Brownstoner is Brooklyn's most read
website about real estate, renovation
and neighborhood news. Read More»
Wine Shop Is Opening in Wallabout
A few tips have come in about a wine store slated for 64 Washington Avenue, between Park and Flushing. There’s quite a growing list of fun businesses opening up on those blocks off Park Avenue, which is mostly warehouses. We couldn’t see inside, but a tipster says it’s gorgous. Called Grapeshot, it should open in about a month. GMAP
06/05/2013 2:00 PM
Comment
A Hotel in the Works for Park Avenue
A plan is in process with the Department of Buildings for a five-story, 32-room hotel along Park Avenue between Cumberland Street and Carlton Avenue, in the Fort Greene/Wallabout area. It will be constructed over three lots, all of which are currently vacant. The site owner said that the hotel will part of the Choice Hotel group, which includes Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, and Clarion Hotels. (The architect on record, Michael Kang Architect, has previously designed a Comfort Inn, among other chain hotels.) The building still needs DOB and financing approvals, and is not expected to break ground until next year. The owner told us they’re planning a rooftop bar and lounge, which will surely have nice views of the nearby Brooklyn Queens Expressway. GMAP
05/23/2013 10:00 AM
Comment
Bike Barrier Beautification on Williamsburg Street
The concrete barriers that protect bikers from speeding traffic on Williamsburg Street between Kent and Flushing Avenues had been covered with graffiti for quite some time, so the nice people at the great volunteer organization New York Cares took it upon themselves this weekend to spiff them up with some colorful hand-painted designs. Quite an improvement!
04/29/2013 11:31 AM
Comment
House of the Day: 85 Hall Street
This updated two-family frame house in Wallabout looks pretty cute to us, but do you think the location near the BQE and a size of only 2,100 square feet can support the $1,225,000 asking price? You can judge the quality of the renovation in person at the first open house on Sunday, April 21, from 2 to 3:30 pm.
85 Hall Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
04/18/2013 1:30 PM
Comment
New and Coming to Wallabout
Wallabout is waking from its long slumber with several major developments planned, new retail in the works, and a newly hot residential real estate market, The Wall Street Journal reported. “And it isn’t just the loft buildings that are selling,” said the story. “Historic 19th-century wood frame houses, the backbone of Wallabout’s working-class housing stock, are getting scooped up. Doug Bowen, executive vice president at CORE, who has lived in the neighborhood for 14 years, estimated 18 townhouses changed hands in Wallabout last year.” The Journal credits the changes to new industry at the Navy Yard and spillover gentrification from nearby Fort Greene and Clinton Hill. Luckily some 40 residential buildings were landmarked as the Wallabout Historic District, so the character of the area will be preserved despite growth. Some of the new developments to come: the huge under-construction affordable development the Navy Green; the recently purchased (for $26.25 million) warehouse on Ryerson Street; Brooklyn Roasting Company moving into the old J.J’s Cocktail Lounge, as previously reported, which received a glassy renovation in 2011. The article also notes two Washington Avenue buildings are getting converted to residential use with street-level retail: There are two lofts available at 66 Washington with a coffee purveyor and importer in contract to take the ground floor retail space, and 64 Washington will house a wine store on the bottom floor and renovate the building into five apartments. Meanwhile, 73 Washington, a four-story unconverted building, upped its asking price from $1.5 million to $2.2 million.
