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Plans Filed for Red Hook Community Garden Replacement
Over the summer a Red Hook resident got in touch to tell us there was speculation in the neighborhood that a new condo was going to rise at the corner of Van Brunt and King streets, taking the place of an unofficial community garden in the spot. The lot’s owner abruptly changed the locks on the garden one evening in August and poured sand over all the plots. Now permits filed with the city give an indication of what’s planned at 307-309 Van Brunt: A couple of three-story buildings, each with two residential units and ground-floor commercial space. The same developer, listed in permits as “VB Equities,” also filed plans to build a three-story development on a vacant lot across the street, at 346 Van Brunt. The DOB didn’t approve the initial permit applications, so who knows whether these will be built anytime soon.
Condo Build Dooming King Street Community Garden? [Brownstoner] GMAP
02/02/2012 12:00 PM
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Open House Picks
Clinton Hill
101 Gates Avenue
Corcoran
Sunday, 1:00-2:00
$1,499,000
GMAP P*Shark
South Slope
164 17th Street
Triumph Property
Sunday, 1:30-3:00
$1,179,000
GMAP P*Shark
Crown Heights
662 Sterling Place
Corcoran
Sunday, 11:30-12:30, 2:45-4
$1,099,000
GMAP P*Shark
Red Hook
171 Dikeman Street
Fillmore
Sunday, 1:00-3:00
$849,000
GMAP P*Shark
01/27/2012 1:06 PM
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Fitness Studio Opens in Former 360 Space in Red Hook
A small gym called Sessions Fit opened a few weeks ago on Van Brunt Street in the space where the acclaimed restaurant 360 used to be (and, more recently, the short-lived Italian restaurant O’ Barone). The studio is offering spinning, boot camp, Pilates and yoga classes for $15 a pop, or $205 for 20-class packs, and personal training sessions for $75 each, or less than that for multiple-session package. The studio is currently offering first-timers a free class. The owner of the business also runs a nonprofit out of the space called N.E.E.D.S. that’s aimed at fighting childhood obesity. On the jump, a photo of the interior.
Sessions Fit [Official Site] GMAP (more…)
01/23/2012 2:00 PM
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Rental of the Day: 5 Delevan Street
This one-bedroom loft unit at 5 Delevan Street in Red Hook—the Monarch Luggage Factory building—is $1,900/month. There are tons of windows and apparently a renovated kitchen (but no picture of it). The ad also lists a spacious 1,000 square feet. Nearly $2,000 a month is still on the pricey side for Red Hook, but the building is popular. Think it will rent quickly?
5 Delevan Street [Prime Space Realty] GMAP P*Shark
01/19/2012 12:32 PM
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Ambitous Arts Center Coming to Red Hook
The Times profiled Dustin Yellin’s renovation of a warehouse in Red Hook that the artist is turning into an arts and cultural center. The space will include “a large-scale exhibition hall, an artists’ residency program, a sculpture garden and hosts of visitors for symposiums and public programs.” Renovating the warehouse, which is being called Pioneer and King, is costing Yellin an estimated $2 million. The space is supposed to have a soft opening later this month. The article notes that the scope of Yellin’s ambitions are reminiscent of P.S. 1, and Yellin “sees Red Hook as a kind of anti-Chelsea, its relatively cheap rents and remoteness from Manhattan making it a prime setting for a grass-roots cultural operation.” Yellin hopes that an investor will eventually buy the building and turn it into a nonprofit. Click through for a shot of how the interior was looking as of this weekend.
An Artist’s Big, Big Plans for Red Hook [NY Times] GMAP (more…)
01/16/2012 10:00 AM
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Brooklyn Crab Construction Continues in Red Hook
We continue to be in the dark about exactly what the story is with a new seafood restaurant called Brooklyn Crab that’s opening in Red Hook across the street from Fairway, but we can say one thing with certainty: The building being constructed for it is very large. Just judging from the size of the building, it seems like this is an ambitious endeavor. One assumes the big deck is going to offer a fun environment for al fresco dining and have a nice view of the water.
