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Closing Bell: Grand Street Pub Crawl
The Grand Street Business Improvement District in East Williamsburg has seen to it that there will be no need to leave Brooklyn to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Instead, wear some green to the second annual St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl. You will find beer and shots for under $5, shepherd’s pie, corned beef sandwiches, and bubble and squeak at 10 venues up and down Grand Street between Union and Graham avenues.
03/12/2013 4:00 PM
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Residences May Go up on East Burg Corner
If Purvi Realty LLC’s plans are approved, this low-slung building that once housed a Crown Chicken will be torn down to make way for a new five-story, mixed use building with 12 apartments. Earlier this month, Purvi Realty LLC filed an application with the city to construct a new building at 803 Flushing Avenue, or 1 Humboldt Street, as the Wyckoff Heights blog noted, close to Woodhull Medical Center. Jeffery Cole Architects is the architect of record. Click through to the jump for another photo. GMAP
03/12/2013 2:40 PM
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East W’burg Project Sells For $19.4 Mil, Starts Renting
On the last day of the year, perhaps with tax consequences playing a part, the 49-unit rental building at 76 Meserole Street in East Williamsburg changed hands for $19,400,000. The Karl Fischer-designed project began life back in 2006 but clearly got bogged down during the financial crisis, restarting again in 2010. According to StreetEasy, units at what is being called 80 Meserole have been on the market since early December for a February 1 move-in date. Asking rents range from $2,378 for a 690-square-foot one-bedroom to $4,540 for a 1,595-square-foot five-bedroom. GMAP
01/29/2013 9:30 AM
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Vintage Furnishings Shop Opens in East Burg
The Second Stop Cafe in East Williamsburg has opened a vintage and salvage shop down the block at 150 Ainslie (in what appears to be an old stable) called Second Stop Vintage Shop. It has “furniture and knick knacks for the Brooklyn look,” as our tipster put it. He saw customers carting off old bentwood chairs, marble table tops, doorknobs and porcelain bathroom fixtures. GMAP (more…)
12/05/2012 2:00 PM
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Winter Festivities on Grand Street
Grand Street is putting a little sparkle on the street for the holidays with a window display competition and night out Thursday, Dec. 13, from 6 pm to 8:30 pm. Window displays along the stretch of Grand Street from Union to Bushwick in East Williamsburg will be designed by local high school students. You can vote for your favorite and take a photo and post it on Facebook. There will be prizes, a scavenger hunt, free food and drinks, and a Santa with photo ops.
12/04/2012 12:00 PM
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Five Multi-Family Buildings Sell in Brooklyn
A welter of multi-family buildings have sold in Brooklyn, all handled by TerraCRG, the firm said, although the sales were unrelated. The long list includes 16 Dean Street in Boerum Hill for $2,650,000; 238 8th Street in Park Slope for $1,795,000; 186 Middleton Street in East Williamsburg for $950,000; 244 Troutman Street in Bushwick for $799,000; and 466 State Street in Boerum Hill for $850,000.
Photo of 238 8th Street by Kate Leonova for PropertyShark
10/15/2012 10:30 AM
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A Few Stalled Projects in East Williamsburg
A reader let us know about a few stalled projects in East Williamsburg he’s been watching collect dust for the past few years. The first (pictured) is on Meserole Street between Graham Avenue and Humboldt Street. The DOB filed the last permit for this four-story, eight-unit Scarano design in 2008. It’s been sitting there empty since. The second is a lot on the corner of Humboldt and Montrose. Our tipster says: “It has always been a vacant lot since I came to the area in 2006. In 2010, some digging began and in fall 2011 a bulldozer began churning up soil for about a month and even foundation work started. Then it came to a halt! In late February 2012, we saw a crew doing some work again, then it stopped and there has been no activity since. Getting a structure finally built and occupied would go a long way in brightening up a corner with such great potential.” GMAP
10/01/2012 2:40 PM
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Past and Present: H. Batterman Company
A Look at Brooklyn, then and now.
