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Cobble Hill Neighbor Norah Jones Releases New CD “Little Broken Hearts”

By on March 5, 2012 in Celebrity Residents, Cobble Hill, Landmark Preservation

Norah Jones must really dig living in Cobble Hill, because the nine-time Grammy Award winner hasn’t released a new album since moving to the neighborhood in late 2009. That’s about to change with “Little Broken Hearts,” Jones’ fifth full-length disc, coming May 1 on Blue Note Records/EMI.

The project is produced by Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton), with all 12 cuts co-written by Jones and Burton. “Hearts” will be preceded by single “Happy Pills,” which you can listen to here. Continue Reading →

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Boerum Hill Building Heights Capped at 50 Feet

By on September 22, 2011 in Landmark Preservation

Bergen Street, Boerum Hill
It’s official – the NYC City Council approved a 50 foot cap on new development in Boerum Hill yesterday.  The neighborhood will now be under the same landmark guidelines as its “Brownstone Belt” neighbors – Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Park Slope and Carroll Gardens. Continue Reading →

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Briefing on Alternatives to Housing in Park at LICH Monday Evening

By on April 6, 2011 in Landmark Preservation, News

The Word on Columbia Street gives us the word that the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation will present a briefing for interested people on the draft report on alternatives to housing as sources of financing the maintenance and operating costs of Brooklyn Bridge Park (a PDF of the report is available here). This was the subject of a public hearing at St. Francis College last Thursday evening. The briefing, hosted by the executive committee of Community Board 6, will be held this coming Monday evening, April 11, starting at 6:30, at Long Island College Hospital, 339 Hicks Street.

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“Amity Street Horror” Buyers Face LPC Review of Proposed Changes

By on March 15, 2011 in Landmark Preservation, News, Real Estate

As we noted before, the buyers of 110 Amity Street, the former LICH Lamm Institute building, have proposed some modifications to the structure in order to convert it to three luxury residences. These proposals are now up for review by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Continue Reading →

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Buyers Propose Changes For “Amity Street Horror”

By on February 25, 2011 in Landmark Preservation, News, Real Estate

We earlier noted the sale by LICH of the Lamm Institute building, 110 Amity Street, to undisclosed buyers. Brownstoner now reports that the architect for the three joint buyers, who intend to convert the building into three luxury residences, has revealed their plans for its conversion. According to the Brownstoner story:

The architect intends to work with a wall already running through the middle of the 14,000-square-foot building and divide it into three homes, each with their own entryway; one entirely new entryway will be created on the corner of Henry and Amity. Heavy wood paneled doors, aluminum-clad windows, and a higher security fence are also planned. A minor rooftop addition, which will be five feet wider than the one the LPC already approved, is part of the project as well. Continue Reading →

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Eagle on Effort to Downzone Boerum Hill

By on November 29, 2010 in Boerum Hill, Landmark Preservation

The Brooklyn Eagle writes about the effort to downzone Boerum Hill to limit building heights to 50 feet:

Brooklyn Eagle: Now it is Boerum’s Hill turn. In an e-mail to his neighbors, Boerum Hill Association President Howard Kolins said that the association’s “proposal to downzone our neighborhood to R6B [maximum height of 50 feet with a setback] is moving forward so that future development remains consistent with today’s low-density character of largely three- and four-story brownstones.”

Kolins explained that the Boerum Hill “effort began when much of Carroll Gardens was rezoned R6B . . . and we realized that Boerum Hill was the last brownstone area that was not more fully protected.” The Carroll Gardens enterprise “set a fire under us,” Kolins told this newspaper.

Dwight Smith, a Boerum Hill Association (BHA) vice president, took the leadership role, and after Community Board 2 gave its blessing, the BHA approached the Department of City Planning.

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LPC to Consider 147 Kane and 158 Court

By on November 4, 2010 in Landmark Preservation

The Eagle has the following concerning Landmarks Preservation Commission hearings scheduled for next Tuesday, November 9, starting at 9:30 a.m.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle:147 Kane St. in the Cobble Hill Historic District, a Greek Revival-style house built in 1845 to 1846. The application is to install skylights, construct a rooftop and rear yard additions and alter the rear facade. • 158 Court St. in the Cobble Hill Historic District, a Greek Revival-style rowhouse built in 1848. The application is to install a barrier-free access ramp.

The LPC hearings are held in the conference room on the ninth floor of One Centre Street, Manhattan.

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Cobble Hiller – Fears Realized by Window Flap

By on July 9, 2010 in Landmark Preservation, Real Estate

The Brooklyn Paper reports on the threat to the look of Cobble Hill landmarks as more residents try to pull a “Norah Jones” by adding windows to their brownstones – the latest request is for 227 Clinton Street -

Brooklyn Paper: The proposed renovations to the Clinton Street crib echo the controversial seven windows that singer Norah Jones’s had punched into a blank wall on the side of her Amity Street house, which is only one block away.

Jones managed to get city approval for her renovations without presenting them to the local community board late last year — and, as a result, many Cobble Hill preservationists feared that the neighborhood’s aesthetic would soon be under assault. “Jones’s windows established a precedent,” said Roy Sloane, the president of the Cobble Hill association and a passionate preservationist. “Our fears have been realized.”

The Landmark Preservation Commission will review the application on July 13.

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