Red Hook Getting Crabby [Brownstoner] GMAP
01/12/2012 2:40 PM
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Gift Shop Everbrite Mercantile Closing on Van Brunt
The store Everbrite Mercantile Co., which opened a little over a year ago in Red Hook, is calling it quits. (In terms of its bricks-and-mortar operation, anyhow: The business’ website says it will still sell goods over the web and describes the Van Brunt Street store as an “odd retail experiment.”) The shop sold knickknacks, jewelry, clothing and furniture. It’s going to be open today through Sunday, and signs in the window advertise a sale.
Everbrite Mercantile Co. [Official Site]
Everbrite Mercantile Co. Coming to Red Hook [Brownstoner] GMAP
01/11/2012 2:00 PM
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Robberies Rose in the Slope and Carroll Gardens Last Year
The NYPD reports that there was an increase last year in robberies in the 76th Precinct, which covers Carroll Gardens and Red Hook, and the 78th Precinct, which covers Park Slope, according to a story in the Post. There were 124 robberies in the 76th Precinct last year, compared to 100 in 2010, and a 32 percent increase in the 78th Precinct. The thieves are targeting “tipsy revelers, distracted shoppers and anyone with earbuds oblivious of his surroundings, police sources say.”
Thieves Getting Hip to Trendy Brooklyn Nabes [NY Post]
01/09/2012 11:00 AM
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Summit Street Build Gets Bricked
Here’s how the new nine-unit development on Summit Street off Columbia Street is looking these days. The facade on the building appears just about complete. We’re not sure if these are planned as rentals or condos, but the big windows suggest a loft-y vibe. Work on the project started early this year.
Development Watch: 49-53 Summit Street [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 49-53 Summit Street [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 51 Summit Street [Brownstoner] GMAP DOB
12/21/2011 2:40 PM
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House of the Day: 17 Dikeman Street
$1,695,000 is a lot of dough for a house in Red Hook, especially when it’s less than 2,000 square feet, but this new listing at 17 Dikeman Street is so beautifully done that it might have a shot. The former carriage house, with its sprinkling of salvaged wood amidst a back drop of clean modern lines and colors, feels like it was done as a labor of love by an owner/architect. The rooftop garden is a special touch as well. Really lovely.
17 Dikeman Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
12/21/2011 1:25 PM
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$160M Bob Diamond Suit Also Over City’s Trolley Dodging
It turns out that the lawsuit that the Atlantic Avenue tunnel tour guide Bob Diamond filed against the city is not only for more money—$160 million rather than $100 million—than previously reported, but that Diamond is also suing over the scuttled proposal to run trolley service from Red Hook to Downtown Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Paper reports that not only is Diamond suing because the city stopped allowing him to run his tunnel tours last year over safety concerns, but also because he says he put $1.5 million of his own money into setting up the trolley service. From the article: “Diamond began laying down tracks for the streetcar line that was slated to run from Beard Street to the subway nexus at Borough Hall via Columbia Street and Atlantic Avenue in the late 1990s, and received approval from the planning commission under the city’s lengthy land-use review process to complete the project in 2000.” Diamond says the city then tried to sell rights to the project off and then pulled the plug on the proposal earlier this year when a study said the service wouldn’t draw enough riders.
Bob Diamond Sues City Over Trolleys [BK Paper]
Guide Sues City for $100M Over Atlantic Ave Tunnel Tours [Brownstoner]
Photo by shooting brooklyn
12/14/2011 10:30 AM
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New Red Hook Gallery Showcases Traditional Mexican Art
A gallery called Manos de Méxicanos opened this weekend on Pier 41 in Red Hook. Steve Tarpin, of Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie, founded the space with his wife, and it’s next door to Tarpin’s bakery. The gallery shows the work of Mexican folk artists, such as Oaxacan ceramists.
Manos de Méxicanos [Official Site] GMAP
12/05/2011 12:00 PM
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Report: B61 is Often Late and Way Too Crowded
Councilman Brad Lander is holding a press conference this morning to release the findings of a report that are likely to surprise no one who has to rely on the B61—namely, that the bus rarely comes when it’s supposed to and is frequently packed to the gills. The report on the bus, which serves Park Slope, Red Hook and Downtown Brooklyn, is based on data collected on 700 individual bus runs earlier this year. Among the findings: Only 43 percent of buses come within 1 to 3 minutes of when they’re scheduled to arrive during peak hours, and a whopping 42 percent of northbound buses skip the stop at Columbia and Union streets between 8 and 9 a.m. because they’re too full. The report points to a variety of reasons for the line’s sub-par performance, including the temporary closure of the Smith-9th subway stop. Suggested fixes include running more buses during peak hours; running a limited bus during peak hours; installing countdown clocks at some stops; and extending the B57 into Red Hook.
