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Media Center to Replace Pratt Art Store
The building at 550 Myrtle Avenue that currently houses the Pratt Store will be getting a major makeover by architectural firm WASA/Studio A in preparation for its transformation into a media center for the school. The building has 15,000 square feet of space and will house sound stages, a recording studio, mixing rooms and a screening room, DNAinfo reported. WASA/Studio A also designed Pratt’s Myrtle Hall, where Utrecht Art Supply Store is located. The new design is still in the planning stages, but the building’s mezzanine will stay. No word yet on whether Pratt intends to expand upward. The redo of 550 Myrtle Avenue is expected to be completed by fall of 2014.
Video and Media Center to Replace Soon-To-Be Shuttered Pratt Store [DNAinfo]
Photo by Google Maps
05/23/2013 9:30 AM
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Rental of the Day: 320 Washington Avenue
This three-bedroom, two-bathroom rental unit comes from one of our favorite buildings in Clinton Hill, the Graham Home for Old Ladies. This condo-unit-for-rent is quite lovely, even if it might be a tad cozy. One bedroom is set up as an office and the other one pictured doesn’t look very large, although there is lot of closet space. The asking rent comes in at $3,750 a month.
320 Washington Avenue [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
05/22/2013 12:30 PM
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Affordable Housing Planned for Fulton Street Lots
More information has come to light regarding the empty lots on Fulton Street between Grand Avenue and Downing Street, thanks to the Greene Hill Food Co-Op. The Co-Op (lot No. 16, above) backs up to these empty plots, some owned by the city and some owned privately. In March the private owners met with Community Board Two because they were in talks with the city to buy the two city-owned plots and develop the entire site. The folks at the Co-op found out that this will be an affordable housing development and building will begin in about two years. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development will first have to prepare a land-review process application to transfer the sites. The Co-op is putting up a mural on the back wall of its building this September. According to them, “This [development] is in the very early stages, but we will continue to be in contact with them through the process to potentially preserve the artwork that will be done, or incorporate some of it into the building project.”
In Our Backyard [Greene Hill Food Co-Op]
Meeting Tonight on Fulton Street Redevelopment Proposal [Brownstoner] GMAP
05/22/2013 11:00 AM
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Closing Bell: Fulton Trees Now Barkless
A bizarre thing has happened in front of the Met Foods on Fulton Street, between St. James and Cambridge places. Three newly planted trees have been totally stripped of their bark. A tipster spotted the naked trees and sent the following photo. Why the heck would anybody be taking bark off the trees?
05/21/2013 4:00 PM
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Jersey Developer Will Finish Clinton Hill Condo Build
A New Jersey-based developer swooped in to purchase the property at 143-159 Classon Avenue, previously owned by the Community Preservation Corporation. CPC had an outstanding balance of around $17 million on the site and the buyers ended up paying less than that, according to The Real Deal. The Robert Scarano project broke ground in 2007, and according to TRD, “143 Classon Avenue [is] almost finished and 159 Classon Avenue requires significant construction work before receiving its final certificate of occupancy.” The developers expect to take over the title in the next three to six months.