Where would we be without the Brooklyn Eagle? Aside from their daily newspaper and yearly almanacs, the Eagle issued several series of postcards featuring Brooklyn buildings. These were sold in the early years of the 20th century before 1907. There were hundreds of black and white photographs of schools, churches, courthouses, jails, hospitals, clubs and museums. There were also a lot of businesses, such as banks, department stores, warehouses, factories, and office buildings. The great thing about these postcards is that the photographs were taken from every part of the borough, and provide a great resource, and a tangible record, especially for investigating what is no longer here. Such as this postcard on the left; which is a photograph of the large H. Batterman Company store, located at the intersection of Graham and Flushing Avenues, and Broadway, in East Williamsburg. (more…)
01/27/2012 10:30 AM
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Building of the Day:138 Montrose Avenue
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church
Address: 138 Montrose Avenue
Cross Streets: Manhattan and Graham Avenues
Neighborhood: East Williamsburg
Year Built: 1882-85
Architectural Style: French Neo-Gothic
Architect: William Schickel
Other works by architect: In Brooklyn – St. Thomas Aquinas, Park Slope, All Saints, nearby on Throop Ave. In Manhattan – Stuyvesant Polyclinic Hospital on 2nd Ave, Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, Park Ave, and others.
Landmarked: No
The story: I first time I saw the lead-clad spires of this church rising over East Williamsburg, I had to see what was underneath them. The design looked so modern and science fiction-like, a church clad in armor. Imagine my surprise to get much closer find a huge French Gothic church underneath! When built, Holy Trinity was one of the largest church buildings in either Brooklyn or Manhattan. The towers are 250 feet tall, and rise over a neighborhood that once, like the church itself, was almost exclusively German. The history of this church and parish is an interesting one, and even has ghosts!
The origins of this church lie in the Austrian Tirol Mountains, home to the church’s founder, John Stephen Raffeiner, a man who became a soldier, successful doctor, then at the age of 40, a priest. He immigrated to the US in 1833, and was one of the founders of Manhattan’s St. Nicholas parish, the oldest German Catholic parish in NYC. (more…)
11/03/2011 3:30 PM
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898 Metropolitan on the Market
If the exterior didn’t give it away, the interior shots showing trademark mezzanine space make it obvious that the new condo 898 Metropolitan Avenue is the handiwork of Scarano Architects. Listings for the 8-unit East Williamsburg building went live last week, with prices running from $385,000 up to $479,000, according to StreetEasy. Here’s the broker line on it: “Just three blocks from the Graham L train. 6 of the 8 units feature 18 foot ceilings with floor to ceiling glass and a 2nd floor mezzanine area. Most units have private outdoor space either contiguous to the apartment or on the roof. Each apartment features hardwood floors, washer dryer hook up, walls of windows, stainless steel appliances and finishes that reflect the buyer in mind.”
898 Metropolitan Avenue [StreetEasy] GMAP
09/26/2011 10:00 AM
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Building of the Day: 115 Throop Avenue
Brooklyn, one building at a time
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Name: All Saints Roman Catholic Church
Address: 115 Throop Avenue, at Thornton and Flushing
Neighborhood: East Williamsburg
Year Built: 1894
Architectural Style: Neo-Gothic
Architect: Schickel & Ditmars
Other buildings by architect: Church of St. Ignatius Loyola and the Church of St. Monica, on the Upper East Side, Church of the Ascension, Upper West Side
Landmarked: No
The story: There are quite a few Catholic churches, convents and schools in the Williamsburg/Bushwick/far Eastern Bedford Stuyvesant areas. That’s because so many of the thousands of Germans who immigrated to Brooklyn in the mid to late 1800′s were Catholic. These people worked in the breweries and other industries in the area, and needed places to worship that were close to work and home. All Saints was founded by German immigrants in 1867, but thirty years later, the expanding parish had outgrown the old church, and this one was begun in the same site. The church was formally dedicated in 1896. Over the years, as the breweries closed and German Americans moved to other neighborhoods, the church gained an Italian congregation. They were, in turn, were replaced by the current Hispanic parishioners, a great deal of them from Mexico.
(more…)
04/20/2011 3:30 PM
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Lawsuit Over Greenpoint Hospital Development
NY1 reports on a lawsuit that a consortium of community groups has brought over the city’s selection of a firm to redevelop the remaining unused building and lot at the Greenpoint Hospital site on Skillman and Kingsland. The nonprofit Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise Corporation submitted a proposal to the city to redevelop the site, but the city instead awarded the contract to TNS Development Group, a private firm whose proposal involved the creation of 240 units of affordable housing. “There is a strong evidence to show that they favored a private corporation over a successful, outstanding community-based organization,” said one community activist. The city’s selection of TNS Development Group has been controversial for awhile, and in October The Daily News reported that Borough President Marty Markowitz had no intention of forking over nearly $4 million that TNS was counting on from his office for the $69 million project. NY1 says a ruling in the case is expected by June.
