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Juliana’s Marks its Turf in Dumbo



As Grub Street noticed yesterday, the outside of 19 Old Fulton Street has been papered over with posters announcing the forthcoming opening of Juliana’s, the new restaurant from pizza legend and original Grimaldi’s owner Patsy Grimaldi. Meanwhile, Grimaldi’s has moved down the block to 1 Front Street. (Patsy Grimaldi, who originally operated Grimaldi’s out of 19 Old Fulton, sold the pizzeria and its name to Frank Ciolli back in 1998.) Juliana’s is reportedly opening in March, so a pizza war could be coming soon.
Grimaldi’s and Juliana’s Pizza Prepare for Pizza Face-off in Dumbo [Grub St]

Categories: DUMBO, Food and Drink
By Gabby | 02/21/2012 2:40 PM | Comment

New Eatery Pure Opening on 5th Ave in the Slope Soon



A poster has gone up on the window of the under-renovation space on 5th Avenue near the corner of Warren saying that a restaurant called Pure is opening in the spot soon. The poster has a bunch of buzzwords printed on it that presumably give a sense of the food that’s going to be served (examples: “shakes, sandwiches, for the kids, gourmet, lunch, snack, dinner”). The restaurant, which is opening in the former Calexico space, has been under construction for several months now. GMAP

Categories: Food and Drink, Park Slope
By Gabby | 02/21/2012 2:00 PM | Comment

House of the Day: 532 Putnam Avenue



This brownstone at 532 Putnam Avenue, which just hit the market with an asking price of $975,000, has some of the more impressive woodwork that we’ve seen in a while; the three-family house is also in move-in condition. That said, we’re not wild about the kitchens and bathrooms and close to a million bucks is serious money for a pad in this part of town. What do you make of its chances?
532 Putnam Avenue [Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark

Categories: Bedford Stuyvesant, HOTD
By Brownstoner | 02/21/2012 1:26 PM | Comment

Co-op of the Day: 73 Remsen Street, #3



We suspect that this new listing at 73 Remsen Street could have benefited from a little bit of staging. The apartment itself–an upper duplex a brownstone in Brooklyn Heights–has much to recommend it (big kitchen, great roof deck, low maintenance, superb location) but the combination of some dowdy interior decorating and a few uninspiring finishes are preventing us from getting too excited. The biggest problem for us boils down to this: this place doesn’t feel either old-school prewar or elegantly modern; it’s lost somewhere in between. For our $2,699,000, we’d want one or the other.
73 Remsen Street [Sotheby's] GMAP P*Shark

Categories: Brooklyn Heights, Co-ops
By Brownstoner | 02/21/2012 12:55 PM | Comment

Rental of the Day: 142 North 6th Street



Rental prices were released for Williamsburg’s Jardin at 142 North 6th Street late last week; the building switched from a condo development to a rental in January. For a new rental unit in the Burg the prices aren’t as high as in some other buildings–for example, this two bed/two bath comes in at $3,600/month. The finishes are pretty standard and the amenities include outdoor space and a fitness center. What do you think?
142 North 6th Street [Aptsandlofts.com] GMAP P*Shark

Categories: Rentals, Williamsburg
By Emily | 02/21/2012 12:30 PM | Comment

How a Section of the Bush Terminal Pier Park Looks Now



A Sunset Park resident sent us a link to a blog that recently ran a photo set showing the current state of the long-in-the-making Bush Terminal Pier Park is looking these days. As the caption for the photo above notes, it’s “already possible to get a sense of how lovely” the park will be. As we covered a couple weeks ago, the park will be built out on the waterfront between 43rd and 51st streets.
Sunset Park-Bush Terminal [Castles Made of Sand]
New Renderings for Bush Terminal Pier Park [Brownstoner]
Big-Money Clean-Up for Bush Terminal Piers [Brownstoner]
Sunset Park Waterfront Vision Plan Announced [Brownstoner]
ETAs on Some of Brooklyn’s Waterfront Projects [Brownstoner]
Photo via Castles Made of Sand