NJ Investor Buys Clinton Hill Property out of Bankruptcy, Plans Condos [TRD]
Photo via TRD
05/21/2013 10:00 AM
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Three Brooklyn Buildings Calendared This Week
The Landmarks Preservation Commission went through a very full agenda Tuesday, voting to calendar three historic Brooklyn sites. The first is the Henry and Susan McDonald House at 128 Clinton Avenue, in Clinton Hill (pictured left). Landmarks says that it’s an “unusually well-preserved and rare free-standing Italianate frame house with Greek Revival style elements” built in 1853-54. It was built for Henry McDonald, a prosperous baker with a business in Manhattan. The second is the Long Island Business College at 143 South 8th Street, in South Williamsburg (pictured right). It’s currently a co-op building, formerly a business college. The Romanesque Revival-style building was constructed in 1890-92 with red brick, brownstone details, and a slate roof. The third is the Peter Huberty House at 1019 Bushwick Avenue (pictured center), a Building of the Day pick. The Colonial Revival mansion was built in 1900. LPC details the facade: “The Huberty House design is cubic in form and is crowned by a hipped roof with dormers. Laid in a Flemish bond, its red brick facades are accented with glazed brick headers, gray brick corner quoins, and stone and terra-cotta window trim. Its main entrance features an impressive Federal-style curved portico with Ionic columns, arched gray brick Gibbs surround, historic double-leaf doors, and stained-glass fanlight.” You can read the full writeup of all three historic structures after the jump. And regarding the vote of a clapboard restoration at 122 Pacific Street, the LPC approved. (more…)
05/16/2013 12:00 PM
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Happenings on Fulton Street
Lots of stuff happening on a small stretch of Fulton Street! Pictured above, a new fish store called Just Fish just put up a sign; it’s located in the old MetroPCS space at 914 Fulton, between St. James Place and Washington Avenue. Expect an opening soon. Energy Fuel, a restaurant and juice bar, also hung a sign, at 924 Fulton Street, also between Washington and St. James Place. And finally, the deli on the corner of Washington Avenue and Fulton Street completed a total gut renovation and is now remaking the exterior storefront. Check out more photos after the jump. Thanks to the Fulton Area Business Alliance for the tips. (more…)
05/15/2013 2:00 PM
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House of the Day: 70 Lefferts Place
The 1854 James and Lucy S. Ellwell House was saved from demolition by a last-minute landmarking in 2006, then converted to an illegal hostel by that same owner, after a failed sales attempt. Now it is back on the market for $2,500,000, which is $100,000 more than the developer paid in 2006. It appears to have changed hands twice in the last two years, for $515,000 and $850,000, both to LLCs, after a lis pendens was filed in 2009, according to PropertyShark. All that aside, the house is a quite beautiful mid-19th century wood frame, with a rooftop cupola and plenty of original details still left on the inside. An open house is scheduled for Wednesday, May 22. What do you make of it all?
70 Lefferts Place [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
05/14/2013 1:30 PM
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The Brooklyn Real Estate Market Summed Up in One Flyer
Corcoran broker Andrea Yarrington sent this summary of the townhouse sales in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Bed Stuy as part of a marketing mailer last week. Whether you’ve been in the market or not, if you’re reading this blog chances are you have heard plenty of anecdotes about mobbed open houses, multiple bids and all-cash offers. This one-pager is about the best summary of the market over the past few months that we’ve seen. Pretty amazing.
05/13/2013 11:00 AM
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Inside the Renovation at 71 Irving Place
We ventured inside 71 Irving Place, the formerly rundown Clinton Hill multi-family which suffered from a facade collapse before a renovation started. The buyers, the Big Brooklyn Rehab Company, are in the midst of a total gut — the building was in a sorry state when they picked it up for $750,000 last year. There is an owner’s duplex as well as three three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments. Each apartment has its own washer/dryer and there will also be a roof deck. The renovation will wrap up in about two months and then they plan to put the entire building on the market for about $2.5 million.
Work Happening at 71 Irving After Building Collapse [Brownstoner]
A Building Collapse on Irving and Putnam [Brownstoner] GMAP
05/09/2013 10:00 AM
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Building of the Day: 489 Washington Avenue
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Lascelles E. Maxwell House, then U.S. Grant Hall, then Weber Hall, now Evergreen Church of God in Christ
Address: 489 Washington Avenue
Cross Streets: Fulton Street and Gates Avenue
Neighborhood: Clinton Hill
Year Built: Maybe early 1870s
Architectural Style: Italianate/Second Empire
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No, just outside the Clinton Hill HD
The story: This building is a survivor with a storied past. Looking at its history, it’s amazing how many feet have crossed its floor boards over the years, perhaps more in this building than almost any other private home in Clinton Hill. The old saying, “if walls could talk” certainly applies to 489 Washington Avenue. The house was built at a time when Clinton Hill was still a suburban enclave, consisting mostly of fine villas on large lots on Clinton and Washington avenues. There are very few houses from this period left, as most were razed either for newer mansions in the 1880s, brownstone row house development, or later, for apartment buildings. Here’s the story.
