Not Everyone Wants Gowanus To Be Soho-ized
Along the Gowanus Canal, progress (in the form of cleaner waters and improvements to the housing stock) is being met with skepticism and, in some cases, resistance by long-time residents. Forming groups like Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus, or Frogg, locals, many of them who’ve spent a lifetime working in the nabe’s factories, have…
Along the Gowanus Canal, progress (in the form of cleaner waters and improvements to the housing stock) is being met with skepticism and, in some cases, resistance by long-time residents. Forming groups like Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus, or Frogg, locals, many of them who’ve spent a lifetime working in the nabe’s factories, have been fighting the encroaching gentrification one project at a time. To date, they have blocked requests for variances to convert a four-story warehouse at 255 Butler Street into a 6-story building with 53 apartments, replace a graffiti-scarred plant at 450 Union Street with a 7-story condo building, and convert an export-import company at 130 Third Street to apartments. (Not every project has been blocked, however: A 100-room Comfort Inn is rising on the edge of Gowanus and Whole Foods has cleared a nearly square-block space at Third Street for a Brooklyn market.) But that’s all just a warm-up for what is sure to be the mother of all battles against Lev Leviev and Shaya Boymelgreen’s plans for Gowanus Village. (Does anyone know where to find schematics of their plan?) We suspect that the majority of people are open to more housing but not at the expense of preserving the neighborhood’s character. But that’s always the way it is, isn’t it? Rarely is it an easy line to walk.
From Open Sewer to Gentrification [NY Times]
Public Place is owned by Brooklyn Union/Keyspan. They are the ones who will clean it up – or rather pay to clean it up. Buddy Scotto is more of an “advocate” for putting up senior housing on the site although I’m not sure how the seniors feel about it. I believe that there might be renderings on the Scarano site.
And all those little old timer community organizations consist of the same people – same group, different names.
You can search by last name on PropertyShark.com. I did a search, and Anthony Scotto and Michael Scotto seem to own a lot of things. I’m not sure where you would look to see if they are related to Buddy Scotto.
“the seniors will keel over from the toxins and be whisked away to the funeral home”
🙂
I’d heard about the senior housing, I think it’s Scotto-owned and may have something to do with the Gowanus CDC (of which Buddy is the founder) as well. I don’t exactly know what else they own (aside from the businesses I listed, which are in and around CG and Gowanus), but my sense is that they own a lot.
Does anyone know if there’s a way to search NYC real estate by last name? That’s actually a pretty common function on county tax assessor websites, but the NYC real estate website appears to be searchable only by property address.
Actually, the things that are being developed now are not Scotto owned. I think the intent is to put up senior housing on Public Place (a superfund site) – the seniors will keel over from the toxins and be whisked away to the funeral home.
Anon@2:29PM – all of those are good points, of course the problem is that we (the idiots posting here) dont really know where the truth lies. Areas are zoned Industrial for a reason (to protect residents from having to live there for 1) and they should stay so, but only if economically viable. Many stretches of Brooklyn (Dumbo for instance) really werent economiclly viable for industrial and their conversion made sense. I really dont know about Gowanus, but I will say that it doesnt really look like many of thos buildings are being utilized – then again I am rarely around during the week.
fyi (and i’m almost positive they’ve all been in business for decades):
Scotto & Scotto, 9402 4th Ave # 2
Scotto’s Wine Cellar, 318 Court St
Scotto Real Estate, 389 Court St
Scotto Funeral Home Inc, 106 1st Pl
Plus I know of one property that Buddy Scotto has been trying to sell, that’s right along the canal.
For those interested in the “cement boots” rumors (with the caveat that I don’t know if Buddy is related to these Scottos):
http://www.ganglandnews.com/column144.htm
I can’t figure out how to search the NYC property records by last name, but I am fairly confident that the Scotto family owns a lot of land in South Brooklyn. I did not say, however, that they are not “legitimate” owners. Nor did I mention the “cement boot” rumors, though I have certainly heard that. (Given the funerals that have been held at the Scotto funeral home, that’s not a shocking rumor, though I don’t know if there’s any validity to it.)
Anyway, my only point is that Buddy Scotto owns a lot of land in the area and is well connected in the neighborhood. If he wants to develop Gowanus into the next Dumbo, it seems more likely than not. Aside from the problem of all the potential Superfund sites…
That is the rumor – that they own a “ton” of land but a search turns up nothing or rather legitimate owners. His son is selling some condos for Corcoran in Sheepshead Bay and his daughter is partially responsible for the condos on Rappelye/BQE. The daughter does own a house on 2nd along the canal. OK, I will polish up those cement boots now.
Re: Buddy Scotto, I’ve never met the man, but my impression is that the Scotto family owns a ton of land in South Brooklyn (Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook, etc). There’s the Scotto funeral home, a restaurant named Scotto’s (which may actually be in Manhattan, not sure), and Rosanna Scotto of Channel 5 news (just a fun fact).
Anyway, I’m not saying anyone, old-timer or new resident, _likes_ Buddy Scotto. I’m just saying that the Scottos have deep connections in South Brooklyn.