Sad – a very nice place to be, any time of the day. And the people are even nicer.
Zebulon Closing
New Waterfront Bus Route Connects Williamsburg to LIC
The MTA has finally released details on the much-needed new bus line that is to connect Williamsburg Bridge Plaza to Court Square in LIC, via the Williamsburg and Greenpoint waterfront. Needed as it may be, though, the proposed route has some problem areas. The worst appears to Wythe Avenue, which would serve as the south-bound route for buses returning from Queens. Ever since Kent went one way, Wythe has been a minor nightmare, with traffic routinely backing up from Broadway to Grand Street during the afternoon rush, as well as backups from North 6th with even the slightest congestion.
This isn’t really a “bus” problem, but rather a planning problem. For years, there have been calls for DOT to tackle North Brooklyn’s changing transportation needs in a comprehensive fashion. Instead, we’ve been handed piecemeal changes over and over again, with each change causing a knock-on effect elsewhere in the community. Absent a broader and more comprehensive approach to transportation planning in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, this new bus route – great as it may be – is in danger of being just another piecemeal change.
At Loft Conversion, City ‘Stop Work’ Order Failed to Stop It for Long
The Sweater Loft saga continues…
Above the Flooded Plain – Did New Waterfront Developments Fare Better?
Sandy’s high tide receded, and the buildings on the waterfront in Long Island City stood like sentries on the coast—dry, fully inhabited and powered up almost as though no superstorm had ever occurred.
The situation was much the same in Williamsburg, best as I can tell. The new buildings came through relatively unscathed, despite flooding around them. I don’t know if any of the new Williamsburg buildings took special measures to mitigate 100-year flood conditions, but I know that 184 Kent did, and they worked.
One caveat here (and in LIC) is that the flooding was relatively light. There was definitely flooding, but compared to what was happening across the river and in places like Red Hook and even DUMBO, we seem to have gotten the least of it. Still, like LIC, none of the Williamsburg waterfront developments had to be taken out of service.
Rethinking Building Code, Post Sandy
From the Times, some opening thoughts on revamping the building code in a post-hurricane city. The focus for now is on how to build better in a rising-sea level world, versus just not building in Zone A at all (as a rather silly recent “resolution” from Community Board 1 wants).
As the Times notes, some projects have already gone beyond the current City code requirements for construction in a flood plain, and at least one of those (a recycling plant in Sunset Park) avoided flooding during Sandy as a result. Locally, the new development on the Williamsburg waterfront has also fared comparatively very well. While the flooding on this side of the river seems to have been less severe than it was just across the river, there was flooding. But Schaefer’s Landing, 184 Kent, Northside Piers and the Edge all came through the storm much better than a lot of other newer developments. Unlike many high-rises in lower Manhattan that remain unoccupiable and will be so for months, the systems in the Williamsburg developments survived and the buildings were occupiable pretty much as soon as the evacuation orders were lifted. I know at least one of our waterfront buildings took on a substantial amount of water during the storm surge, but had storm-surge mitigation mechanisms in place that worked, thus avoiding major damage within the building.
Are there lessons to be learned from the local experience, or were we just lucky? (Some of both, I suspect.)
Getting to Work
The L train is still out, but getting to Manhattan from North Brooklyn should be a little bit easier tomorrow. The M and the J trains are both going over the Williamsburg Bridge. The J will only go as far as Essex Street, but the M will have its full route through midtown reinstated. The 7 train is also running to Manhattan, though you’ll have to a bus to L.I.C. to pick it up – the G train remains suspended (the only line completely out of commission now). The full rundown of service changes is posted at the MTA website.
If you need to get downtown, the East River Ferry is probably your best bet, what the the shortened J and no L service to Manhattan. With the exception of Greenpoint’s India Street landing, the ferry was running regular service as of today (Sunday), and they expect to have India Street open Monday morning. Expect long lines at the ferry, but if it is like last week, everyone will get on.
West Street Land Sells in Greenpoint
Another potential development site north of Greenpoint Avenue moves forward. On tap is a 35,000 square-foot development for 50 new residential units.
Greenpoint is Fancy
Gawker thinks Greenpoint is a neighborhood of “fancy upper class Brooklynites”, and liberal ones at that, that is, like Carroll Gardens now, hypocritically opposing homeless shelters.
Greenpoint Developer Wants to Build 10 Huge Towers, Giant Bridge
Vernon Avenue Bridge (demolished in 1954)
Source: Novelty Theater
It’s not exactly new news, but Gothamist has a piece up on the proposed mega-development at the top of Greenpoint. Not news because what’s proposed is exactly what the city approved in the 2005 waterfront rezoning. Aside from the proposed bridge to Hunters Point, the only real news is that it has taken so long for development to happen on the Greenpoint waterfront. No one has broken ground yet, but this is one of four projects that are actively in the pipeline. Taken together, these four projects would transform the north Greenpoint waterfront from Java Street to Commercial Street. (The same fate is in store for the southern part of the Greenpoint waterfront – why the northern projects are further along is a mystery to me.)
As for the bridge – connecting West Street to 2nd Street in Hunters Point South – it would be great to reconnect these two neighborhoods, but I’d much rather see it done the old fashioned way, running from Manhattan Avenue to Vernon Boulevard in Hunters Point. In addition to replacing an ages-old connection, a bridge at Manhattan Avenue would have the benefit of connecting two neighborhoods, not two developments.