From all accounts, the house was built for Lascelles E. Maxwell and his family. Mr. Maxwell was president of Maxwell & Company, a stock brokerage, and was born in Belfast in 1817. He came to New York in 1825, and became a citizen in 1846. His wife was Grace Georgiana Tone Maxwell, a woman with quite a family tree of her own. Born in Washington, D.C., in 1827, she was the only daughter of Theobald Wolfe Tone, aka “Wolfe Tone,” an Irish revolutionary considered the father of Irish Republicanism. Wolfe Tone was one of the leaders of the United Irishmen, leading the fight to free Ireland from British rule in the late 1700s. He was captured during the Rebellion of 1798, and sentenced to hang. He chose to deny the British the pleasure, and cut his own throat with a pocket knife while in prison. Unfortunately, it took him five agonizing days to die of infection, but he is considered one of the great martyrs in the centuries-old cause of Irish independence. (more…)
05/03/2013 3:00 PM
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Finally, Some Action at 414 Classon Avenue
For the past five years, the derelict property at the corner of Classon Avenue and Quincy Street in Clinton Hill sat with a “SOLD” sign plastered over the Massey Knakal listing banner atop the partially deconstructed building. The current owner purchased the 44-by-91-foot lot in 2007 for $960,000 but must have just missed the financing window. Thankfully, there has been action in recent weeks at the site. The old structure is gone and a new construction fence is up. According to the plans that were approved by the DOB in January, an 8,500-square-foot educational facility is set to rise on the site. The application says the name of the place will be “Phil’s Academy.” Anyone know more about what this place will be? GMAP
05/02/2013 2:43 PM
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Full Makeover for Wood Frame House at 162 Hall Street
There’s a wonderful row of a dozen or so wood frame houses on Hall Street between Myrtle and Willoughby Avenues that feels largely untouched by time — or by the money that’s flowed into the neighborhood over the past decade. One of these houses, No. 162, is in the process of being gut renovated. In recent weeks, it’s gotten an entirely new exterior, wood cladding that will presumably be painted. Given that the house was boarded up before the renovation began, we’re assuming everything’s being redone from scratch on the inside. Even if it was a complete wreck, though, the price this place changed hands for last year seems suspiciously low: $250,000. The house had been in foreclosure so maybe someone just got lucky. GMAP
05/01/2013 2:39 PM
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Last Week’s Biggest Sales
1. BROOKLYN HEIGHTS $7,650,000
40 Willow Place GMAP P*Shark
The sale of this modern Brooklyn Heights property got its own post last week. The home was asking $7.95 million after selling for $7.35 million last summer. Deed recorded on 4/24/2013.
2. COBBLE HILL $3,100,000
132 Kane Street GMAP P*Shark
Here’s the listing for this unique property, which includes a three-story row house at 132 Kane Street, a single-story storefront at 6 Cheever Place, and a three-story house at 8 Cheever Place. The property was asking $4,500,000, then $3,995,000. Deed recorded on 4/23/2013.
3. BROOKLYN HEIGHTS $2,750,802.38
9 College Place, #1J GMAP P*Shark
A huge sale for the Love Lane Mews condo build. This unit is a three-bedroom, three-and-half bath. Deed recorded on 4/24/2013.
4. BROOKLYN HEIGHTS $2,749,275
9 College Place, #4B GMAP P*Shark
And another big sale for Love Lane Mews! No Streeteasy info on this unit. Deed recorded on 4/26/2013.
5. CLINTON HILL $2,600,000
556 Washington Avenue GMAP P*Shark
For your daily dose of Brooklyn brownstones selling over ask: This one was asking $2,225,000. (This sale beat out 32 Hicks Street, a home in the Heights that sold for $2,475,000.) Deed recorded on 4/25/2013.
