400 Bedford Avenue Starts Up

04/22/2009 | 1 Comment

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400 Bedford Avenue
Architect: Bricolage/Henry Radusky


In the latest installment of “What Recession?” Week, our inadvertent look at projects that are (or may be) starting up, moving forward or finishing despite the iffy housing market, we bring you 400 Bedford Avenue. This is the site at the northwest corner of Bedford and South 6th/Broadway, directly across from the King’s County Savings Bank/Williamsburg Art & Historical Center building. At some point in the 1990s a building was constructed on part of the site (in the Taco Bell style), and as recently as 2004 it was still there (somehow it doesn’t surprise us that neither of these events appear in the DOB record).

Plans were filed for a new building in October, 2007 but only approved in February of this year. A permit was pulled for foundation work in March and since then, progress has been quick – the steel is up to one story and higher.

For the record, the building projected for the site will be six stories tall with retail stores on the ground floor (good move) and an “ambulatory health care facility” on the second (community facility bonus); there will be eight residential units on the top four floors. The architect for the project is Henry Radusky of Bricolage, so it is sure to be a worthy complement to its neighbor across the street, one of Williamsburg’s premier landmarks.



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Quadriad Blossoms

04/21/2009 | 1 Comment

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A few months ago, Brownstoner had a post wondering about the status of the Quadriad site on Bedford and North 3rd. Things were looking awfully quiet at the time, but shortly thereafter, work picked up. And they certainly have made progress since then – this morning, for the first time, the concrete and rebar could be seen sticking out above the sidewalk bridge. (Hard to see in this photo from a foggy morning, but beyond that orange netting is actual rebar rising to the sky).

Yet another project to add to the “still here” list of development projects in North Brooklyn. Given all the doom and gloom, its nice to see (certainly nicer than a derelict site or a permanent eyesore, like, say, the site immediately to the north).

[For the record, what Quadriad is building is their as-of-right scheme, which will probably come in at four to six stories. As best I know, Quadriad never filed a rezoning application for their proposed tower scheme. The as-of-right scheme (designed by RKT&B) might not be as exciting architecturally as what Stan Allen had proposed. But it is much better for the neighborhood (and far less divisive) than a ride down the slippery slope of trading off responsible development for affordable housing.]



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Wednesday Events

04/21/2009 | 1 Comment

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Wednesday (22 April) is a busy night for the civic minded.

For Earth Day, Councilmember Diana Reyna, Esteban Duran & the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn are sponsoring & facilitating a community forum on North Brooklyn’s open spaces, parks & neighborhoods. The event will take place at El Puente, 211 South 4th Street (@ Roebling) in Williamsburg, at 6:30 p.m., and is open to the public.

Further east, Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise Corporation (GREC) is hosting a meeting about the status (and state) of the Greenpoint Hospital. The City issued an RFP two years ago to redevelop a portion of the site, and in response, a proposal to develop new affordable housing and senior health facilities was submitted. To date, no action has been taken on the RFP. Word on the street is that HPD will be there to give an update on the status of the RFP process and to answer community questions. Also at 6:30, at the Swingin’ Sixties Senior Center, 211 Ainslie Street (corner of Manhattan Avenue).



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Coal Pockets!

A moment of industrial archaeology, courtesy of the ongoing demolition of the BRT Power Plant on Kent Avenue.

Kedem – Spring Cleaning or Signs of Life?

04/19/2009 | 1 Comment

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The Overbored Magic Veggie Bus sits in a (nearly) empty Kedem lot.
Giando’s and the Williamsburg Bridge are in the background.


Despite all the talk of global economic meltdown and an incredible glut of condos in 11211 and 11222, there is still a hell of a lot of building going on in these parts. Not just developers playing out the string, hoping for a turnaround or a living, breathing rental market – actual projects getting underway, and actual holes in the ground being filled (by something other than seedballs).

Might Kedem Winery be added to this list? The Kedem parking lot is located just south of Broadway on Kent Avenue – next door to Giando and across from the old Right Bank. In the past few weeks, the parking lot has become noticeably emptier. Trucks that seemed to have taken root in the asphalt suddenly disappeared. Even the Overbored magic veggie bus (above), which took up residence here for the winter, is suddenly being worked on at a (relatively) frenetic pace.

Is this a sign that the owner of the property (Rector Hylan) is about to start construction? Not clear – as best as we can tell from the DOB records, no applications have been filed for new work. The property was subject to a rezoning application which went through the ULURP process in 2006. From the looks of DCP’s status list, it appears that the only thing standing between Rector Hylan and an R7 zoning is some paperwork.

If they ever file that paperwork, Rector Hylan will have a mixed-use project similar to Schaefer Landing (its next-door neighbor). The plan is for 450 apartments, about 90 of which (20%) would be affordable, in two towers of 18 and 24 stories each with connecting buildings in between. There would be commercial use along Kent, and a waterfront esplanade (which would continue the Schaefer esplanade).



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The Grand Cornice-and-Pediment Tour

The new edition of the AIA Guide to New York Architecture is due out this Autumn, and it has room for Bob Scarano:

NORVAL WHITE, one of the great figures of New York architecture, was cruising around Long Island City a couple of months ago when he came upon an unexpected sight. On Jackson Avenue, in this still scrappy-looking section of Queens, stood a newish co-op sheathed in luminous squares of blue glass. Its designer, Robert Scarano Jr., is one of the less beloved figures among the city’s architectural cognoscenti, and much to Mr. White’s amazement, he didn’t actually hate the thing.

“It’s definitely a cut above his other stuff,” Mr. White, his lean, 6-foot-5 frame tucked into the front seat of a gray Subaru Forester, acknowledged in his plummy baritone. “It has some quality. We’ll have to include Scarano in the guide.”

Not sure which building he is talking about, but I can think of a few other Scarano buildings that deserve inclusion on design merits (and yes, there are certainly a few that deserve that deserve inclusion as poster children for the Architecture of Excess). That’s more that can be said (design-wise) for the Axis of Banal that is responsible for most what we pass by every day.

Hot Under the Collar

Several local merchants are railing against the second annual “Williamsburg Walks” event, saying that barring cars from a seven-block stretch of the avenue … every Saturday in June and July cuts into their earnings.

I’m skeptical, but Williamsburg Walks should be a boon to local business, particularly those on the avenue. If it isn’t, the organizers should make sure that it is.