Wallabout Refloats Next to the Navy Yard [WSJ]
04/01/2013 9:30 AM
Comment
Wallabout Warehouse Complex to Become Hotel
The gigantic Wallabout property on the corner of Ryerson and Flushing right across from the Brooklyn Navy Yard has been snapped up and will be developed into a hotel as well as retail and office space, according to a story in The Real Deal. Buyer Ryerson Equity of Borough Park is in contract for $26.25 million, according to the story. “The buyer expects to lease three floors to an entity that will operate a 200-room hotel, two floors to an executive suites company, and two floors to a gym, while the ground floor will be retail,” said the paper. “The sale went into contract Feb. 27 and is expected to close in mid-May…The plan also calls for a rooftop deck and bar, to be affiliated with the hotel.” A bidding war increased the contract price slightly above the ask of $26 million. Hotels are going into every Brooklyn neighborhood now; it should be interesting to see what effect this development has on nightlife in the area. GMAP
Clinton Hill Warehouse, Slated for Transformation, in Contract for $26M [TRD]
Huge Industrial Site for Sale in Wallabout [Brownstoner]
03/21/2013 9:00 AM
Comment
Building of the Day: 412 Flushing Avenue
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Originally Malcolm Brewery, then Franklin Brewery, then Wallabout Warehouse, now Hatzlacha Supermarket
Address: 412 Flushing Avenue
Cross Streets: Franklin and Skillman avenues
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: 1890 (central building)
Architectural Style: Late 19th-century factory
Architect: Otto C. Wolf
Other Work by Architect: Many breweries and other buildings in Philadelphia, especially in the neighborhood of Brewerytown
Landmarked: No
The story: This building, as well as its neighbor on the block, was one of Brooklyn’s many breweries. At the turn of the 20th century, Brooklyn had many breweries, but now only a few remain, all now transformed into other things, including housing, storage, manufacturing, supermarkets and offices. I’ve long wondered about the history here, as I used to pass this great building often when I had access to a car, and this complex has a long and proud history here on the Bedford Stuyvesant/Wallabout border.
The oldest part of the Malcolm Brewery, designed by Philadelphia brewery expert architect Otto C. Wolf, was begun in 1869. The brewery belonged to George Malcolm, a Scotsman, who was one of Brooklyn’s most successful brewers. Later in his career, he would buy the Nassau Brewery on Franklin Avenue and Bergen Street, over in Crown Heights. Here on Flushing Avenue, he was brewing ale and porter beer. (more…)
01/10/2013 3:30 PM
Comment
Huge Industrial Site for Sale in Wallabout
Here’s an interesting property just listed by The Manhattes Group: 29 Ryerson Street, a 220,000-square-foot industrial complex in Wallabout asking $26 million. The site is on the corner of Ryerson and Flushing, right across from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. It holds an eight-story, 192,000-square-foot industrial building, a one-story 8,070-square-foot industrial building, and a parking lot separating the two properties. At that price, someone’s hoping the popularity of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the growth of Steiner Studios will make a big difference for the neighborhood. According to the listing, the buildings will be ready and vacant during the first quarter of 2014. GMAP
12/06/2012 10:00 AM
Comment
Building of the Day: 93 Clermont Avenue
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Tenement building
Address: 93 Clermont Avenue
Cross Streets: Myrtle and Park Avenues
Neighborhood: Fort Greene/Wallabout
Year Built: 1889
Architectural Style: Queen Anne
Architect: Rudolphe L. Daus
Other buildings by architect: Lincoln Club in Clinton Hill, New York and New Jersey Telephone Company Building in Downtown Brooklyn, 13th Regiment Armory in Bedford Stuyvesant, as well as houses and other buildings in Brownstone Brooklyn.
Landmarked: No, but part of a proposed greater Wallabout HD.
The story: Talk about your non-contextual buildings, 19th century style. This walk-up flats building was designed to house some of the many workers and their families who worked in the factories, Wallabout Market, or at the Navy Yard. By 1889, Wallabout was one of Brooklyn’s larger factory districts, with many different industries vying for workers here, near the waterfront. The Wallabout Market, along with many food industries, the Mergenthaler Corporation and other factories, as well as the Navy Yard, were powerful draws for workers, and they had to live somewhere. By 1890, over 93,000 people worked in the Wallabout neighborhood, comprising one sixth of the workers of New York State. What a busy neighborhood this must have been, like a hive humming with thousands of worker bees. It’s amazing how much was here, and disheartening to see how little remains today. (more…)
11/20/2012 3:30 PM
Comment
More Affordable Units Available at 40 Vanderbilt
The Pratt Area Community Council is still accepting applications for 40 Vanderbilt, the affordable studio apartment building within the under-construction Navy Green complex. PACC held the first lottery here last year. According to a bulletin by Community Board Two, studio units are available for single adults with incomes ranging from $21,774 to $28,650, and monthly rents are between $492 and $664. The units come furnished and with on-site social services provided by the nonprofit Brooklyn Community Housing and Services. Apartments are available for immediate occupancy. Here are all the details about the building and how to apply. When all is said and done at the Navy Green project, there will be 458 units total (both affordable and market rate) as well as commercial space, a common green area, and community facility spaces. Update: this post has been updated due to previous inaccuracies about the rents and income ranges.
