Per the last post, industry is alive and well in Brooklyn, it’s just different than what a lot of people think of as industry. But hotels and nightlife – two uses that are as-of-right in industrial zones – are probably the biggest threats to the viability of all that.
Now at 77 Box Street
Prime Time in NYC
The Mayor held a press conference yesterday to tout the fact that a record number of prime-time shows – 23 – are currently filmed in New York.
“We see this as the manufacturing for the 21st century,” said Doug Steiner, who owns the studio in Brooklyn where [Pan Am, one of the shows] is shot.
Steiner is right – most of those shows are filming in Brooklyn and Queens, and a lot of the support industry (set design, construction, etc.) are also happening here.
Liu Looking Into Greenpoint Shelter Plans
Things seem to be heating up over 400 McGuinness Boulevard, the loft building that keeps trying to be a homeless shelter. The Brooklyn Eagle reported last week that a “hotel developer” had acquired the property. The quotation marks are there because, while the developer does build hotels, he also builds a lot of homeless shelters – something Aaron Short of the Post reported on over a month ago.
Now, Short is reporting that City Comptroller John Liu is, at the request of Council Member Steve Levin, investigating the relation of the Department of Homeless Services with this particular developer and others. Levin’s contention is that DHS is using third-party developers to acquire properties for use as homeless shelters, a process that would allow DHS to circumvent the public review process for such property acquisitions. The developer, for its part, says that it has no “contractual relationship with DHS”. Liu’s office is promising to “hold the Department of Homeless Services accountable to a fair, transparent and equitable siting process”
[Via The Real Deal]
111 Kent for Rent
Brownstoner reports that 111 Kent Avenue, the Michael Muroff-designed condo at the prime corner of North 7th and Kent Avenue, is ramping up its sales effort as a rental. The project, which began life as a condo development, had been stalled for ages. Now it is back, as a “boutique rental residence” (boutique would be one of the last words that come to mind looking at this building).
Yet more proof that the market for rentals in former condo developments is particularly strong in North Brooklyn.
Movin’ Out
Phil DePaolo may or may not be the mayor of Williamsburg, but he has certainly been a fixture on the neighborhood activism scene. And now he’s leaving town – moving to the suburbs for better schools.
I worked with Phil on any number of issues in the neighborhood, didn’t always agree with him 100%, but was always happy to have him on my side (or to be on his side as the case may be).
I am reminded of my own parent’s experience – we moved to the suburbs in the late 60s, and within a couple of years, my parents were organizing to improve the local schools. The tag line on all the buttons was “You probably left a better school in NYC than you came to here”.
Good luck, Phil.
Matchett Candy Factory Rents
Crain’s reports that the former Matchett Candy Factory at Wythe and South 4th, one of the handsomest old factory buildings in Williamsburg, is fully rented. Further evidence (viz. 175 Kent) that the market for rentals in former condo developments remains very strong in North Brooklyn. (The market for condos isn’t doing too bad either, but clearly the market right now is in rentals.)
Williamsburgh Savings Bank’s Future
This isn’t really news – the developer has been talking up some sort of gallery or museum for months. And the Crain’s report doesn’t really add much in the way of definitiveness – the whole project, including the vacant lot next door, is still pretty ill-defined.
The architect for the project talks up the challenges of creating a museum in a landmark interior (can’t hang art on the landmarked walls?!?). Which is pretty rich when you consider that parts of the Metropolitan are landmarked, and they get by just fine. Even better, apparently without irony, the rest of the Crain’s article is about the challenge of fitting drugstores, and a host of other corporate retail establishments into landmark interiors. if Duane Reade can figure out to squeeze themselves into a landmark interior, you’d think a museum would be a piece of cake.
It will be interesting to see what this developer comes up for the space – no doubt it’s a challenge dealing with designated interiors, but he’s not the first to cross this river. Yes, it will be some of mix of hotel, gallery/museum and catering hall. But so far, the only thing that is definite is the catering – the knee-jerk, least creative use for bank interiors. And we knew that a year ago – the fact that the development team is still floating vague ideas doesn’t inspire confidence.
[via Brownstoner]
240 Bedford Bankruptcy Fight
The hulking steel skeleton of stalled development at Bedford and North 4th is back in play at bankruptcy court, as two developers fight for control of the property. The property had been tied up with urban renewal restrictions through 2009, though the current owner had proposed a deal to get out of those restrictions back in ’07 or ’08.
City Shutters Bronx School for Elevated TCE Levels
City closes a Bronx school after it finds elevated levels of trichloroethylene, a legacy of the industrial uses that occupied the property before it was a school.
11 Broadway Update
From Curbed, 11 Broadway gets a new (tan) facade. The building is about halfway up, and Curbed reports that it is slated to open (possibly with a grocery store) towards the end of 2012.
