May 9, 2008

Developer Shows How He'll Save the Minerva Wave

Yesterday the developers of a building on 23rd Street and 7th Avenue that threatened to block the unobstructed sight line between Green-Wood Cemetery's Minerva statue and Lady Liberty had a demonstration to show that their project will preserve the view. The architect representing Green-Wood was there to ensure the measurements met up to the proposed new building height, along with the President and Vice Presidents of Green-Wood. And what a fascinating spectacle those proceedings were: They involved a construction worker hoisted 40 feet in the air via cherry picker, thus proving to folks standing by Minerva that the line of site to the Statue of Liberty would be retained. The coast was clear.
Pyrrhic Victory for Green-wood's Minerva [Brownstoner]

Garden of the Day: Another Greenwood Heights Goodie

The garden fun continues in Greenwood Heights today. From the horse's mouth:

Our backyard is a small courtyard which had a prison-yard vibe when we bought the place 4 years ago. We designed it ourselves hired some terrific guys to build it for us (ipe deck & cedar trellis) and have been working on the plantings ever since. It's the perfect spot for bbq's and outdoor movies. We also built a minimalist stucco flat roof shed/playhouse which is not pictured.

We're loving this. Comfortable but modern.
Garden of the Day: HGTV Does Greenwood Heights [Brownstoner]
Garden of the Day: PLG Make-Over [Brownstoner]
Submit Your Garden for 'Garden of the Day' [Brownstoner]

May 8, 2008

Garden of the Day: HGTV Does Greenwood Heights

Some people have all the luck. When this Greenwood Heights resident moved into her two-family house back in 2005, the back yard consisted of "a mess of concrete and brick featuring a giant dog house and what was advertised as a koi pond (essentially a hole in the ground, lined and filled with water and some goldfish)." After having some workers break up the concrete, she was starting from scratch. After getting one estimate of $35,000 to create the garden she wanted, she had to get more creative. This included applying to be the subject of a HGTV show called Urban Outsiders. After a five-month selection process, she got the thumbs-up. She had to pony up the $7,000 for materials but HGTV provided the labor and know-how. The result? Well, a picture's worth a thousand words.
Urban Outsiders Photo Set [Flickr]
Video: A Lounge Garden [HGTV]
Garden of the Day: PLG Make-Over [Brownstoner]
Submit Your Garden for 'Garden of the Day' [Brownstoner]

May 2, 2008

TONY Takes a Walk Through Green-Wood Cemetery

As part of its Walking Tour issue, Time Out NY this week serves up an unintimidating plan for tackling the sights of Green-wood Cemetery. A few of the stops on their suggested route include the grave of Bill the Butcher, a bust of Horace Greeley and the Steinway family mausoleum. Any must-see personal faves from readers?
Green-Wood Cemetery Walk [Time Out NY]

March 20, 2008

Development Watch: 679 4th Avenue

After a series of fits and starts (some related to Stop Work Orders, some not), the eight-story development at 679 4th Avenue has taken a turn for the strange. A reader sent in this photo with the title "stairway to nowhere." A look at DOB filings shows its somehow related to "remedial repairs." Hopefully these repairs will include the rusted balconies. GMAP P*Shark DOB

February 15, 2008

Goliath Crushes David in Greenwood Heights

Greenwood Heights isn't known as the Wild West of the development world for nothing! A couple of weeks ago, things went badly off track at the site of 227 34th Street, a new seven-unit building squeezing into the lot next to the modest two-story house at 229 34th Street. The offending site was slapped with a Stop Work Order, which is still in effect. The exact offense? "A partial collapse of concrete block parapet wall onto roof of adjacent property causing sever [sic] damage to bldg." The family next door was forced to relocate and, get this, hit with a violation for, we hear, an illegal extension. Ouch! Talk about kicking a man when he's down. If anyone knows more about the details of the accident, please let us know. GMAP

January 21, 2008

Playing the Name Game in Greenwood Heights

A reader from Greenwood Heights tells us that two developments in the area have recently been rechristened: “Six on Sixth,” at 18th Street, is now being called “Vanguard 6,” while “The Fusion” on 20th Street has been rebranded "284 Twentieth Street”. ("Vanguard 6" has switched brokerages along with names: the building is now being sold by Aguayo & Huebener rather than the Developers Group.) Unsurprisingly, the marketers didn’t choose to go with the nicknames some in the neighborhood use to refer to the buildings (“The Cruise Ship” and “The Confusion,” respectively). Think the new names will help lead to new sales?
Vanguard 6 [Aguayo & Huebener]
284 Twentieth Street [Corcoran]
New Development: Fusion on 20th Street [Brownstoner] GMAP
Unfortunate New Neighborhood Name: Sun Slope [Brownstoner] GMAP

January 10, 2008

Development Watch: 614 7th Avenue

Another chapter in the Greenwood Heights' longest-running soap opera: At 614 7th Avenue, the site that originally made headlines back in 2005 for the proposed Scarano design that would have blocked the line of sight from the Minerva statue in the adjacent Green-wood Cemetery to the Statue of Liberty, the current batch of developers have been muddling through plans to create a cluster of new townhouses on the site. They were originally hoping to squeeze 11 (!) houses onto the 100-by-100-foot lot but we hear that seven is more likely the number DOB will be comfortable with. In preparation for the new structures, the developers cleaned up the trash-ridden site before the holidays and were successful in getting the Stop Work Order lifted. Continued work at the site yesterday, however, did not go so well. While jack-hammering the block wall adjacent to 321 23rd Street, workers ignored the large section of fencing that collapsed early in the day, waiting til the late afternoon to use a front end loader to prop the gate back up, despite a 20-foot drop near the collapsed section. Business as usual in this neck of the woods.
Video: SWO Action at 614 7th Avenue [Brownstoner]
The Minerva: Signs Point To Go [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark DOB
First Rejection by DOB of Minerva II Plans [Brownstoner]
Minerva. Take Two. Roll 'Em. [Brownstoner]

December 31, 2007

Documenting 'Tear Down & Build Up' on 23rd Street

Some of the Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights have set up a photo gallery that will document the razing of 312 23rd Street and the forthcoming construction of condos on the site. They write that they "hope this new development site's documentation will be a treasure to remember and not an bad-boy to forget. So far so good..."
312 23rd Street-Brooklyn NY-'Tear Down & Build Up' [CCGH] GMAP
Brand New: The Tear Down & Build Up Gallery [Gowanus Lounge]

November 14, 2007

The Minerva: Signs Point To Go

Everyone’s favorite Greenwood Heights problem child, Minerva, aka 614 7th Avenue, is finally poised to rise. The DOB’s approved plans for a five-building development (the department had given the thumbs-down to a July filing calling for 11 buildings on the 100x100 lot). Although the development’s buildings are going to be quite a bit shorter than the 70 feet that were originally planned, the 40-foot building on the corner of 23rd Street is still expected to block Lady Minerva's views of the Statue of Liberty. And that means we’re probably going to hear plenty more about the project from the many concerned citizens of Greenwood Heights (and possibly the cemetery brass) before this is all said and done.
First Rejection by DOB of Minerva II Plans [Brownstoner] GMAP
Minerva. Take Two. Roll 'Em. [Brownstoner] P*Shark DOB
BSA Denies Vesting App for Minerva Building [Brownstoner]