Next Bus Please: Improving the B61 Bus [Report]
12/05/2011 9:30 AM
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Big Red Hook Development Site for Sale
A property in Red Hook that takes up nearly an entire square block is on the market. The site, which is listed with Massey Knakal for $14,950,000, is on Beard Street between Van Brunt and Richards. At present there are a few industrial buildings on the land, but the ad says 110 Beard Street offers 193,800 buildable square feet for hotel, retail, commercial or industrial development. The property is only a couple blocks away from IKEA and Fairway, as well as across the street the land Joe Sitt owns and has never developed. PropertyShark records indicate that there’s been foreclosure pressure on it recently.
110 Beard Street Listing [Massey Knakal] GMAP
12/02/2011 10:00 AM
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Red Hook Yeshiva Shaping Up
Here’s a look at progress on the yeshiva coming to Imlay Street in Red Hook. An old warehouse is being converted for the facility. We don’t know much about the plans, but the school in question, Yeshiva Kehilath Yakov, appears to have a Williamsburg location.
A Yeshiva for Red Hook? [Brownstoner] GMAP DOB
11/28/2011 11:30 AM
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Red Hook Getting Crabby
Most of what we know about a restaurant coming to Red Hook called Brooklyn Crab comes from community board meeting minutes last summer: “The applicant for this liquor license states that it will be a seafood restaurant with hours of operation being from 5 to 10:30 week days and 5 to 11:30 weekends and holidays. There will be two open air spaces, to wit: a deck and a covered roof area.” (The board approved the liquor license request.) The restaurant is going to be housed in a large structure that’s currently under construction on Reed Street, across the street from Fairway. We’re guessing that the goal is to have it open by next spring/summer. GMAP
11/17/2011 12:00 PM
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138 Coffey Street Sale Breaks Red Hook Record
The two-family house at 138 Coffey Street sold for $1,562,500, according to the Eagle, which is the highest price ever paid for a home in Red Hook. The property was a House of the Day this summer, when it was listed for $1,690,000. The sale follows another recent big-ticket trade in the neighborhood, 82 Visitation Place’s sale for $1,250,600. $1 million+ sales in Red Hook are still fairly rare, but perhaps not for much longer.
2-Family Home Breaks Sale Record in Red Hook [Eagle]
House of the Day: 138 Coffey Street [Brownstoner] GMAP
One For the Record Books in Red Hook? [Brownstoner]
11/11/2011 9:00 AM
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Condo Build Dooming King Street Community Garden?
A Red Hook reader dropped a line to say there’s a rumor in the neighborhood that the King Street Garden, an unofficial community garden on Van Brunt and King, is going to be built over with a retail/condo development. No recent building permits have been filed for the site. Our tipster had this to say: “Combined with the mystery project on the corner of Imlay and Pioneer and the Yellin project at Pioneer and Conover, there is a lot of $$ getting thrown into Red Hook. My big concern is that a building from scratch is going to be horribly ugly…And we still have no transportation, and that’s not changing any time soon.” Evidently the people that used the garden were surprised when its owner changed the locks a couple weeks ago and then poured sand over all the plots. GMAP
11/08/2011 12:00 PM
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Hookers Seeing Red Over Strip Club
Paris Burlesque Club, the venue that opened in Red Hook earlier this year, has dispensed with burlesque shows and turned into a seedy strip club, according to the Brooklyn Paper. While the club’s owner, David Ruggiero, promised it wouldn’t be “an adult establishment” when he went before Community Board 6 seeking a liquor license, the paper found women pole dancing and offering lap dances on a recent visit. Neighbors are also complaining about violence outside the club and say there was a recent incident in which patrons peed on nearby buildings. Folks who live nearby and were against the club’s opening in the first place because they feared it would become a strip joint are, of course, upset. A burlesque dancer who produced a couple of legit shows at the club when it was first open says Ruggiero “used our art form to justify peddling smut.” The article also notes that Paris is operating without a proper cabaret license.
Neighbors Irate Over Strip-Club Switcheroo [BK Paper]
11/08/2011 10:15 AM
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Feb 06, 2012 | 12:32 PM