More Affordable Units Available at Navy Green [Brownstoner]
Photo via 40Vanderbilt.org
11/16/2012 10:00 AM
Comment
Liquor Store Coming to Wallabout
A liquor licence notice appeared on the door of 64 Washington Avenue, between Park and Flushing. According to the notice, a package store is moving in. The applicant goes by “64 Def Liquors.” Looks like a potentially cool space for a liquor store, don’t you think? GMAP
11/12/2012 2:00 PM
Comment
Move-Ins Happening Soon at Third Navy Green Building
The third and recently completed Navy Green building is gearing up for occupancy. Straight from developer Martin Dunn: “Move-ins are happening soon at the newest Navy Green building at 7 Clermont Avenue. We got a TCO on Oct. 31, and people are signing leases and preparing to move in.” The lottery began here in the spring. In addition to the first three affordable buildings, market-rate condos are planned on Vanderbilt and Flushing, as well as 23 single-family townhouses on both Clermont and Vanderbilt. The whole development will take a little less than three years to complete.
More Applications Being Accepted at Navy Green [Brownstoner]
11/08/2012 11:00 AM
Comment
Brooklyn Roasting Company Expanding to Flushing
Brooklyn Roasting Company, the popular Dumbo cafe and coffee roaster, is opening a second location at 200 Flushing Avenue, off Washington. That’s the old Navy Yard Cocktail Lounge space, now a very glassy storefront. The Brooklyn Roasting Company plans to open a brewed coffee and espresso bar along with a wholesale distribution depot and commissary. (The owner is even working on a new espresso blend for this site.) It also plans to set up a bike service hub, with air and tools to start. Construction should begin this month and the space should open in early 2013. This January there was news that a Dunkin Donuts and a Subway were also moving into this space, but there hasn’t been any sign of those new tenants. GMAP
11/05/2012 2:00 PM
Comment
Building of the Day: 1 Carlton Avenue
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Formerly Oxley, Giddings & Enos Company, now Lockaway Self Storage
Address: 1 Carlton Avenue
Cross Streets: Corner Flushing Avenue
Neighborhood: Fort Greene/Wallabout
Year Built: 1886
Architectural Style: Victorian Gothic Revival
Architect: William Field & Son
Other buildings by architect: Home and Tower model tenement buildings in Cobble Hill, as well as adjoining workmen’s cottage mews on Warren Street
Landmarked: No, but should be included in an expanded Wallabout/Navy Yard historic district
The story: Oxley, Giddings & Enos was a very successful gas light manufacturing company. They specialized in ornate brass chandeliers and wall lighting, creating many of the fixtures no doubt installed in the nearby row houses of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill. A page from one of their catalogues, as seen below, shows the diversity of styles available. Their heyday was in those boom years before electricity was introduced, or trusted, a time when gas lighting, along with kerosene lamps, was the only way to light a room, and fanciful and ornate fixtures were desirable and necessary. (more…)
10/29/2012 3:30 PM
Comment
House of the Day: 71 Vanderbilt Avenue
The inside is as lovely as the outside at 71 Vanderbilt Avenue in Wallabout, which was a Building of the Day last year. The 1849 Greek Revival wood frame with Italianate details has all its trimmings inside and out, including marble fireplaces and a horsewalk, plus a nicely updated kitchen and bath. Our only quibble is the location of the bathrooms, with one opening directly off the kitchen and the other accessible only through a bedroom. What do you think of it for $1,189,000?
