Sunset Park
October 1, 2009
Council Passes Sunset Park Rezoning Plan

This week City Council passed the long-discussed rezoning proposal for Sunset Park, a plan that attempts to promote new development, affordable housing, and new businesses, while maintaining the character of the neighborhood. The Department of City Planning posted the details of the plan on its website, which includes changes for about 128 blocks within Community Board 7's distrcit. Borough President Marty Markowitz issued a statement that the rezoning will benefit Sunset Park, adding that "it’s important that anti-harassment measures be reviewed to determine if the Tenant Protection Act is adequate as a means of protecting residents from displacement, and that every effort be made to ensure that the magnificent park views of Upper New York Bay and Manhattan are preserved.” While the city is talking some nice talk, some residents have fought the rezoning plan due to concerns that it will promote luxury developments and big-business interests, resulting in residential and commercial displacement.
Sunset Park Rezoning [Department of City Planning]
Immigrant Groups Fight Sunset Park Rezoning [Brownstoner]
Development Funds Flow into Sunset Park [Brownstoner]
Sunset Park Waterfront Vision Plan [Brownstoner]
The Sunset Park Condo That Helped Fuel the Rezone Fire [Brownstoner]
Photo by Michael Comeau
September 30, 2009
Development Funds Flow into Sunset Park

The Bush Terminal, a 130,000-square-foot site in Sunset Park, is slated to receive a $10 million grant for redevelopment from the Restore New York initiative. The $10 million comes from a larger pot, $153.6 million that was granted to 79 projects statewide by Empire State Development. This is the third group of grants doled out by the program, which intends to revitalize urban areas by attracting residents and businesses. The city will use the new funds for demolition, asbestos removal, utility upgrades, and new construction at the Bush Terminal, reports the Brooklyn Eagle. The city will also approach private sector businesses as partners in redevelopment or as owner-operators at the site.
Bush Terminal to Receive $10M for Construction [Brooklyn Eagle]
Photo by Bridge and Tunnel Club
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...
August 27, 2009
Sunset Park Finally Getting Its Own High School

When the school year begins on September 9th, Sunset Parkers will be cheering. Why? Because after more than three decades, they'll finally have a high school to call their own. As the Daily News pointed out in an article last February, discussions about the school began four decades ago but were derailed by fiscal problems of the 1970s. Construction on the 1,500-seat school, which will be focused on three tracks--performing and visual arts; health and human services, and business and entrepreneurship--finally began in 2006. GMAP
August 26, 2009
House of the Day: 552 47th Street

A concerned reader sent in these photos after a recent visit she took to 552 47th Street, a dripping-with-charm but down-on-its-luck limestone house in Bay Ridge Sunset Park. Why concerned? She's worried that someone who doesn't appreciate the incredible interiors will pick the place up at a discount to the $720,000 asking price and gut it. Given these photos, we can only hope that doesn't happen. What an incredible place! Any preservationists out there itching for a restoration project?
552 47th Street [ReMax] GMAP P*Shark
August 21, 2009
Immigrant Groups Fight Sunset Park Rezoning

Rezoning seems to be the issue du jour here in Brooklyn. First, Carroll Gardeners raise their hackles over the planned R6A designation for some streets, and now the blog Best View in Brooklyn points out that a coalition of residents, churches, and a community organization in Sunset Park have filed a lawsuit challenging the city's rezoning plan of 128 blocks in their neighborhood. According to the press release published on Legal Services NYC's website, "They claim that the rezoning plan will encourage more luxury development and large chain stores, resulting in widespread residential and commercial displacement and gentrification among Sunset Park's low-income Asian and Latino communities." Any readers care to weigh in?
Press Conference Announces Lawsuit about Rezoning [BVIB]
Immigrant Groups File Lawsuit [Legal Services]
Photo by Sonja Shield/Legal Services NYC
July 22, 2009
Sunset Park Waterfront Vision Plan

