The New York City Department of Correction (DOC) invites the community to attend an open house at the Brooklyn Detention Complex, more commonly known at the Brooklyn House of Detention or the “House of D’.”
…

The open house in being held in advance of the phased re-opening of the House of Detention. Approximately 100 inmates per week will be transferred to the facility beginning in February. This will be an opportunity to meet Warden Walter Nin, ask questions and tour the facility.

To take advantage of this (we hope) once in a lifetime opportunity, please RSVP to Delilah Ortega in the DOC Department of Public Information at Delilah.Ortega@doc.nyc.gov or (718) 546-0631.

NY Post: They had been living in Cobble Hill and needed more space.

“We had looked at about five places, and then we went to get dinner [at a neighborhood Thai restaurant on Court Street owned by a friend]. And our friend’s like, ‘You guys look bushed,’” recalls De Marrais. “He told us, ‘I’m moving out of my apartment; you should go check it out. Here’s the keys. Go check it out now.’”

They did, and it was love at first sight. “We were walking around like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ This place is amazing, and we would dance around this place the first few years we lived here.”

NY Times: Warren Street between Bond and Nevins offers many of the things well-off buyers seek in brownstone Brooklyn: a pastoral, leafy feel; long rows of 19th-century town houses; proximity to transportation and charming little restaurants; young families on the block.

But the block also has something that those buyers have traditionally seemed to avoid: two large public housing projects that stand tall at either end, to many New Yorkers enduring symbols of danger, social dysfunction and blight. The map showing the neighborhood on the Web site of the Boerum Hill Association — a group dedicated to preserving and enhancing “the unique qualities of our neighborhood” — includes Warren Street but runs up and around to Wyckoff at points to cut the projects out.

Curbed NY: Things are now moving quickly for what was once referred to as the Amity Street Horror, aka the old Lamm Institute building at 110 Amity Street in Cobble Hill. The new owners just unveiled plans for turning the historic 14,000-square-foot building into three townhouse-style units, and now the 110 Amity renovations are already headed to the Landmarks Preservation Commission for approval. However, a couple of the proposed changes might slow down this conversion’s momentum.

The Curbed story notes that a proposed new doorway on the side facing Amity Street has already been vetted and approved by Community Board 6, and should easily get LPC approval. However, a new doorway at the rear of the building, which would require cutting through existing brick, and a rooftop addition, which has grown in size since originally proposed, may be problematic.

Photo: Curbed NY

New York Times: Ms. Abry said her family was happy with the apartment because it was newly renovated when they arrived in June 2009. Most apartments there are walkups, but the Abrys have a ground-floor apartment so they do not have to carry Elijah up stairs. Their apartment also sits on the building’s inner courtyard, which Ms. Abry said makes her feel as if she is living on a college quad…

…But there are also residents who say they have been soured by the buying process. Some tenants pooled $6,400 to hire an independent engineer, who reported that the building needed $6 million in repairs, including new roofs, windows, balconies and stairs. Hudson said that the developer had committed to making most of those changes, but that it had not agreed to replace balcony drains and cellar and crawl-space floors. “We just drew our line at taking care of lots and lots of things and not feeling that some items they mentioned were worthy of replacement,” said David Kramer, a Hudson principal.

Carl Rosenstock, a resident since 1997, said he wanted to buy at Cobble Hill Towers. At first he was offered a price of $300,000 for his one-bedroom, or about $627 a square foot. He estimated that the apartment needed $50,000 to $75,000 in updates.

With apartments selling between $287K and up some wonder if any of them are that much of a deal even with an “insider” price.  Once comment on The Real Deal blog says:

If you like noise and carbon monoxide from the expressway, mold in your apartment, tilted floors, noisy mornings, then you have come to the right place. Greed ultimately rears it’s ugly head, what is happening is a travesty to the fine people who dwell in it. The goal is another get rich scheme and displacement of the tenants with the help of the city. Buying an apartment is beyond my comprehension, offering a buyout is a lure to a fish and simply fools gold. You people have what they want, don’t give it up. Moving or buying helps them and hurts you in the not so long run. Lose your job and lose your investment, it can happen quickly and no one will help you; look beyond the smoke screens. If you feel the neighborhood is desirable, then stay in it for less money and no responsibility, not to mention putting your money at risk in a company that could default. Let them keep the apartments empty with no rent.

What do you think?
Flickr photo by callandresponse

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.

The proposed changes have already been approved by the CB6 Land Use Committee; one member of which, according to Brownstoner, characterized them as “sensitive, intelligent, and thoughtful.”

It also appears that the three lots on Henry Street adjoining the building remain for sale, although they were earlier reported to have been sold.

The Brooklyn Paper: The state agency behind the controversial Atlantic Yards mega-project and the Brooklyn Bridge Park waterfront development now has a Brooklynite at the helm.

On Wednesday, Gov. Cuomo tapped former Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President Kenneth Adams — a Cobble Hill native — to run the Empire State Development Agency, the state’s quasi-independent economic engine.