71 Vanderbilt Avenue [Aguayo & Huebener] GMAP P*Shark
10/01/2012 1:30 PM
Comment
Closing Bell: The Wallabout Preservation Manual Is Out
The Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project and the Historic Wallabout Association will release the Wallabout Homeowner’s Preservation Manual at a community reception and informational meeting at Building 92 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard from 7 pm to 9 pm tonight. The 90-page manual, focusing on wood-frame and masonry homes found in the Wallabout Historic District, will cover basic maintenance, large-scale restorations, tax credits and financing programs in a landmarked district, improving a building’s energy efficiency, and more. Representatives from the State Historic Preservation Office and the New York Landmarks Conservancy will be at the meeting to answer questions about living in a historic district. For anyone living in Wallabout, the manual is free. For those who live outside the district, the manual can be purchased with a $10 donation. If you are interested in the manual or in attending tonight’s meeting, get in touch with MARP at chad@myrtleavenue.org or 718-230-1689.
09/13/2012 4:00 PM
Comment
Residents and Pols Push for a Better Park Avenue
Yesterday afternoon the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project held a site tour of safety proposals for Park Avenue between Navy and Steuben streets. MARP released a proposal for safety measures (after lots of community feedback) and submitted the plans to the Department of Transportation yesterday. Students from nearby Banneker Academy, Council Member Tish James, Assemblyman Joe Lentol, representatives from the Ingersoll Houses, Walt Whitman houses, Transportation Alternatives, and local residents gathered for a site tour. The tour highlighted the avenue’s major safety concerns: massive potholes, no street striping, and poor sanitation to name a few. “It’s an eyesore, it’s underutilized, and it’s being used inefficiently,” said James. “We need to think outside of the box and focus on how to trasform Park from a dumping group to something productive for this community.” Click through for some photos of our 17-block trip under the BQE, as well as all the details about MARP’s extensive proposal. MARP also started a petition to push for the much-needed improvements.
09/11/2012 9:30 AM
Comment
Retail Space for Navy Green Is Almost There
Pictured above is the under-construction commercial space along Flushing Avenue. It’s part of the massive Navy Green development going up between Vanderbilt, Clermont, Flushing and Park. The attached building, called 7 Clermont, began accepting applications for affordable housing units this spring. The entire development will eventually consist of four buildings and 23 townhouses. Three of those buildings (two of which are affordable rentals, the other supportive housing) are up. GMAP
08/24/2012 2:40 PM
Comment
Bringing Local Jobs Into a Brooklyn Historic District
The Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project (MARP) announced a pretty cool program they are undertaking that creates local jobs and prompts historic preservation in the neighborhood. Basically, MARP is aiming to create a local job training program for unemployed or underemployed residents that trains them to restore or rehabilite the area’s historic homes. The training would focus on the wood-frame homes which make up much of Wallabout (pictured), an area just landmarked last year. MARP is using the Preservation League of New York State to study the feasibility of this program. The PLNYS will develop a recommended program framework over the next several months and MARP will announce the program’s next steps in the spring of 2013.
08/13/2012 9:30 AM
Comment
Building of the Day: 143-145 Vanderbilt Avenue
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Semi-attached houses
Address: 143-145 Vanderbilt Avenue
Cross Streets: Park and Myrtle Avenues
Neighborhood: Wallabout
Year Built: 1850
Architectural Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: Yes, part of Wallabout HD (2011)
The story: Depending on what street you are on, or how you look at the buildings, Wallabout can be many things, and resemble several different kinds of communities. Some buildings, like these old frame houses, remind one of towns Upstate, or in New England, some definitely have that coastal sea-town feel, while others, the brick townhouses and flats buildings, remind one of a company mill town, where factories employed a majority of people. Wallabout was all of this and more; factory and coast, city and small town. (more…)
07/19/2012 3:30 PM
Comment
sewardwasright
Jun 18, 2013 | 09:35 AM