New sign at the Edge, corner of North 5th & Kent.
Looks like there is finally a supermarket coming to Kent Avenue. But it’s not a Whole Foods (or sure doesn’t look like one), and it’s coming to the Edge, not Monster Island.
It’s been 28 years since anyone swam at McCarren Park Pool, but believe it or not, there will be people swimming in it this summer. And there will be people skating at the pool this winter – the city recently issued this RFP for “the operation of a seasonal ice rink at McCarren Park Pool“. Proposals are due on March 15.
In the course of answering questions about his income taxes (which are probably a lot) and his tax rate (which is probably lower than your’s), Mitt Romney had this to say about his other income:
“I got a little bit of income from my book, but I gave that all away,” Mr. Romney told reporters after an event here. “And then I get speakers’ fees from time to time, but not very much.”
Apparently Romney earned about $375,000 in speaker fees between February 2010 and February 2011, an average of $41,592 per speech. Which works out to nine speeches.
The average per capita income in the United State for 2010 was $40,584.
In other words, Mitt Romney earns more for 9 days of work than the average American will make in 9 years.
Romney has millions of dollars in assets, but just based on his work for those 9 days in 2010, he almost qualifies for the 99% (OK, he’s only at 98%).
705 and 707 Willoughby Avenue
Architect: C. P. H. Gilbert?, 1885
Photo: via PropertyShark
Chris Gray and his Streetscapes column were back in Brooklyn this week, profiling one of the great architects of the Gilded Age. Much of Gilbert’s early work was done in the Park Slope area, but his first Brooklyn commission may have been this pair of buildings on Willoughby Avenue in Bed-Stuy.
Despite the permastone, there are some traces of old stuff, particularly the profile of the roof and the cresting atop it. And the massing of the buildings looks quite consistent with Gilbert’s other work of the period.
The East River Ferry giveth, and the East River Ferry (maybe) taketh away.
NY Waterway has released an app that lets you but tickets on the iPhone/iPad (no word on apps for Android or other mobile devices). The app free, though obviously the tickets aren’t. In addition to buying tickets and checking schedules, the app will let you uptown commuters check the whereabouts of the next shuttle bus too. All very nice stuff.
On the flip side, starting on Monday the ferry might be adding a $2 surcharge for passengers who buy tickets on the boat. Tickets bought through the ticket kiosks will still be $4 (or $140 for a monthly pass). But, if you are like me and are running late for the boat with no ticket in hand, you might get hit with a surcharge (luckily, there’s an app for that!).
This, at least, is what the attendants on the boat were telling customers. However, Metro is reporting that the surcharge is not happening, and the PR rep for the East River Ferry told Metro that “there are no changes to the fare structure at this time”.
UPDATE: Via Twitter, East River Ferry confirms that there is no surcharge. And, via comments, Withers confirms the existence (and greatness) of an Android app too. Last, I tried out the ticket purchase on the iPhone tonight, and it too is great.
Clinton Avenue at Fulton Street
March, 1888
Photo: A. A. Martense via BHS.
This photo, taken on Clinton Avenue at Fulton Street in March 1888 comes via the Brooklyn Historical Society’s blog. BHS has the full details, but what I like about the photo is the signage on the side of the building: trusses, crutches, and the Sutherland Sisters Hair Grower and Scalp Cleaner (which may have something to do with the “electricity applied” in the sign at the far right).
The City is promising to install bike lanes on the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge – upsetting some but cheering others:
“Greenpoint Avenue is not fun to ride on,” said Ryan Kuonen, a community organizer at north Brooklyn’s Neighbors Allied for Good Growth and an avid cyclist [and also a Community Board member]. “It really needs a redesign.”
Avid business owners along Greenpoint Avenue (who stand lose parking) are opposed to the project. Unnamed avid motorists are also opposed to the project. No word on how avid pedestrians view it.
A few random observations on the Northside (more or less) retail/commercial front:
Kitten Coffee, a roaster located in Bed-Stuy is opening what looks like its first retail outlet at the former Blackbird spot at North 6th and Bedford.
Evolve Motorcycles, a manufacturer of electric motorcycles, is opening a showroom (its first?) at 155 Grand Street (the former location of East Street Gallery and before that Lawanna’s last outpost). The storefront next door is available – the pizza parlor that had been there was seized by the marshals last month.
208 Grand Street (at right, the new building with the best air conditioner grilles in Brooklyn) is getting a restaurant – Sensation – which will serve “new Shanghai cuisine”.
The newly-opened Hotel Williamsburg is changing hands – the potential new owners came to CB1 tonight for a transfer of the liquor license. One of the new owners was involved in the operation of the Barbizon, Ryalton, Paramount and Gramercy Park Hotels, as well as Coco Pazzo on the Upper East Side. The second partner is Meyer Chetrit (coincidentally, the Chetrit Group has just sold 175 Kent to Sam Zell).
Also on the CB1 docket tonight (but not on the Northside), the owners of Traif are opening Xixa, Mexican restaurant, three doors down at the old Aldo’s Coffee Shop space on South 4th Street.
Photo: Heather Roslund
According to Brownstoner, the broker handling the sale of St. Vincent De Paul Church on North 6th Street has announced the sale of the property for $13.7 million. MNS, the broker, says that the mystery owner plans to convert the church.
The church owns two parcels on North 6th Street. One of those parcels (lot 30) is the rectory, a four-and-a-half story building that was constructed in 1869 (Patrick Keely, architect). The other parcel (lot 15) wraps around the rectory and consists of the church itself (also constructed in 1869 and designed by Keely), as well as the large parking lot to the west of the rectory and the 1960s (?) school on North 7th Street.
So the first question is, which properties did the church sell? The second question is, what does the new owner plan for the rest of the site? Taking at face value the claim that the church itself will be converted, there is still a huge development potential for the rest of the site (the larger site – excluding the rectory – is over 33,000 sf; that is a lot of development rights, even at the R6B zoning for the block).
UPDATE:The Real Deal posted the story last night; according to their piece, the lot is 37,500 sf (my figure was from Oasis). The article is also a bit squishier on the fate of the church (” the buyer may choose to develop within the existing structure of the building”), and it notes that the sale went into contract last Spring, and only closed this week.
NY Magazine’s annual list of reasons to love NY include two of my favorite things about Williamsburg –