04/30/2013 11:30 AM
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Commercial Interest for 112 Emerson Place
The other week we posted the finished facade of 112 Emerson Place, noting “it’s nice to see this stretch of Myrtle continue to receive investment.” According to the commercial broker in charge of the building’s retail space, it won’t be long until the ground floor is full. He says, “Thus far, we have registered interest from several local operators as well as two national franchises. We are hoping to find a tenant that will address the needs of the immediate community and the residential tenants above.” The store is 1,100 square feet on the ground floor and asking $6,200 a month. Here’s the marketing flyer from CPEX. The development itself will a rental building, although there’s no date yet when residential marketing will begin.
112 Emerson Place Finishing Up [Brownstoner]
New Building for Myrtle and Emerson Corner [Brownstoner]
GMAP
04/30/2013 11:00 AM
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Co-op of the Day: 101 Lafayette Avenue #1H
Have we written about 101 Lafayette Avenue more than any other co-op building in Brooklyn? It’s possible, but that’s not going to stop us from highlighting this new ground-floor listing at the Fort Greene prewar stalwart. At 715 square feet, it’s a generously sized, with high ceilings and large rooms. It’s also got its own private maisonette entrance right off the street. (If you don’t want to enter through the bedroom, though, you can always go through the building and come into the apartment’s foyer.) Asking price is $549,000.
101 Lafayette Avenue #1H [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
04/29/2013 12:57 PM
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Southern Restaurant About to Open in Old Dakar Space
We were grabbing some takeout from Choice last night and noticed lights and activity in the long-shuttered storefront at 285 Grand Avenue formerly inhabited by Dakar restaurant. Upon our approach, camera in hand, a very friendly proprietor popped her head out to let us know that they weren’t officially open yet, despite the number of happy-looking diners inside. “The name is Marietta,” a sign in the window informed us, “and we’re a fun-loving American restaurant with Southern influences.” Indeed, a profile already up on Menupages reveals treats like Tennessee Brown Jam Smoked Pork Shoulder and Extra Fancy Memphis Fried Chicken. Great news for Grand Avenue! GMAP
04/25/2013 11:00 AM
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Associated Addition on Waverly Getting Bricked
Considering the modest size of the addition above the Associated Supermarket on Waverly Avenue, we’re surprised how long it’s taking to construct. This recent photo shows that the facade is finally getting bricked. Construction started over the summer. The project also includes a renovation of the supermarket below. Here’s a very preliminary rendering of the addition. It looks like the real thing will turn out close to the design.
Checking in on the Associated Addition [Brownstoner]
Associated Supermarket Addition Tops Off [Brownstoner]
Addition to Clinton Hill’s Associated Rising Quickly [Brownstoner]
Waverly Associated Build-Out Revealed [Brownstoner] GMAP
04/24/2013 2:40 PM
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House of the Day: 339 Washington Avenue
The listing calls this house “stylistically unique, displaying elements of Gothic Revival and Italianate.” We think we spy some Greek Revival rather than Italianate in there, but whatever. Either way, this is a very special house, and a very old one by Clinton Hill standards; the listing puts it at 1855. There’s an unusual bay window over the also unusual front door, and pretty much every room comes with loads of beautiful, presumably handmade wood work and other ornamentation, such as an interior door with elaborate stained glass. The one kitchen and bath pictured have been nicely updated too. It’s a three-family but, remarkably, the home’s features don’t seem to have suffered too much in the division. (We’d use the bedroom next to the kitchen in the owner’s duplex as a dining room.) Our only quibble is with the cliched kitchen floor tile, but we think that in exchange for all the rest, we could live with that. What do you think of the house and the price of $3,950,000?
339 Washington Avenue [Brooklyn Properties] GMAP P*Shark
04/23/2013 1:30 PM
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112 Emerson Place Finishing Up
When we checked in with 112 Emerson Place back in October, the 32-unit residential development had just received its permits but had yet to poke its head over the top of the construction fence. Now, just six months later, it looks like it’s about ready to open for business. The windows of the seven-story building could be bigger but it’s nice to see this stretch of Myrtle continue to receive investment. It looks like a couple of storefronts to the east are about ready to reopen.
New Building for Myrtle and Emerson Corner [Brownstoner] GMAP
04/22/2013 2:40 PM
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williamsburg_guys
May 21, 2013 | 09:56 AM