Community Group Pushes For Rights To Develop Former Hospital Site [NY1] GMAP
Photo by Nathan Kensinger.
04/06/2011 9:30 AM
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New Building Housing Charter HS for Sale
Yesterday a reader forwarded us a Massey Knakal listing that details how 198 Varet Street, which recently began housing a charter high school, is on the market for $30 million. The listing (click through to see a section of it) says, in part: “This new construction facility, built to suit, was completed andopened in the fall of 2010. The tenant, is in its first year ofa 30 year lease. Due to construction delays of over a year the admissions process was shortened resulting in a lower than expected first year student enrollment. However, the school already has an overwhelming amount of preliminary applications and is confident to enroll a sufficient number of students for a profitable next year (1,038 students). The building and charter allow for a maximum capacity for 1,200 students.” The reader who sent in the listing opined: “I wonder how the construction was funded in the first place, if the school is leasing it.” Good question. Another is: What sort of investor would this property appeal to? GMAP (more…)
03/17/2011 11:00 AM
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Art for Public Plazas
The Department of Cultural Affairs is looking for a few good artists to improve the city’s streetscape. The agency has issued a Request for Qualifications for artists interested in creating work for six Department of Transportation-controlled plazas around town. Two of these—Myrtle between Grand and Emerson in Clinton Hill (at right) and Humboldt between Moore and Varet in East Williamsburg—are in Brooklyn; the budget for each site is $100,000. The deadline for submission is February 22. Good luck!
01/11/2010 10:13 AM
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Community Groups Sue City over Broadway Triangle
Opponents of the controversial plan to develop the 31-acre area of East Williamsburg called the Broadway Triangle sued the city yesterday in Supreme Court, charging racial and religious discrimination as well as failure to comply with due process. The coalition of 40 North Brooklyn community groups alleges that the plan for 1,895 new units of housing favor the Hasidic community by including a disproportionate number of three- and four-bedroom apartments to house larger Jewish families and by capping building height at eight stories, since Jews can’t take the elevator on the Sabbath. The suit points out that nearly half of the public housing in the area is currently occupied by Hasidic Jews, despite federal court orders requiring the end of discriminatory practices and despite the fact that the waiting list for such housing has remained at over 90 percent Latino and African American for more than 30 years. It also claims that the Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Council and the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg received exclusive development rights in a no-bid process through their connections to Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Williamsburg), and that the city failed to submit its plans for review by Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Community Board 3, as required by land use regulations. Addressing some of these claims back in July, Councilman David Yassky (D-Williamsburg) said, “I want more housing, but I don’t want skyscrapers in the middle of Brooklyn … I can’t imagine that there are real grounds for a lawsuit.” GMAP
Racial and Religious Discrimination Alleged in Triangle [NY Daily News]
City Sued over Triangle Rezoning [Brooklyn Paper]
Triangle Debate Goes On over Eminent Domain [Brownstoner]
The Voice Calls Out Lopez [Brownstoner]
Markowitz Endorses Lopez’s Triangle Plan [Brownstoner]
09/10/2009 9:30 AM
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Closing Bell: Bunking in the Burg
Per Curbed, there’s now an option for folks who are priced out of Williamsburg’s Hotel Le Jolie: The New York Loft Hostel on Varet Street. The hostel offers accommodations for less than $30 a night in its dorm spaces, bunk bed and wi-fi included. A pool and jacuzzi are on the way.
‘Live Like a Hipster King,’ Bunk Beds Included [Curbed] GMAP
Live Like A Hipster King! [NY Shitty]
The New York Loft Hostel [Official Site]
07/23/2008 4:00 PM
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Eternal Sunshine of the East Williamsburg Kind
Is French filmmaker Michel Gondry calling Brooklyn home nowadays? Peut-être. Last week a house on Orient Avenue in East Williamsburg changed hands for a little over a million bucks, and the buyer was ID’d in public records as Gondry. The buyer’s address on the deed pointed back to a Beverly Hills management firm. Gondry was directing a Microsoft commercial in Brooklyn last week and has shot other stuff in the borough, most notably 2005′s Block Party in Clinton Hill. According to an article in the Times from a couple years ago, Gondry moved to an East Village apartment in 2004.
Image from the Times, doctored with Property Shark photo.
07/14/2008 11:03 AM
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grandarmyredux
May 21, 2013 | 09:56 AM