On Monday, Mayor Bloomberg, joined by Brooklyn Chamber head Carl Hum and Borough President Marty Markowitz among other public officials, announced the city's plan to invest $165 million (alongside another $105 million from the state) to revitalize commercial activity along the Sunset Park Waterfront. "On Brooklyn's waterfront, the City has a unique opportunity to build upon existing assets - including a talented workforce and industrial and maritime infrastructure - to create permanent industrial jobs," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Through a series of investments aimed at bringing aging infrastructure to good repair, professionalizing maritime and rail service, and increasing and diversifying job-intensive industrial uses along the waterfront, the Sunset Park Waterfront Vision Plan lays out a series of short and long-term steps to strengthen the area as a center for industrial growth. Specific initiatives include an $80 million overhaul of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, an $8.6 million modernization of the Bush Terminal and improvement of the freight rail service in the area. Another $37 million is slated to build the Bush Terminal Piers Park, which will add 22 acres of open space through the remediation of a former brownfield. Check out the full-length press release here.
May 27, 2009
Sunset Parkers Protest Street-Sweeping Regs
The Daily News looks into the war for the streets, Sunset Park-edition: "After battling the city for more than 30 years, Sunset Park drivers are furious the city has refused to slash their street cleaning regulations - even though two other Brooklyn neighborhoods have won reduced service, which makes it easier to find parking. 'It's an issue of fairness,' said Jeremy Laufer, district manager of Community Board 7. The board has been asking the city to cut back its street sweeping in residential areas from four times a week - twice on each side - to twice a week since 1978 to save drivers from having to constantly move their cars. Park Slope became a car owners' dream last summer when the city Sanitation Department temporarily suspended all alternate side parking regulations there while changing all the signs and cutting the neighborhood's street cleaning service to once a week on each side on most streets." Sanitation says the new regs can't be adopted in the neighborhood because its streets haven't met the two-year "average cleanliness rating" that's required.
Sunset Park Drivers Fuming Over Street Cleaning Regulations [Daily News]
Photo by redxdress
The Sunset Park Condo That Helped Fuel the Rezone Fire
In terms of lightning-rod new developments, few have drawn as much community ire as the Sunset Park condo at 420 42nd Street did a few years ago. The building was supposed to rise to 12 stories, but after tons of bad press (particularly regarding whether its architect flouted building code requirements), in early 2007 the condo's developer agreed to cap its height at 6 stories. The capitulation was a win for residents pushing for contextuality but it also gave teeth to community members who had long pushed for a rezoning of the neighborhood—a rezoning that is now more or less a given. The photo above shows 420 42nd Street as it is today, all grown up. It has 31 units, according to DOB records, and it got its full certificate of occupancy early this year. Property Shark shows there have been 11 closings in the condo, most in the $300,000- to $350,000-range.
420 42nd Street: This One Could Get Ugly [Brownstoner] GMAP
420 42nd Street and the Rule of Law [Brownstoner]
420 42nd Street Building Gets Cut in Half [Brownstoner]
May 26, 2009
Development Watch: New Sunset Park High School
The Sunset Park high school build has come a long way since last year. The Daily News had a story about the school, which is scheduled to open in the fall, a few months ago: "The schools it houses will be divided into three themed programs: performing and visual arts; health and human services, and business and entrepreneurship. Unlike most new schools, Sunset Park High seems likely to have no problem filling its roughly 320 seats even in the first year. More than 400 students have already pre-registered." The article said the community has been lobbying for a new school for decades.
Development Watch: New Sunset Park High School [Brownstoner] GMAP
May 21, 2009
CB7 Votes in Favor of Sunset Park Rezoning Plan

