Curbed has dug up some Gene Kaufman renderings of the proposed Rose Plaza project at the Certified Lumber site (just south of Schaefer Landing). As one commenter noted, this design won’t be winning anyone the Pritzker prize.
In the silver lining department, the application at City Planning was filed by Gruzen Samton Architects. Either Kaufman is showing an earlier concept, or Gruzen is only responsible for the master planning, not the architecture.
207 Grand Street (proposed), via Gowanus Lounge.
Via Curbed and GL, a rendering has surfaced of a proposed commercial building at 207 Grand Street (northwest corner of Driggs). The project is build to suit, which basically means nothing will get built unless a retail tenant comes along. Still, its interesting to see that retail is alive and well on Grand Street (contrary to what anti-context advocates have said). In fact, retail is so strong that developers are willing to forego (future) residential FAR in order to construct retail.
The design, by Karl Fischer Architects, is not bad. Its relatively simple (sometimes, as here, that’s a good thing), uses red brick rather than the now-standard black/gray, and even includes some corbelling details at the cornice. Of course its easy to see how an owner could dumb this down pretty quickly with just a little value engineering.
Today’s Daily News has a piece on overcrowded Brooklyn schools and the slow response of the Department of Education. The article includes these nuggets of local interest:
– In Williamsburg and Greenpoint, the City Planning Commission projects a general population increase of 12.5% from 2000 to 2010 because of thousands of new apartments being built. But Education Department consultants project an enrollment decline of 19.5%.
– In Bushwick, the neighborhood population is projected to increase by nearly 11%, but school enrollment is projected to decline 14%.
Much of the blame is put at the feet of DOE, but City Planning certainly deserves its share. After all, Williamsburg and Greenpoint have undergone a comprehensive rezoning that is projected to add 10,000 new housing units by the middle of the next decade. And yet this rezoning included no provisions for expanded school services.
Via Save the G, word of another chance to rally in support of our crosstown local tomorrow evening.
Brooklyn Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries is organizing a G train advocacy kick-off rally:
Wednesday, May 21 at 6:30 p.m.
at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church
85 S. Oxford Street
(between Fulton St. and Lafayette Ave.)Call the Assemblyman’s district office at (718) 596-0100 for more information.
(As StreetsBlog points out, this is the same Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries who voted against congestion pricing and for a cut in MTA funding. But them’s a different issues.)
The good news/bad news on the water taxi keeps rolling in.
The latest good news (via this press release) is that the City Council is funding a new water taxi service between Far Rockaway and Lower Manhattan, with service starting May 12. On the North Brooklyn front, the City has secured federal funds to build new docking facilities in Northside Williamsburg and Greenpoint as part of expanded water taxi service on the East River. And, the City is ponying up $1.25 million to construct a new launch facility at Schaefer Landing.
The bad news? Well, service on the East River (Schaefer and Long Island City) won’t resume until July (you may recall that it was supposed to resume in May, er June). And the expanded service (which I presume will include a landing at the Edge and Northside Piers) won’t start up for another two years. Presumably between now and then the new residents in the Northside waterfront district will find a way to squeeze on the L train. When its running.
Actually, there is even more good news (really) in the press release. First, the MTA is studying how to connect bus service to the ferry landings, and second, EDC is working with the Real Estate Board to find “ways for impacted developers to support the East River ferry service” (I think both of these are very good ideas). Further, with the help of federal funding, a water taxi stop will be added to Roosevelt Island.
Issues of local timing (and false promises) aside, this package of funding and service expansions is good news for the long-term viability of ferry service in New York City. By subsidizing the expansion of service, the city (and feds) will hopefully create a critical mass of ridership that will sustain commuter ferry service on something more than a seasonal basis. Hopefully too, this will result in the critical mass necessary to make fares more affordable to more New Yorkers (under the current plans, the Rockaway Service will be capped at $6 each way – only a dollar more than the 10 minute trip from Schaefer Landing to Lower Manhattan). Hopefully, too, these subsidies will be enough to keep New York Water Taxi afloat – but their ability to run an efficient and successful business remains a big question mark in all of this.