Adams is the son of Cobble Hill community activist Murray Adams, who has been active in opposition to the use of luxury housing to fund maintenance of Brooklyn Bridge Park. ESDC funds state supported projects through the issuance of bonds, and has been said to have circumvented environmental reviews of projects such as Atlantic Yards. Another Cobble Hill activist and opponent of housing in the Park, Roy Sloane, is quoted in the Post article as condemning ESDC’s past actions, but as optimistic about Mr. Adams’ appointment.

Curbed: We’ll let the brokerbabble explain what’s going on with this new-to-market townhouse at 350 Baltic Street in the Boerum Hill/Cobble Hill DMZ: “This sunny and beautiful Civil War era rowhouse has nurtured a family of artists, as its unique renovation shows.” It’s a two-family property, but the garden apartment is currently set up as a painting studio. We assumed “unique” was a euphemism, but we kinda like the atrium, skylight, and yard. The asking price, at $1.275 million for 1,968 square feet, is a bit more average than the decor.

NYO: The “most celebrated and vilified” novelist of our generation has bought a $2.5 million brownstone in Cobble Hill, a holy grail, of course, for writers and poseurs (and writers who are poseurs). No word yet on how much time he plans to spend on this side of the Atlantic.

The author of Money and London Fields is famous for his sharp prose and withering stare, but he’s previously fled the harsh glare of London’s literati, temporarily relocating to South America following the critical flogging of Yellow Dog. His most recent work, the “blindingly autobiographical” The Pregnant Widow, was well-received, however, so maybe he just likes greenmarkets.

What do you think?  Is it a good idea, or just a dream?

The full story, and more renderings, can be viewed on Curbed.

To view the flier click here.  RSVP to BQE@nycedc.com.

via Cobble Hill Association

After a couple of years of consensus-building, the effort has started to make some very concrete progress in the form of public support from Community Boards 2 and 6 recently… Once established, the BID would cover all properties fronting Atlantic Avenue from the BQE to 4th Avenue and one block north and south on all side streets within the district. (Properties from Court Street to Smith Street on the north side are excluded—they’re in the Court-Livingston-Schermehorn BID.)

According to the Atlantic Ave. BID web site, the organization would provide

marketing and promotion services to bring additional foot traffic to the Avenue, beautification and streetscape improvements, sanitation and improved advocacy work.

The BID committee next has a tentative meeting with the City Planning Commission on December 1st.

via Brownstowner

Just stopped by Vintage Cellars on Smith between Union and President and they’re closing today after 13 years! The landlord wanted to triple the rent. It’ll probably become another f****ing tanning salon. Customers are coming in and hugging the owner, Margaret, as she and family pack up the last of the wine. It’s really sad. One more Smith Street local business bites the dust.

DEVELOPING…

Brownstoner photo

Brownstoner reports that the “Rat Squirrel House” at 149 Kane Street is now sporting a huge dumpster out front.

NY Daily News: Modeled after a 1940s Aspen-style ski chalet, the Lodge has wood paneling, a kitchen, a billiards table and two Skee-Ball machines. In downtown Brooklyn a short walk from Brooklyn Heights and Boerum Hill, the building has only 140 units left to sell before it’s full. “Its pretty simple; we’re in a great location near just about every subway imaginable,” says David E. Perry, director of sales and leasing for the Clarett Group, a New York-based development firm started 11 years ago by Veronica Hackett. “We also think our amenities are better than our competitors.”

What are the apartments like? Eric Gillin posted this video:

And so did amubarah:

The NY Post profiles Cobble Hillbillies Talk Stoop host Cat Greenleaf and her news producer husband Michael Rey. Mostly, they talk about the schweet deal they got on their townhouse, which we’re not mad at:

NY Post: At a time when even badly run-down brownstones in the area were going for $1.3 million, he asked the couple for only $850,000. For that amazing price, they got three floors and a full basement — a total of 2,300 square feet — and a garden.
Greenleaf and Rey opted to convert the ground floor into a two-bedroom rental, and they and their 15-month-old adopted son, Nick (whom they call Primo), have taken over the top two floors. On one floor is the open living space, which includes the living room, dining area and kitchen, as well as one bathroom. The top floor has three bedrooms, one bathroom and a laundry room. (An added patio and the updated 100-foot-deep garden are shared with their tenant.)

Ideal’s human resources director Henry Tsaur announced that the Cobble Hill office will start serving the area with 20 brokers and salespeople. Built on solid technological grounds, and with an enduring commitment to research and design, Ideal’s highly developed infrastructure could support — according to the company’s business development team — in excess of 1,000 agents in the area.

“With our passion for the area, and with our clients’ interest and needs in mind, the opening of the Cobble Hill office seems like an intuitive fit,” Ideal’s CEO concluded.

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.

Owner of the property Abelardo Argibay said he did not know when the restaurant will open, but said it will likely be “soon.” The delay remains a mystery, but stay tuned for more updates!

THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010.

6:00 PM @ PS 32, 317 HOYT STREET

Photo by EJ Cory

It appears that construction on our local Barneys is underway. Earlier estimates have the store opening this Fall.