Today we have another Community Board report from a reader...
The full CB7 Board vote went as planned last night, despite a large crowd of protesters outside of CB7 with whistles and banners, led by the founders of SPAN (Sunset Park Alliance of Neighbors). The organizers' goal appeared to be to spread misinformation about the rezoning: that it would not curb development and that it would bring more condos, higher rents and greater displacement. In the end, many from the mixed crowd of Chinese and Latino residents had to be escorted from the meeting after the vote.
The disruptions did nothing to stop the CB7 Board from overwhelmingly approving the ULURP with the provisions of lowering the rezoning of 4th Ave from R7A with an affordable housing incentive (8 stories) to R6A to ensure the views from Sunset Park (from the park) to the harbor and help preserve many affordable housing units in place and lower income rent. R6A would have far less incentive for developers to demo existing stock and build new condo projects. There was also the addition of the recommendation by CB7 to include the rezoning as an anti-harassment special district, putting further assurances in place that owners/developers cannot illegally evict tenants in the name of creating newer housing stock.
Sunset Park Rezoning Review Begins [Brownstoner]
Sunset Park Rezone Plans Meet the Community [Brownstoner]
Sunset Park One Step Closer to Rezoning [Brownstoner]
May 20, 2009
Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

"Uber-Audible Ice Cream Truck" by amanda.mccreary
Ice Cream Truck Jingles: Hot or Not?
"One group of concerned citizens in Brooklyn is taking action against the incessant, insipid jingles reverberating on all sides of McCarren Park. They've put up signs decrying the noise pollution, and formed a Yahoo Group to share and document their noise complaint calls to 311 and the local precinct," says Gothamist. But Miss Heather of New York Shitty says, "The 94th Precinct (understaffed as it is) has better things to do than chase ice cream trucks. Get over it." Whose side are you on?
In related news: Grub Street reports, "This past weekend, aspiring Mister Softee Nick Morgenstern unveiled the cart he plans to station outside his Fort Greene restaurant, the General Greene, all summer."
News from reBar and Kif
Gothamist also says that Lori D’Agostino (formerly of Loulou) is now cooking at reBar (147 Front Street, Dumbo), and her menu includes "whole-roasted Idaho Brook Trout, Prince Edward Island Mussels with Coconut Curry Sauce, and molasses-brined Pork Tenderloin." Plus, Kif (219 DeKalb Avenue, Fort Greene) has expanded their garden to seat 40, and Grub Street shares photos of the casbah-inspired space.
Recently Reviewed: Brooklyn Public House and Vutera
Time Out New York gives Brooklyn Public House (247 DeKalb Avenue, Fort Greene) a thumbs down: "Like a starlet with beauty but no talent, Fort Greene's latest drinking addition, a refined tavern with all the requisite old-timey trappings, offers lots of flash and little substance." Ouch. Meanwhile, Restaurant Girl gives Vutera (345 Grand Street, Williamsburg) 3 out of 5 stars, recommending the "tender, red wine-braised lamb shank with baby carrots and polenta."
After the jump: Locally harvested Brooklyn oysters, Red Hook lobster rolls, another award for Lucali, a Bay Ridge food tour, and a bartending academy for "the young and tragically hip"...
May 5, 2009
Mixed News on Brooklyn Hotels

Sarah Ryley has a story in the current issue of The Real Deal trumpeting the fact that 10,000 hotel rooms in the city are now in some state of suspended development. Though the article is inherently rather Manhattan-centric, there are some newsy nuggets for watchers of the Brooklyn market. Most noteworthy: Foreclosure proceedings have reportedly been initiated at the Cambria Suites project at 75 Schermerhorn Street (above) and two people contracted to work on the project confirmed that it is indefinitely on hold. Over on Flatbush Extension, Best Western claims that it's still on track to build 80 rooms at #55 and Magna says it still wants to do its hotel in the former Pepper & Potter location at #125 but it has yet to land construction financing. At least one project isn't being held up by lack of financing: Sam Chang told TRD that he's going to finish his Comfort Inn in Sunset Park using his own cash.
10,000 Rooms on Ice [The Real Deal]
DOB Green-Lights Cambria Suites Hotel on Schermerhorn [Brownstoner]
Two New Hotels Slated for Downtown Brooklyn [Brownstoner]
From Cars to Mini-Fridges on Tillary [Brownstoner]
April 22, 2009
Sunset Park Rezoning Review Begins

