Dunkin’ Donuts is setting up shop in the old Northside Pharmacy space. Halina Jankowski, owner of Northside Pharmacy (which is now on Driggs) sums it all up pretty well: “I just expected something a little more fancy or original or hip.”
And this after years of living in fear of Starbucks.
The row houses at the former Quadriad site – the longest running development saga in neighborhood history – are finally, finally finished and ready to go market. If you count the time spent trying to turn this project into a 23-story building, these row houses have been at least seven years in the making.
The row houses themselves – designed by RKT&B and Stan Allen – are very nice, particularly the way they are set back from the street to create a sort of public/private area of front yards. But $2.4 million a pop, for a house that is less than 15′ wide?
Seriously?
The area around McCarren was developed into condoland years ago (a lot of projects predate the 2005 zoning). I’d bet that the prior redevelopment, not to mention the massive rezoning of the area in 2005, had a lot more to do with the price of development sites in the area than a few million gallons of water in a pool do (as fantastic as that pool might be).
I can’t see the actual report from Eastern Consolidated, but the total volume comparison is BS. Look at $/sf (mentioned in the Crain’s report), and the areas are a lot closer (though McCarren still “wins” by 20%, not 200%).
And then decide which is the apple and which is the orange.
The agenda for Community Board 1’s Land Use Committee meeting tonight is a pretty sleepy affair – two BSA applications, both of which are retreads that the Board has heard in years past. However, there is one very important agenda item, which is a presentation by City Planning on the City’s proposed Flood Resilience Zoning Text Amendment, which modifies the zoning to allow new development to meet the new flood zone requirements.
I saw the presentation last week at CB2, and what the city is proposing is to modify the zoning to allow flood-resilient design with no (or minimal) impact on development rights. For those of you hoping that Sandy and the new FEMA flood zones will make development in Zone A impossible, this makes development possible. Actually, post-Sandy regulations don’t make development in Zone A impossible in the first place, in simple terms, they only restrict development and use at the base of buildings. These changes to the zoning will, in some case, permit taller development to compensate for the fact that ground floors now need to be flood-proofed in some manner and will no longer be usable floor area. Other modifications include not counting construction below the flood level as floor area and allowing greater amounts of rooftop mechanical area.
When: Tonight (June 25), 6:30 pm
Where: CB1 offices, 435 Graham Avenue
It could have been worse, but if you plan your weekends around the G train being in operation, make new plans:
The [MTA…] considered closing the Greenpoint tube on the G train all summer for repair work. Instead, the tunnel will be closed for 12 weekends this year. Service will be replaced with a shuttle bus between Brooklyn and Queens. The Greenpoint tube will likely be closed during the summer of 2014 for additional repairs, the official said.
Three Brooklyn buildings are to bewere calendared for Landmark designation at next Tuesday’s LPC hearing. They include the Huberty mansion on Bushwick Avenue and the former Long Island Business College on South 8th Street, as well as an 1850s frame building in Wallabout. All great buildings.
PS 71, East Williamsburg, L. I.
Photo: via ebay
Map
I’m sure Kalmon Dolgin was just fluffing their listing, as Gothamist said, but, there is a bit of historical accuracy to the moniker. Historically, there was a village just over the Queens border that was called East Williamsburg (Long Island!), as the above postcard will attest. This was completely distinct from the enlarged area of the town (and later city) of Williamsburg east of Union Avenue, which was annexed to the original town of Williamsburg (west of Union) in 1835.
