Not Just BJs for Red Hook, But a Whole Mall
If there was any question left about the suburbanization of Brooklyn (see Atlantic Center, IKEA, Costco), it will be answered by the creation of a Red Hook mall. Turns out, developer Joe Sitt of Thor Equities doesn’t want to just bring BJ’s to the waterfront but a whole six-story shopping center. Well, at least the…
If there was any question left about the suburbanization of Brooklyn (see Atlantic Center, IKEA, Costco), it will be answered by the creation of a Red Hook mall. Turns out, developer Joe Sitt of Thor Equities doesn’t want to just bring BJ’s to the waterfront but a whole six-story shopping center. Well, at least the vision is mixed-use and includes some adaptive reuse, too. The Brooklyn Paper says Thor wants “to renovate a historic warehouse on the former Revere sugar refinery; erect several new buildings for shopping, parking and housing; and create a 40-feet-wide public esplanade by 2011 along the water’s edge of the Beard Street property next door to the recently opened IKEA.” How do these developers — see Thor, Ratner, even Toll Brothers — have so much power over such historic and important Brooklyn sites, especially the waterfronts? (Also, yes, the Brooklyn Paper continues with the double entendre headlines.)
Hookers to Get BJs in Mall [The Brooklyn Paper]
Thor’s Red Hook Plans Come Into Sharper Focus [Curbed]
Red Hook Ikea. Photo by masck.
I’m sick of luxury condos going up everywhere, and then residents complaining about the noise or the lack of amenities or the views not to their liking. As combustiblegirl2 says, the tug operations are necessary. It’s irrelevant to wonder how many Red Hook residents work there- what’s your point? jobs are jobs.
Greg O’Connell has always tried to strike a balance, and if the present collapse of the financial market has taught us anything, it should be to value all the businesses NYC has- or used to have. Maybe if we had worked harder to keep our industry, we wouldn’t be taking such a hit now.
That you think that Red Hook has no redeeming qualities and that you are not aware of the fact that the area has already been reclaimed to some extent shows that you don’t live in Red Hook and are barely even acquainted with the neighborhood as it exists today.
Luckily, Red Hook is full of people who are much less willing to allow the Joe Sitts of the world to take over the waterfront.
Even if the big-box stores aren’t the perfect addition to the waterfront, they’re still better than having the neighborhood continue to decay, as it has ever since the highway cut it off from “the mainland”.
Empty, grass-filled lots… broken fences covered in graffiti… couple of rehabilitated spots here & there (Pioneer Street), but mostly Depression-style disuse and disarray. It’s been like this for… how long?
I’m not a fan of big-box retail either. I would much rather see a waterfront park, small independent shops, a “nightlife street”, and some nice to-scale residential development.
But… in a neighborhood without a subway line, and not the most convenient car/foot commute either, AND without any redeeming qualities aside from “the view”, who would have the money to invest in the kind of massive reclamation that’s required to kick-start an entire area like that?
wine_lover is right – “someone has to pay real money to change this. and, they have to be able to pay for it.”
So, despite the “it would be nice if” factor, it seems that the likes of Joe Sitt and Ikea will control the neighborhood.
C’est la vie.
“I, for one, welcome our retail overlords.” (C) Kent Brockman.
I wonder how many Red Hook residents work on the tug boats or the docks?
WalMart…now that sounds like a great idea. I’d bet that Brooklyn’s first WalMart will be in this area.
Sorry, let me clarify: the point is that the people who run the tug operation are worried they will be forced out if the waterfront is given over to luxury housing. They provide a necessary service and Erie Basin is one of the few protected inlets where the tugs can dock. (And yes Denton, I’m sure there’s a tug operation stationed there. I live in the neighborhood and I’ve been to the CB6 meetings with these guys, plus if you spend any time along the waterfront there you can see them at work). The point is it’s an important maritime service and they’re worried that they will get pushed out because of the disturbance the residents might view them as. The Fairway units are rental. The owner is Greg O’Connell and since he is generally supportive of keeping the working character of Red Hook even as it gets developed, I don’t think it’s the same issue as someone trying to sell high end condos. Also teh Fairway building is on the harbor/buttermilk channel and not within Erie Basin.
Yes, those gray-painted statuesque shipping cranes touch my heart. Too bad they couldn’t actually use them instead of turning them into keepsakes.
I’m a big fan of regulation. It keeps greedy people from destroying things for the rest of us. For example the current mess this country is in would not have happened with a little more regulation.
“By the way… I actually think the Ikea aesthetic (including their little park with the crane and other remnants) has turned out to be quite nice and fitting for that part of the city. But maybe I just like big blue things and path to stroll on.”
I don’t know. I was over there the other day, and it’s a sea of concrete and metal. Even the waterfront path is mostly ‘rete, with a couple ship parts strewn in to mollify the oldtimers, I suppose.
I don’t think Ikea could have done anything to satisfy me, though.
http://www.forgotten-ny.com
MM
http://curbed.com/archives/2007/11/15/live_from_red_hook_curbed_inside_the_fairway_building.php#more