Roughly two years after first announced its intention to evaluate the zoning in Sunset Park and about a year after it introduced the draft rezoning plan, the City Planning Commission yesterday kicked off the 60-day public comment period that is a standard step in the ULURP process. The rezoning would apply to a 128-block area and introduce new height limits while providing incentives for the creation of both affordable housing and commercial development where appropriate. (We've cut-and-pasted the nitty gritty on the jump for those who are deeply interested.) “Mayor Bloomberg and I promised the Sunset Park community that City Planning would work closely with the neighborhood and Council Member Gonzalez to develop a proposal that would protect Sunset Park’s established row house character,” said Commissioner Amanda Burden. “We have met extensively with the community and today’s proposal will establish height limits for new development and meet a need for affordable housing.” When the comment period is over, the proposal will move on to the Borough President's office before going back to the City Planning Commission and finally the City Council.
Sunset Park Rezone Plans Meet the Community [Brownstoner]
Sunset Park One Step Closer to Rezoning [Brownstoner]
April 8, 2009
Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

Photo by Tejal Rao for Gothamist
Coming Soon: Umi Nom
We're so excited that Kuma Inn, a great Filipino, Thai, and Southeast Asian small plates spot on the Lower East Side, is opening a sister restaurant at 433 DeKalb Avenue, on the border of Clinton Hill and Bed Stuy. Gothamist shares a first look at Umi Nom, which is scheduled to open on May 1, and reports that Chef/owner King Phojanakong "recently received some special sake pouring equipment to install at what will become a wood paneled bar where twenty sakes by the glass will be available."
Return of the Red Hook Vendors!
Serious Eats says that the vendors will be returning to the Red Hook Ball Fields on Saturday, May 2. Cesar Fueuntes, executive director of the Red Hook food vendors committee, also told them that "We are close on signing up to be a part of an amazing festival in a very popular and historic Brooklyn location that will soon promise to be one of the most talked about events in NYC. Most of our vendors are planning to be a part of this festival and will be there weekends throughout the entire season. As soon as we secure our participation, we will make it official." Any idea what he's talking about?
Bahn Mi Bonanza
Today's New York Times surveys the best bahn mi joints in the city, paying visits to Williamsburg's Nha Toi and Silent H, as well as Sunset Park's Thanh Da I and II and Ba Xuyen, a favorite in the Brownstoner restaurant files. Plus, Chow points out that you can also get your Vietnamese sandwich fix at Williamsburg's "Mediterranean-accented" Simple Cafe (346 Bedford Avenue at S. Third Street), which "is temporarily rechristened Bep, or 'kitchen' in Vietnamese" every Monday "when the café crew takes a break, a Vietnamese-Parisian cook settles in."
After the jump: Brooklyn cleans up at TONY's Eat Out Awards, the best Sichuan in the city, and a first look at Williamsburg's Rye...
Developers Pull The Trigger at One Sunset Park
The sales process at One Sunset Park (aka 702 44th Street) is going well enough that the developers are now sufficiently emboldened to have asked the attorney general to declare the building plan effective, reports The Real Deal. As you may recall, this is a rental building that's being gradually converted to condos. When we checked in back in February, five of the 22 available units had gone into contract; now, by our count, ten are spoken for. Prices on available units currently range from $320,000 for a 645-square-foot one-bedroom to $490,000 for a 901-square-foot two-bedroom. Surprised?
702 44th Street [Halstead] GMAP
Checking In On One Sunset Park [Brownstoner]
One Sunset Park Hits the Market [Brownstoner]
April 1, 2009
Wednesday Food & Drink Round-Up