Categories: Parks, Sunset Park
By Gabby | 02/21/2012 12:00 PM | Comment

Historic Tanker in Red Hook Needs Permanent Home



Fliers have been put up all around Red Hook saying that the Mary A. Whalen, the historic oil tanker built in 1938 that’s docked in the Red Hook container port, is in danger of being scrapped unless funds are raised to secure a permanent, publicly accessible place for the ship. Here’s the word from PortSide New York, the nonprofit that maintains the ship and programs events on it: “This crisis reflects the relationship between funding and real estate: PortSide’s ability to raise money or earn money with the ship is severely limited by not having a publicly-accessible place for the tanker MARY A. WHALEN. We need a place to be liberated from forever negotiating for a home or for temporary event permits. Some emergency fundraising will keep our doors open so we can negotiate past April 30, but the real estate hunt must come to an end!” A meeting about the fund-raising and hunt for a permanent home for the tanker will take place next Monday, the 27th, at LICH. Last year the state determined that the vessel was eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
Please Help! [Portside NY]

Categories: Red Hook
By Gabby | 02/21/2012 11:30 AM | Comment

Slope Food Co-op Still Mulling Ban of Israeli Products



It’s been almost exactly three years since a member of the Park Slope Food Co-op first proposed banning products from Israel, and the Wall Street Journal reports today that the controversial action is still being considered by the cooperative. Next month the co-op will hold a meeting at which members will vote on whether to hold a referendum on the proposed boycott. Here’s the back story:

An artist and filmmaker who goes by the name Hima B began the push for the co-op to join the global Israeli boycott movement known as BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions). She and others in support of BDS believe economic pressure will lead to an end to what they view as an apartheid system against Palestinians. Lobbying against a referendum is a group that has coined itself “More Hummus Please.” To them, the BDS movement is misguided, discriminatory and smacks of anti-Semitism. “I oppose BDS in general but I particularly oppose it for the food co-op because they are trying to impose a political point of view on an entire population that didn’t get together for the sake of supporting political causes, but got together to save on food,” said “More Hummus Please” founder Barbara Mazor, a 23-year member of the co-op and Orthodox Jew.

The meeting next month is supposed to draw such a big crowd (possibly around 1,000 people) that the co-op is holding it in Brooklyn Tech’s auditorium. One of the big questions is whether the ban, if enacted, would result in the co-op losing a great number of members.
Food Co-op Readies for Boycott Vote [WSJ]
Proposed Ban Roiling Park Slope Co-op [Brownstoner]
Photo by wallyg

Categories: Food and Drink, Park Slope
By Gabby | 02/21/2012 11:00 AM | Comment

Walkabout: Let’s Talk about Bathrooms, part 2



(Illustration: Amazon.com)

The history of the bathroom is actually pretty interesting. So much of what we take as a matter of course in la salle de bains is actually pretty recent, only about 150 years old, yet civilization has been experimenting with various parts of the bathroom since ancient antiquity. Part One of our Bathroom talk is here. All of the great civilizations of the world had some form of plumbing, and loved a good bath. All of these civilizations had also figured out systems of disposing of human wastes, whether by collecting it for disposal, or creating some kind of facility where nature took care of disposal. It wasn’t until the mid-1800’s that it dawned on people that those activities should be in the same room. The bathroom was born. (more…)

Categories: Historical, Walkabout
By Montrose Morris | 02/21/2012 10:30 AM | Comment

Food, Drink Companies Take Space at Old Pfizer Plant



Yesterday Grub Street reported that three companies have already signed leases and taken space at the former Pfizer plant, setting the stage for it to become a “booming culinary production facility.” Kombucha Brooklyn, Brooklyn Soda Works, and Steve’s Ice Cream are among the new tenants at the massive complex, which is FDA-approved for food production. The new owner of the facility, Acumen Capital Partners, is in the process of a 5-year conversion of the plant into a space for light-industrial and commercial use.
Williamsburg Pfizer Building to Become Massive Culinary Center [Grub St]
Pfizer Sells Plant but Not Other Parcels [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark
Photo via PropertyShark.

