Brooklyn 11211

The short-lived Luna Lounge on Metropolitan looks like it will soon reopen as the Knitting Factory. Good news/bad news. Its too bad that Luna didn’t make it – the old Ludlow version was a bastion of the music scene way back when, and it would have been great to see that success translate over here. Knitting Factory, on the other hand, has long been a bigger (bastionier?) bastion of NY’s downtown music scene, so it will be great to see that success translate over here. Hopefully this is a sign that music and the arts can continue to thrive in Williamsburg – all signs have been pointing in the opposite direction of late.

Brooklyn Public Library is running an exhibit of photographs by Nathan Kensinger documenting the fast-eroding industrial landscape of Brooklyn’s waterfront. Coincidentally (or not), Kensinger’s show opens on the same day that Ikea’s Red Hook store opens (the latter was responsible for the loss of the Todd Shipyard graving dock and is next door to the former Revere Sugar factory.

The exhibit runs today through 22 August, with an opening reception/meet the artist event this evening at 7:30.

Its getting rather crowded in the 33rd.

(And as yet, no competition in the 34th, next door?)

As always, a class act.

The only way to see a million-dollar sunset in Williamsburg is to own a million-dollar condo.

With all the open space that was promised as part of the Williamsburg/Greenpoint rezoning, all we have so far is a state park with no amenities that closes before sunset. But at least its A park.

So – we have an architect, an inspector and a developer charged with building-related improprieties in the space of three days. Looks like chickens are coming home to roost. Of course each is just the tip of a very large iceberg.

I wonder who is next?

Shocking.

Cheap, unskilled laborer dies at the hands of a cheap, unskilled developer. What more pathetic metaphor for the Brooklyn building boom.

And lest we forget, Lauro Ortega was a hardworking man with a life and family back in Cuenca.

The Post regales us with chart junk about the foreclosure situation in NYC, and in the process, misses the story. Their map colors Brooklyn and Queens red (danger!), and Staten Island orange (caution?), but maybe Staten Island should be the focus here.

In raw numbers, sure Queens and Brooklyn have the most foreclosures, but they also have the most housing. But on a year-to-year basis, Brooklyn’s foreclosures are up a bit over 8% – relatively speaking, good news in today’s real estate climate. Compare that to the increase in foreclosures citywide, which are up a whopping 66%. In fact, ranked among the 5 boroughs, Brooklyn has the second lowest change in foreclosures (second only to Manhattan, where foreclosures are small in number, and at least since last year, dropping).

So here’s the real story (sans fiery-colored map):

• Manhattan -8%
• Brooklyn +8.5%
• Bronx +55%
• Queens +59%
• NYC +66%
• Staten Island +412%

In the Sun, Noel Caban (a commercial real estate broker, natch) thinks that Ikea’s Brooklyn store is a harbinger of a retail renaissance for our Borough. Next up in Mr. Caban’s rose-tinted Brooklyn of tomorrow? BJ’s Wholesale.

Never mind that Ikea is as much about Manhattan as it is about Brooklyn (they’re subsidizing their own ferry service for Manhattanites; Brooklynites get an extra stop on the B61). Never mind that Brooklyn has been experiencing a grass-roots renaissance for some time now. Its all about big retail now. Let’s take a closer look at the Sun’s “evidence” for all this:

• “Later this year, Trader Joe’s will open in the former Independence Savings Bank building at the corner of Court Street and Atlantic Avenue.” It was supposed to be open by now, and given the pace of construction, “later this year” is not a mortal lock.
• “In 2009, Brooklyn’s long-awaited Whole Foods Market is scheduled to open…” Emphasis on scheduled. If TJ’s manages to open before 2011, they’re unlikely to much competition from their Gowanus neighbor.
• “Demolition work has already begun… at the Fulton Street Mall to make way for City Point… The complex will have more than 500,000 square feet of retail space” Timeline-wise, this project is behind Whole Foods. Let’s not hold our breath here, either.
• “The growth of retail into urban centers is part of a national trend… Marc Freud (another commercial real estate flack) says that ‘with the enormous interest in ‘green transportation,’ whether it be walking or cycling, Brooklyn and Queens downtown retail marketplaces are becoming the destination shopping meccas for consumers hard hit by soaring gasoline prices. It is becoming a much better economic choice to hop on the subway and do some shopping than to steer your car to the mall in New Jersey or Westchester.'” For those not riding the G train, and thus able to take a subway into Manhattan, this will be less than life-changing news.
• “Another speculator retail location is the 33,000 square feet of retail space on three levels available at the newly renovated One Hanson Place…” Which has been on the market now for three-plus years.

Look – its great that Brooklyn is attracting a really healthy range of retailers (which is clear once you get past the PR hype in the article). This “retail renaissance” is not just focused on Downtown and high-end retailers, it includes Gateway Center in East New York with over 600,000 square feet of occupied retail space. But instead of trying to turn Brooklyn into a mecca for commercial brokers, why not focus on the thousands of small retailers that are the real economic engines in many neighborhoods. And its not just the gentrifying Franklin Streets of the borough, its also the Manhattan Avenues.