Back in 2007, Mayor Bloomberg announced his plan to make sure every New Yorker lived within a 10-minute walk of a park. Three years later, the New York University Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy has found that, at least in Manhattan, we’re getting further away from that goal, according to the New York Times.

While 93.7 percent of Manhattan’s housing units sat within a quarter mile of a park before 2000, only 70.2 percent of them do now; new construction, it seems, is further away from green space. And green space is as coveted an amenity as restaurant-quality stoves and open floor plans, not to mention good for your physical and mental health.

Luckily, things aren’t so grave in Brooklyn. In fact, we’ve made improvements. “In 2000, only 82.4 percent of Brooklyn units were within a quarter mile of a park, versus 91.2 percent in 2008,” they write. We can thank Brooklyn Bridge Park for part of this increase, which in the end will add 65 acres of parkland to the landscape.

As developers, we’re sensitive to the desire to be near green space, which is why many of our efforts focus on neighborhoods close to it. For us, the decrease in green space, and its link to new construction, confirm our approach, to renovate and reinvent older housing stock which tends to have those three all-important things going for it: location, location, location. In this case, location means close–closer than a 10-minute walk–to a patch of green.

Curbed: Building amenities include a virtual doorman, parking garage, interior courtyard & common roof deck (advertising 4th of July fireworks views, though the explosions in the sky will again be over the Hudson River this year). Units have wide-plank floors, Bosch washer/dryers and “distressed brick and masonry touches.” The building’s marketing materials go through great pains to stress the history of the river-hugging Columbia Street Waterfront District and how Columbia Commons fits in perfectly.

Saltini did mention to the Brooklyn Paper that he’d done many things for the neighborhood since 1969 and a 1981 piece from the NY Times tell us that he developed coops in the area —  to the delight of some and the derision of others who felt development in general was making the neighborhood “cold”:

Peter Saltini, an architect, designed a row of co-ops he developed on Garfield Street with what he calls the ”Park Slope ethos” in mind. Some of Mr. Saltini’s units have small, interconnecting gardens. The idea, Mr. Saltini said, was to encourage his purchasers to ”stoop sit.”

Mr. Saltini, who said he moved to the area because it was a good place to raise children, also took pains to make sure that families were welcomed in his co-ops. But half the units have been sold, and none of the new owners has children.

Citibank provided financing for Mr. Saltini’s project, and the bank’s Brooklyn spokesman, Lucille Grossman, said she sees no need to apologize for Citibank’s role in helping turn ”tenements that were a major problem in the neighborhood” into the new co-ops.

Brooklyn Paper: A source close to negotiations reinforced that claim by saying that Goldstein had actually pushed for $5 million at one point during negotiations.

Goldstein and his lawyer, Michael Rikon, said that both claims were patently false.

“The money amount was settled pretty quickly,” Goldstein said. “The sticking point that led to nearly four hours of discussions was Ratner’s insistent desire to bind me to some sort of gag order.

“Apparently, taking my home and razing my neighborhood wasn’t enough for them,” he added.

The lawyer backed up his client.

“The money was never the problem!” said Rikon. “For [Gilmartin] to say that is outrageous.”

The piece has commenters on the paper’s website engraged:

George Polkster from Brooklyn Heights says:
It’s a shame that the Brooklyn Paper, in its headline, continues its relentless assault on Daniel Goldstein, going so far as to misrepresent Forest City Ratner’s fairly tame position on its acquisition of Goldstein’s apartment.

freddy from slope says:
nice crappy story brooklyn papers.

sad that there is no alternative presently.

maybe that will change.

how about this for an appropriate story headline:

“after costs last holdout nets about 100%(2-1) increase in property value that was given away to billionaire for a 5,000,000,000 profit (40-1 over out of pocket acquisition costs).”

now who is the greedy one here?

joshua from prospect heights says:
Totally with Sid on this one.

Of course, Goldstein was in it for the money. Anyone who hasn’t lost their mind at Freddy’s knows that!

Since Goldstein continues to say he’s committed to the fight, perhaps he will contribute his $2,500,000.00 profit to the BBBD legal aid fund.

If he wasn’t in it for the money, Goldstein would do that.

Brooklyn Paper:  Tenants in the landmark building will be offered the chance to buy their apartments at insiders price such as $230,000 for a studio and $595,000 for a three-bedroom apartment. Owners would then be free to set their own re-sale prices, though residents in the rent-stabilized apartments will not see any changes if they want to go on renting.

Still, the plan will result in the building’s transformation from moderate-income rentals to luxury condos. As a result, it has frightened residents, who are unsure whether they’ll be able to buy, even at the insider prices.

“It’s ridiculous,” said longtime resident Cindy Nurullah. “Some people are going to have to pay more money [to buy their place].”

Hudson Companies’ Principal David Kramer called the concerns misguided, as there is no plan to evict any tenants.

“I think change can be scary to a lot of people,” he said. “We are giving people the best deal in town.”

This FSBO unit is actually the handy work of boutique developers light/house and one of two apartments in the building. This offering, “The Modern” will host an Open House on 4/25 from 1pm – 4pm.   Asking price is $2,659,000 for this 4BR, 2 bath, 3000 square foot home.

Contact them here for more information.