Now Open: Unauthorized Obama Eatery
"In an apparent bid to stand out in the crowded fast food market, a Brooklyn business has rechristened itself 'Obama Fried Chicken.' Previously known as Royal Fried Chicken, the eatery, located at Rockaway Parkway and Rutland Road in Brownsville, unveiled its revamped name last Thursday afternoon when the business's new awning was installed," says the Smoking Gun. We can only wonder if this fried chicken joint will meet the same fate as Sixpoint's Hop Obama beer.
Ditmas Park: Home of the City's Best Hummus
1209 Cortelyou Road (Westminster Road), Ditmas Park; (718) 284-4444
The New York Times reports on the Israeli hummus parlors popping up around the city and says, "The newest of these hummusiot also happens to be the best. Mimi’s Hummus opened in February on Cortelyou Road, the Restaurant Row of Ditmas Park." At this 8-table spot, owner Mimi Kitani an Israeli with Moroccan-Kurdish parents draws culinary influences from each culture and serves 5 types of hummus priced from $8 to $9.
Pizza Pizza
Bloggers across Brooklyn are buzzing about two newcomer pizzerias set to open this week Ignazio's (4 Water Street, Dumbo; 718-522-2100) and Anselmo's (354 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook; 718-775-5386). Time Out New York says that Ignazio's "menu is mostly devoted to thin-crust and Sicilian pies. Special versions include toppings such as lobster or seasonal greens, like baby dandelion and chicory." And Slice shares the story behind Anselmo's: "[Jack] Stella, one of the joint's three partners, runs a chemical business down the street. He and his colleagues in that business originally bought the building that would house Anselmo's as a sort of clubhouse where they could take smoke breaks. While gutting it, he discovered the coal oven, and realizing he had the proverbial diamond in the rough, made plans to turn it into a pizzeria. Their loss of a smokers' lounge is our gain as coal-oven aficionados."
After the jump: 3 new grocery stores, a new restaurant from a Red Hook ball fields vendor, a secret new Williamsburg eatery, Buttermilk Channel hits the big screen, and more...
March 16, 2009
Development Watch: 805 5th Avenue

This Scarano-esque six-story new building at 805 5th Avenue will have nice views of the Green-Wood Cemetery when (if) it's completed. (It was stalled out over the summer but work resumed last fall.) The 12-unit building is unlikely to win any awards for contextual design though. GMAP P*Shark DOB
February 26, 2009
Time Equities Bails on Bush Terminal Plans
Time Equities, the large Manhattan-based developer and landlord, has pulled out of a deal with the city to redevelop three buildings on the Sunset Park waterfront, reports The Real Deal. Last year, the Economic Development Corporation had picked Time Equities to rehab Bush Terminal Buildings B and C between 41st and 43rd Streets and continue operating them as industrial buildings while converting the 1,100,000-square-foot Federal Building No. 2 (at right) into a mixed-use complex with retail. Given the direction the market has taken in recent months, the news was not a huge surprise. "Their return would be less than what they thought," said commercial broker Neil Dolgin, "and financing is very difficult."
Time Equities Abandons Two Brooklyn Waterfront Projects [TRD]
Time Equities' Other Big Project on Sunset Park Waterfront [Brownstoner]
February 2, 2009
Checking In On One Sunset Park

What does it say about the condo market that a medium-sized conversion in Sunset Park is selling more units than most of the large, big name developments in higher-profile parts of the borough? We have no idea, but surely there's reason to cheer for the fact that One Sunset Park, a 54-unit former rental building gradually being converted to condos, has racked up five signed contracts since it hit the market in October; 22 of the units have been put up for sale to date and most of them range in price from $300,000 to $585,000. Maybe there's something magical about sub-$500-a-foot pricing.
702 44th Street [Halstead] GMAP
One Sunset Park Hits the Market [Brownstoner]
January 30, 2009
Sunset Parkers Sick of the Porn
There may be more and more artists in Sunset Park, but there are also quite a few adult video stores, a fact that has residents increasingly up in arms. In fact, the melting-pot neighborhood has as many as 25 porn shops and peep shows, reports The Daily News. "Our community has been dumped on," said Community Board 7 Chairman Randolph Peers. "Mothers can't bring their children to school without exposing them to things they shouldn't see," said Gloria Hidalgo, 70, one of 200 Sunset Park residents who signed a petition calling for the shops to be closed. The shop owners say there's no cause for concern. Here's the money-shot quote from Gamage Prabath, an employee at Midland Video at 4106 Third Avenue: "They arrive at their sexual satisfaction here, so therefore the children and the ladies on the street are safe." At least he's not beating around the bush. And if they need an alternate local to "arrive at their sexual satisfaction," well, there's always a McSam hotel!
Sunset Park Porn Shops in Scandal [NY Daily News]
January 13, 2009
Will Sunset Park Be the Next Artist Community?

