, small kitchen—but is certainly in a convenient location. All things considered, though, the asking price of $465,000 seems laughably high. Agree?
96 South Portland Avenue, #8 [Fillmore] GMAP P*Shark