Categories: Bedford Stuyvesant, Commercial Real Estate, Williamsburg
By Gabby | 02/21/2012 10:00 AM | Comment

City Has Spent $140K Defending the PPW Bike Lane



Here’s a sad stat, via the Brooklyn Paper: The city has already spent $140,000 in legal fees defending the Prospect Park West bike lane, and that amount is sure to rise as the city defends the lane in an appeal that was recently filed by residents who are against it. Quote from cycling advocate: “It’s an outrage. …[The appeal] is not going to change the outcome; they’re just trying to make more noise.” Quote from Jim Walden, the lawyer representing the group that’s filed the appeal, on questioning the validity of the appeal: “This is America. Get real.”
Defending the Prospect Park West Bike Lane Isn’t Cheap [BK Paper]

Categories: Bicycling, Park Slope, Parks, Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace
By Gabby | 02/21/2012 9:30 AM | Comment

Plastic, Concrete for the Boardwalk?



The Times has a story checking in on the city’s plans to replace sections of the iconic wooden Boardwalk in Coney Island and Brighton Beach: “After a yearlong fight over the city’s proposal to use concrete to replace the wooden boards along stretches of the aging, 2.7-mile Boardwalk, the city’s parks department is offering a compromise of sorts — but wood is not part of the plan. Instead, the department is promising to use a combination of concrete and a type of recycled plastic that looks like wood. They want a 12-foot concrete section for emergency vehicles, with 19-foot-wide sections of the plastic polymer on either side for pedestrians.” The city plans to first install the plastic sections on a 5-block stretch of the Boardwalk in Brighton Beach, and says that investigations into using wood as a replacement just didn’t pencil out. The plastic material is supposed to last 75 years, whereas some of the wood the city looked into using would only last around 8 years. While some preservationists are upset about the plans, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said “economic considerations outweighed the historical importance of the wood. ‘Suggesting that you can only have wooden Boardwalks because that’s what they were originally built of is like saying you should only have cobblestone streets,’ he said.”
Wood May Give Way to Plastic on Coney Island Boardwalk [NY Times]
Photo by berniepicso

Categories: Brighton Beach, Coney Island Area
By Gabby | 02/21/2012 9:00 AM | Comment

Tuesday Links



Bonds Backed by Mortgages Regain Allure [NY Times]
Bluestone a Tripping Hazard in Downtown? [BK Paper]
Elliman Moves to Bigger Cobble Hill Digs [TRD]
‘Nonprofit’ Dorm Execs Gouge Students [NY Post]
Reality Show Follows Feuding Bay Ridgers [NY Post]
Mountain of Soil Grows Near AY [AY Watch]

Categories: Daily Links
By Gabby | 02/21/2012 8:30 AM | Comment

Closing Bell: Long Weekend Flea



The Brooklyn Flea still goes strong at Skylight One Hanson, right outside the Target Center Mall. Check out all your favorite antique, vintage, jewelry, and food vendors (and lots more!) both Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Then on Sunday there’s SmorgasBrewery, a mini-Smorgasburg featuring a rotating cast of four or five Flea/Smorg food vendors serving inside the Brewery’s Tasting Room on North 11th St. in Williamsburg. That only lasts through next month, so check it out while you can. A map and directions to both locations live here.
Photo by DjuDju__

Categories: Brooklyn Flea, Closing Bell
By Emily | 02/17/2012 4:00 PM | Comment

Building of the Day: 10-18 St. Francis Place



(Photo: 14 St. Francis Place, Property Shark)

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Row Houses
Address: 10-18 St. Francis Place
Cross Streets: St. Johns and Lincoln Places
Neighborhood: Crown Heights North/Crow Hill
Year Built: 1901
Architectural Style: “Chicago Style” Renaissance Revival
Architect: F.L. Lowe,
Buildings by Architect: 17-33 Linden Boulevard, Flatbush
Landmarked: No, but should be.

The story: In 1900, Vennette F. Pelletreau, one of Brooklyn’s better known real estate agents and investors, became interested in this corner of Bedford because of its proximity to the new Brooklyn Institute of the Arts and Sciences, as well as transportation along the Brighton El line, and several trolley lines. The blocks between St. Johns and what was then DeGraw St. were empty fields used as playgrounds for local kids. The Brooklyn Eagle tells us that he got together a group of investors, they bought the land and cut St. Francis and St. Charles Places between the streets and under the development of builder/developer John Erikson, this group of houses was built. (more…)

Categories: BOTD, Crown Heights
By Montrose Morris | 02/17/2012 3:28 PM | Comment