The artists are coming, the artists are coming! That's the headline on the Sunset Park waterfront these days, as the massive 16-building complex known as Industry City slowly remakes itself in the image of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and, once upon a time, Williamsburg or Dumbo (though there are no plans for a residential component). So far, according to New York Magazine, less than sixty loft spaces have been set aside for artists to use as studios, but already a "scene" is beginning to coalesce, with film makers, painters and the like throwing weekly "experimental" parties. “It’s really affirming about why we’re in New York and what it means to be an artist in New York,” says Travis Boyer, who shares one of the $422-a-month, light-filled studios. For more information on renting studio space at Industry City check out Industry City Art Project and for creative workspace see ICCWS.com.
In Brooklyn, an Industrial Artists’ Colony [NY Magazine]
Photo by Thomas Rupolo
January 6, 2009
Read McSam's Lips: No New Hotels in Brooklyn

The McSam Hotel Group has made a tidy putting up low-end hotels in up-and-coming Brooklyn neighborhoods in recent years but that's all coming to an end. (Of course, the company's made even more money flipping properties in Manhattan.) "We were very bullish on Brooklyn — past tense," COO Gary Wisinki told The Real Deal. "Our hotels have done well, but we are very concerned with the amount of product planned for the borough." (This isn't exactly breaking newsChang said something similar over a year ago at a Chamber of Commerce event.) One neighborhood in particular has been the target of McSam's affections in recent years: Sunset Park. Starting with the Days Inn at 435 39th Street (photo), the developer has a total of six hotels either finished or in progress in the area. Gowanus is also giving Sunset Park a run for its money: There are currently three recently completed hotels in the rapidly-transforming nabe and another six in the works. Much of this boom can be attributed to zoning that prohibited condos and rental buildings while allowing hotels. "If you had a dilapidated warehouse that wasn't good for anything else," said broker Ofer Cohen, "you could sell it as a hotel development site."
Sun Sets on Hotel boom in Brooklyn Nabe [TRD] GMAP
Brooklyn Hotel Buzz: Boom and Doom [Brownstoner]
Photo by Kate Leonova for Property Shark
December 9, 2008
Music, Everywhere in Sunset Park
Hey, it's Christmas time-ish, and if you can't tell by the tinsel decorating the lampposts and the sale posters flooding store windows, you can tell by the music: White Christmas, Here Comes Santa Claus, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas crackling from radios in just about every business you pop into. The only relief, if you want it, is the street. Except in Sunset Park, where the local Business Improvement District has decided to blast holiday music from lampposts in the shopping area, hoping to keep the activity fresh in folks' minds. It's not playing 24 hours a day, but, and we know this is hard to believe, not everybody wants to hear holiday music outside. WNYC has more.
A Song in the Air [WNYC]
Photo by perke.
November 24, 2008
Second Avenue Between 37th and 39th Streets
NY Metro takes a look at the pros and cons (depending on your attitude) of living near this block, next to Costco and Industry City. These include the Costo itself, drawing visitors from around the city; nude dancers at the Peyton’s Playpen Gentleman’s Club across the street; quiet weekend streets; and $12/per sf artists' space nearby.
