Big Bucks for Downtown's Big House?
Here’s an interesting solution for the House of Detention on Atlantic that doesn’t involve supersizing the facility: Comptroller Bill Thompson says the city should sell the property, according to an article in today’s Daily News. Thompson wrote a letter to Mayor Bloomberg that says selling the facility, which has been closed since ’03, will bring…
Here’s an interesting solution for the House of Detention on Atlantic that doesn’t involve supersizing the facility: Comptroller Bill Thompson says the city should sell the property, according to an article in today’s Daily News. Thompson wrote a letter to Mayor Bloomberg that says selling the facility, which has been closed since ’03, will bring cash to the city and prevent a reopened jail from damaging Downtown Brooklyn’s economy. “Because our City has already begun to experience economic weakness, communities such as Downtown Brooklyn remain at risk of reversing their economic gains,” wrote Thompson, saying that reopening the jail “would … directly impact the revitalization of the surrounding area.” Right now community members who oppose the Department of Corrections’ plan to double the House of Detention’s size are considering suing the city. We wonder how much a property like this might fetch, and what sort of developer would be interested in taking it on. Guesses?
Sell Shut Downtown Brooklyn Jail to Raise Cash, Bloomberg Urged [NY Daily News]
City Looks to Supersize the House of D [Brownstoner] GMAP
Photo by Funtime Ben.
Ahh, the atlantic yards nonsense.
Anyone see the Dodgers special on HBO?
I guess O’Malley moved to LA because Moses wouldn’t let him build the new stadium on the AY site.
I’ve known there has been talk of building a stadium there for decades – but the whole show definitely made me wish that there was going to be a baseball stadium there instead of a basketball arena.
I lived in Chicago for a bit after college near Wrigley Field. Brooklyn would be perfect for a baseball stadium, and any neighborhood that got it would become as fun and as endearing as Wrigleyville is today.
Putnamdenizen, I thought ethics violations were a prerequisite for being mayor.
Thompson is running for mayor? Oh, and you think that has an influence on this pronouncement? Isn’t he the same guy who had ethics violations lodged against him in his previous career? What a jerk.
Thompson’s idea is better than the current City policy which is to subsidize the development of an arena in a “blighted neighborhood” that’s about 4 blocks away from the jail, while simultaneously looking to expand a jail nearby.
add a few balconies and it’s * presto * a boymelgreen building already! It’s the twin sister of the park circle condos!
Maybe Whole Foods could buy it and put in a 20 story Whole Foods and scrap the Gowanus WF.
They paved paroled guys and they put up a parking lot!!
Keep the building, make it a trendy hotel with bars in place, add some nightclubs with names of famous prisons… Sing Sing, Alcatraz Chino (grateful dead mention that women’s pen in a song…)
This is Thompson-the-candidate speaking. He knows that his letter will have no impact, but also that he can lock up (no pun intended) votes in Boerum Hill.