The density and infrastructure of many inner suburbs (continue to) lend themselves to more urban – and sustainable – living.
Living Above the Store
The Williamsburg Elixir
Mark Firth, who co-owns Marlow & Sons, a popular café–gourmet store, agrees: “We definitely have a crew of older regulars. When we first opened, it was mostly under 30.”
Some of us are just getting old, Mark.
Evolution of the Hipster, 2000 – 2009
A ten-year walk down Bedford Avenue.
[via Andrew Sullivan]
Ferry Service Spinning its Wheel
Forgoing the nautical headline, the Courier looks into the state of Water Taxi – with some new NYWT, EDC and developer perspective.
Rose Plaza: Then
Mollenhauer Sugar Refining Co. (between South 10th Street and Division Avenue)
Source: King’s Views of Brooklyn, 1905
The photo above (click for a larger image) shows the Rose Plaza site as it looked 105 years ago. The building the “M” on the smokestack is the main refinery of the Mollenhauer Sugar Refining Company, and was located on Kent Avenue between Division Avenue and South 11th Street. The shorter building to the left on the river (technically on Wallabout Channel), a warehouse for the sugar refinery, was between South 10th and South 11th Streets.
The tall building beyond the warehouse is probably part of the Brooklyn Distilling Co., which once occupied the site where Schaefer Landing now sits. To the right of the Mollenhauer refinery is a building with a small tower and a mansard roof – that is one of the buildings of the former McLoughlin Brothers printing company. The building still stands on Wythe between Division and South 11th (it is now artists live/work lofts).
Owner Will Walk Away From 5Pointz
The owner was happy to make money off of illegal residential use, but now that they have to bring it up to code, they’re walking.
Broadway Triangle Vote Postponed
Juliet Linderman has the latest on the Broadway Triangle – which is that it is still stuck in Council subcommittees. This is datelined yesterday, so it is possible that there was a vote today (Thursday). If so, I haven’t seen anything yet.
Basically, the Council is still negotiating with itself, choosing sides over the issue. Diana Reyna continues to push her colleagues to deny the project outright, while other council members seem to be trying to find modifications that will make the project better (here’s a hint – the Community Board had a number of good modifications that would make the rezoning a lot better).
Reyna seems to be letting her passion for the issue overtake the facts. In the article, Reyna is quoted as saying “This plan isn’t about planning for a community, it’s about pushing through a political deal… It hasn’t taken into account an overcrowded elementary school…or corporations like Pfizer that promise jobs”. Unfortunately, if Pfizer is promising jobs, they aren’t in Brooklyn – the company has closed up shop here after 150 years, and is taking 1,200 jobs out of the community. (I don’t think the numbers support her statement on schools either, but I’m not so well-versed in that area.) The other night, Reyna told CB1 that the Broadway Triangle rezoning would result in “only 150” units of affordable housing. The actual number – affordable units to be developed on city-owned sites – is at least 488 and may be as high as 650.
Reyna is right to criticize the process. The sole-sourcing of city-owned sites to UJO and RBSCC is wrong, and it should have been an open process1. And those are issues that Council could take up. But on the other stuff, she should get her facts in order.
1.Not that HPD’s open processes work to the community’s advantage. HPD has a host of RFPs still unawarded, including Greenpoint Hospital (the RFP for which was issued almost three years ago). And the RFPs that have been awarded recently have all gone to private developers from outside the neighborhood – not local non-profit developers. The latest are the four small sites that were awarded to Yuco Development – one at Bedford and South 4th, the other three in the Maujer/Ten Eyck area. A number of local non-profits were vying to develop those sites. So sole-sourcing might suck, but an open RFP process doesn’t always help local developers or non-profits.↩
Broke Ass Heather
I’m not really sure what the web site is about or why Miss Heather is the subject of a profile there, but it is a nice profile and worth a read.
December Retail Report
232 Bedford Avenue – open for business
Not like this is a regular feature, but after seeing the very sudden emergence of retail at the corner of Bedford and North 4th, it got me thinking about all of the retail that has been popping up in the neighborhood. The 232 Bedford Avenue building had been all residential, and has just undergone a pretty stunning transformation (courtesy of Loading Dock 5 Architects). As of last weekend (as seen above), there are three new retail stores operating out of the ground floor – a jewelry store, a high-end sneaker store and another boutique.
Diagonally across the street, it looks like another jeweler/boutique is set to open in the small space next to Whisk (another somewhat recent addition to the neighborhood). With Bedford Cheese Shop on the third corner, this is turning into a nice little retail hub, made nicer by the fact that it is just a bit south of the crappy stretch of Bedford. (Hopefully the fourth corner won’t be built out as planned.)
In other retail news, my friends at Treehouse, Sodafine and lots of other great local establishments are putting on The Winter Market this Sunday (6 December) at Public Assembly (70 North 6th Street).
All good reasons to keep your holiday shopping local.