Author: linked

Luxury condos in Orthodox Brooklyn (and more gentrification in Crown Heights).

Basil Seggos gets the money quote:

This is a working-class community with a dirty creek in a part of Brooklyn no one really cares about, it would have perhaps been a better thing if these were river otters covered with oil. You’d have had immediate action.

Including Spoonbill & Sugartown.

I hadn’t realized that last month’s tornado and torrential rains had done so much damage in North Brooklyn (the tornado was in far away parts of Brooklyn, not up here). Not surprising, though, given the high water tables and myriad wetlands upon which much of the neighborhood was constructed. In response, FEMA has opened a disaster assistance center on Division Avenue – with information on grants and no-interest loans for repairs.

Good to hear that at least one business in Williamsburg has a long-term lease.

Via Gowanus Lounge and INSIJS, we learn that the buildings at the corner of North 6th and Wythe are really not long for this world. 12 years ago or so I had friend who lived on that block, further over towards Kent (well before Galapagos or anything else). It was a wonderful, desolate block, made incongruously happy by the colored aquarium gravel that was always strewn along the sidewalk.

From the Times, a very selective walk down Grand Street. In general, some nice picks, though why they didn’t walk the extra couple of blocks and visit some of the half-dozen or so furniture stores is beyond me.

They’re on the mark about Aurora, though.

A while back we posted on the DEC/Keyspan agreement to (re)cleanup for manufactured gas plant and gas storage sites in Brooklyn. The Flatbush Courier has more details on the agreement, including some not-very-appetizing information on the below-ground toxic soup left behind by these places. This certainly doesn’t do anything to discourage more theorizing about the Roebling Oil Field and its neighbors.

From the Times today, a very good piece on thriving industry in Brooklyn. The number of jobs are not incidental, even as the scale and type of manufacturing continues to change. City Planning should pay attention to NYIRN – the new industry is smaller, cleaner and far more compatible with mixed-use living.

This, by the way, is not a good sign for industries looking for long-term stability:

I still have three years [on my lease],” Mr. Angel added. “We’re hoping the real estate market will crash.

Greenpoint Manufacturing & Design Center does great work. Their latest project is further proof that industry is alive and well in north Brooklyn (and could be even better off with a modern industrial policy).