Engine 212
Photo: jUSTINYC
This piece of news slipped quietly under the radar. According to the Brooklyn Eagle, NYC’s Economic Development Corporation has awarded the former Engine 212 site to the People’s Firehouse and NAG. The groups will invest an “estimated $1.3 million in the redevelopment of the Wythe Avenue site into the Northside Town Hall Community Center and Cultural Center to provide a permanent home for both organizations”.
PFI and NAG were always the leading contenders to take over 212 (ironic, in that they both fought the closing of the firehouse so fiercely). Still, its great news that this neighborhood institution will continue to serve the neighborhood, and that two worthy local non-profits will soon have new homes. Thanks to all the pols who made it happen.
From the 475Kent.com blog:
At 3pm the sprinklers passed the hydrostatic test mandated by DOB and FDNY. The vacate is lifted as of 4pm. Hooray! We are back thanks not only to the huge amount of work by building residents and owners but by city agencies and electeds especially Councilman David Yassky, Assemblymen Joe Lentol and Vito Lopez and Senator Martin Connor. Thank you everyone!
Its about time!
If either of you have seen this gray tiger cat in the vicinity of Hooper between South 2nd and South 3rd Streets, please call 646-620-5702. He (or she) went missing on Sunday, and his (or her) owner is anxious to have him (or her) back. I don’t know what name he (or she)He answers to Livie; but then cats don’t usually answer unless they want to, do they?
[Our record for a cat going missing is about 6 days – turns out he was up a tree at Sheridan Playground.]
Gowanus Lounge has moved away from Blogger and set up with a newly designed site with their very own domain. In addition to the new domain name (be sure to update your feed reader), the site now boasts a masthead full of correspondents and photographers (most of whom we have all come to know over the past two years). Oh, and advertising too.
I’ll reserve comment on the redesign until I’ve had a chance to see it in action. I will miss the (energy-saving?) black background of the old site, but not the Blogger infrastructure (which always seemed to choke Firefox, but was fine on Safari).
Oh, and happy anniversary, Robert. It is pretty amazing to think that GL did not exist two years ago. In that time, GL has become the leading source for much of Brooklyn’s news (and a constant source of material for less of-the-moment news venues).
Sodafine
Photo: Sodafine
Not so suddenly, Grand Street has become a thriving retail strip.
The April/May 2008 issue of WG (the newish Williamsburg Greenpoint News + Arts paper) has a great article by C. C. McGurr on the retail renaissance along western Grand Street. By her count, there are 62 businesses operating on the six block stretch from Kent to Marcy (I can think of at least two or three establishments that were left out). The eastern portion of the strip is dominated by food & drink, but throughout Grand Street, the diversity of retail is pretty impressive. More impressive is the fact that (by my count) about 50 of these 62 establishments have opened since 2001. Better still, there have been relatively few closures in that time (regrettably, Alioli was one of them). And these numbers don’t include the stores and restaurants on the avenues just off Grand Street, easily another dozen, if not two.
McGurr blames the BQE for the demise of Grand Street’s retail in the post-War era, but I’m of the opinion that the BQE actually helped Grand Street. What makes the western portion of Grand Street so special is that is not a through street. The relative lack of vehicular traffic gives the strip a quieter, more relaxed feel. Combined with the low-scale buildings fronting on a wider street (at least west of Roebling), this makes the street much more open and pedestrian friendly. Compare Grand Street to Metropolitan (in the extreme), or even Bedford Avenue, and you’ll see what I mean. (As for the BQE, ten years ago, most of Williamsburg’s historic ground floor storefronts were boarded up or converted to residential, and the BQE was not responsible for all of that.)
[WG has a website, but no web presence. If you want to see the article, pick up a copy at a local store, bank, etc.]
