20 December 2015

Domino Sugar Factory's Tiny New Neighbor [✜]

Coming soon to 349 Kent Avenue, the vacant lot that once housed Rock Star Bar and was the original home to Pies 'n' Thighs (and long before that, the strip club Splash), will be this little building, which is all about balconies, open space and views of the waterfront. Which is a bold marketing strategy, when you consider that the views to the waterfront will soon be blocked by a pair of 50-story towers. And that any other natural light the building might ever see is blocked by abutments of the Williamsburg Bridge. But it will be a half a block from a new waterfront park.

27 May 2015

City Insists it is Still Committed to Finishing Bushwick Inlet Park [✜]

The City has a plan for finishing Bushwick Inlet Park. They're just not ready to share it with anyone.

26 May 2015

Rose Plaza is Back [✜]

Rose Plaza is back. And so, maybe, am I.

19 December 2014

New Towers for Williamsburg [✜]

I know, shocking, right?

This is actually a good overview of the current state of the Williamsburg waterfront, which is looking pretty towery. The last piece of Northside Piers started leasing this week (in case you missed the huge sign on top of the building). Developer Douglaston has also broken ground on the last of its Edge towers next door. This will complete the 2005 rezoning aspect of the Williamsburg waterfront. Domino is nearly demolished (the last of the bin structure went this week). ODA has filed plans for the first towers at Kedem Winery, which for once promises some real architecture for South Williasmburg (though the site is constrained by its zoning envelope, so the overall massing is unlikely to change).

One new (to me) piece of information from the article - Con Ed says that its North 3rd Street site will go on the market early next year. That site is zoned manufacturing, so expect a big affordable housing play there. But the site is also a great opportunity for open space, and any development should come with an extension of the waterfront esplanade to Grand Street. Further south, something seems ready to happen on the DCAS site just south of the Williamsburg Bridge. Again, a great opportunity for sorely needed open space for the Southside.

Also not shocking, development of Bushwick Inlet Park continues to lag a good ten to fifteen years behind the development curve. The city is near to signing a deal on the Motive site, a largely inaccessible plot that wraps the inlet itself. But nothing seems to be in the offing for the CitiStorage site (which may or may not be in play itself). So the likelihood of of the city living up to its promise for a real park at Bushwick Inlet - the supposed jewel in the crown of the 2005 rezoning - is pretty remote.

26 August 2014

Eliot Spitzer in Talks for Kedem Winery Site [✜]

South Williamsburg gets a dark-horse entry in the race to be the next tower on the waterfront in the ground. Though South Williamsburg is still a big long shot to beat out Greenpoint - in addition to getting a deal done, the site is occupied by Cine-Magic under what is apparently a long term lease.

11 September 2013

Heroic Williamsburg Condo Owners Reminisce on "Wild West" Days of 2011 [✜]

Via Gawker, an excerpt from a message board for parents at the Edge:

Believe it it not, two to three years ago when many of us moved into our apartments, we were pioneers and this section of Williamsburg was still the Wild, Wild West. We were surrounded by warehouses, vacant lots, empty retail stores and half-finished/abandoned condo projects.

Believe it or not, some of us can remember when the Edge was a garbage dump (literally), the waterfront was closed off to the community, and people in Williamsburg fought to make the waterfront open to all.

Good times.

4 September 2013

Fight the 40-story Towers? [✜]

According to their Facebook invitation, '40 story towers threaten the future of Greenpoint. The community has been shut out of the process. This is your chance to be heard.'

Actually, your chance to be heard was about nine years ago, when the zoning for the 40-story towers (and ton of new residential development in general) started the public review process. A lot of people fought very hard to make the community's voice heard - we could have used your help back then.