Variance Sought for Four-Story Bushwick Build



At this week’s Community Board 1 meeting the lawyer representing the owners of the development site at 949-951 Grand Street, between Morgan Ave and Catherine St, petitioned the board for approval on a variance being sought for the construction of a four-story residential building with ground floor retail. The site in question is a vacant lot in an M1-1 zoning district. The building will hold seven rental apartments, each around 550 square feet. The new buildings will not be any taller than its neighbors and will have a brick facade. What really excited board members, though, was the price the developer planned to charge for these rentals: $1,900/month. He told the board, “It’s what the market bears right now,” but board members weren’t convinced, especially since you have to state why the variance will benefit the surrounding community. “How does this help the community?” asked board chair Chris Olechowski. “It’s putting a building in a space that was once empty before,” was the lawyer’s response. Sound convincing enough?
Photo via Property Shark GMAP

Categories: Bushwick, Development
By Emily | 02/17/2012 2:40 PM | Comment

Children’s Clothing Boutique Opening Soon on Franklin



The yuppification of Franklin Avenue continues: Stork, a children’s based “clothing boutique”, is slated to open at 726 Franklin Ave. early next month. According to the press release, “The store serves as an answer to families who need affordable yet high quality products in the neighborhood. STORK provides this by offering clothing and shoes (from a variety of Brooklyn mom designers), educational toys, books and accessories for children six and under.” The grand opening party is on March 3rd, from 10am to 6pm. GMAP

Categories: Crown Heights, News, Streetlevel
By Emily | 02/17/2012 2:00 PM | Comment

Open House Picks


Park Slope
725 President Street
Brownstone Real Estate
Sunday, 12:30-2:30
$1,688,000
GMAP P*Shark

Windsor Terrace
502 Prospect Avenue
Betancourt
Sunday, 1:00-3:00
$1,495,000
GMAP P*Shark

Prospect Lefferts Gardens
119 Clarkson Avenue
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday, 2:00-4:00
$775,000
GMAP P*Shark

Categories: Open Houses, Park Slope, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Windsor Terrace
By Brownstoner | 02/17/2012 1:00 PM | Comment

The Upstater: Converted Barns in Upstate NY


Every Friday, Upstater (“the Brownstoner of upstate New York”) brings you a selection of super-cool properties for sale within a three-hour drive of Brooklyn. This week, we’ve tracked down converted barns for sale, and there are some real lookers on the market.

 

204 William Brown Road in the Sullivan County town of Hankins is this week’s jewel. It’s a wonderful combination of high-tech and handmade, as evidenced by the combination of wood stove and Thermador gas stove, or the hand-hewn beams and the glass chandelier.

Some of the custom tile work might feel a bit funky, but in general the place is loaded with charm, not to mention a pond, a tree house, 15 acres, a guest cottage and an outdoor fireplace. 204 William Brown Road, Hankins. $449,000. GMAP.

Lots more on the jump…
(more…)

Categories: Upstate New York
By upstater | 02/17/2012 12:30 PM | Comment

The Hot Seat: Mary Kay Gallagher



BS: What neighborhood do you live in, and how did you end up there?
MKG: I’ve lived in Prospect Park South since 1959. We heard about this home by word of mouth, and when we moved in we had a lot of renovating to do. We moved in with six kids, which was a shock at the time. The neighbors said they had never seen so many lights on at a house. It was a very quiet neighborhood back then, but it has evolved.

BS: Can you talk about the beginnings of Mary Kay Gallagher Real Estate?
MKG: We loved the area and all the space for our six children. We got involved in the Neighborhood Association and after my husband was the president for many years, the next president approached me about selling homes here. It seems that the brokers at that time were recommending to potential buyers that these homes would be good homes to have boarders! This was the last thing we wanted in these lovely Victorians home, detached, with driveways and garages and spacious rear yards!

So I took on the challenge and started asking around. There were potential buyers out there. I knew a real estate broker who let me work from home. So I got my license and the rest is history. I did not have to advertise! It worked by word of mouth. Just phone calls and talking with people we knew… no advertisements. This was 1970.

After the jump, Mary Kay talks about real estate changes in the neighborhood, the value of a driveway, and her favorite homes and neighborhoods in Victorian Flatbush… (more…)

Categories: Interview, Victorian Flatbush
By Emily | 02/17/2012 12:00 PM | Comment