DUMBO Development

[lofter1]

... Do you really think the site will remain a parking lot?

I don't understand why the general discussion has now apparently agreed that the site is "a parking lot" when little if any of it is currently in use as such.

And of course St. Ann's can move -- they're ready to and will.

But please don't use the "it's now nothing but a parking lot" argument when it ain't so.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Just sarcasm about the lost parking in the area.

[BrooklynRider]

Yes, it is. Two thirds of the frontage on Front Street is parking and its depth goes to the back of St. Ann's Warehouse on the north and the edge of the site on the east.

1.
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/th_DSCN0878.jpg (http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/?action=view&current=DSCN0878.jpg)

2.
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/th_DSCN0885.jpg (http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/?action=view&current=DSCN0885.jpg)


3.
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/th_DSCN0884.jpg (http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/?action=view&current=DSCN0884.jpg)

4.
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/th_DSCN0883.jpg (http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd121/BrooklynRiderRob/?action=view&current=DSCN0883.jpg)

[lofter1]

OK, so that would mean that ~ 1/4 of the site is currently a parking lot (which somewhat corresponds with the map shown in BR's post #247)?

[ZippyTheChimp]

What I was referring to - the terraced progression of buildings from the bridge walkway.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/6343/dumbo60.th.jpg (http://img30.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dumbo60.jpg)

[BrooklynRider]

Council Committee Approves Dock Street Project
By Ben Muessig
The Brooklyn Paper

A key City Council committee this afternoon backed — by a surprisingly wide margin — DUMBO developer Jed Walentas’s controversial bid to build a 17-story tower next to the Brooklyn Bridge, hours after Speaker Christine Quinn reportedly had given her OK.

The Council’s land-use committee voted 17–4 to support Walentas’s request for a rezoning on his Dock Street site so that he could build a 300-unit tower — which includes a public middle school and scores of units set aside as below-market-rate rentals — a project that opponents claim will forever damage views of the historic and landmarked span.

“I have to vote yes … because it’s in the best interest of the community overall,” said Councilmember Robert Jackson (D–Manhattan), speaking for many on the panel.

The support for the project came on the heels of a fiery committee hearing last week, at which several councilmembers slammed the city’s school building agency over internal e-mails that cast doubt about whether or not the city actually considered other sites for a public middle school.

At that hearing, Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens) said called one of the e-mails “the most disturbing document that I have seen in my eight years in Council,” he said.

Gioia hammered this point on Thursday afternoon, reminding his fellow committee members of the e-mail in question, denying that the missive could be understood in the larger context.

“Unless the next e-mail was, ‘Just kidding,’ I don’t know what would put that in context,” he said.

But Gioia — joined by Councilmembers Charles Barron (D–Canarsie), John Liu (D–Queens) and Tony Avella (D–Queens) — lost the larger battle to the other committee members, who did insert rare language into the rezoning that requires Walentas to make good on his promise of the middle school and the affordable units.

That addendum to the bill did not satisfy Avella.

“I am thoroughly disgusted,” he said, his face reddening like a cartoon tea-kettle.

“People are going to go by and say, ‘Who the heck allowed this building to get built?’ The Brooklyn Bridge is a national treasure. It should be protected — that is the bottom line.”

Longtime project foe Councilman David Yassky (D–Brooklyn Heights) echoed Avella’s point about the view, but continued to stress his belief that the city could get a better deal for a middle school from a different developer.

“It is clear that there are plenty of other places to build a school in [Downtown Brooklyn],” said Yassky, who task force has proposed many locations — including inside the soon-to-reopen Brooklyn House of Detention — all of which have been shot down by the School Construction Authority.

On Thursday, Walentas said he was “pleased” by the committee vote.

“It’s a great project,” he added. “We have worked hard to demonstrate that Dock Street DUMBO will be a thoughtful, contextual, positive addition to the neighborhood [that will] provide the community with a new middle school and DUMBO’s first-ever affordable housing, all in an environmentally friendly green building that respects the surrounding neighborhood and its historic character.”

The committee vote in support of the project was a rare instance when a council committee opted not to defer to the wishes of the local member, in this case, project opponent Yassky.

It would be equally rare if the full Council, which is expected to vote on the development next week, overturns such an overwhelming committee vote.

The Council approval — which the New York Observer reported on Thursday is nearly a sure thing, thanks to Quinn’s support — is the final hurdle in Walentas’s hunt for a zoning resolution that would allow him to build residential apartments on a site currently reserved for manufacturing or hotels.

Borough President Markowitz (who called for a taller and thinner building) and the City Planning Commission (which suggested a slightly shorter building with other minor alternations), have already approved the rezoning.

The Planning Commission version is the one on which the Council committee voted on Thursday.

Opponents have rallied repeatedly and compiled a list of celebrities, such as Ken Burns, Gabriel Byrne, Helen Hunt, Gary Sinise and David McCullough who object to the project.

A review by The Brooklyn Paper earlier this year revealed that very few public views of the bridge would be obscured by the tower.

But Gus Sheha, president of the DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance and an opponent of the project, was livid after the vote.

“It’s clear that this committee today sold the Brooklyn Bridge,” he said.

[BrooklynLove]

A key City Council committee this afternoon backed — by a surprisingly wide margin — DUMBO developer Jed Walentas’s controversial bid to build a 17-story tower next to the Brooklyn Bridge, hours after Speaker Christine Quinn reportedly had given her OK.

This is was surprising only to the small group opposing the project. And they still continue to spew rhetoric.

[ASchwarz]

That article is hilarious. And just because a project is "controversial" does not mean there is doubt it will get built. Every project in NY is "controversial". There is nothing one could propose that would not arouse some sort of opposition.

Tony Avella really is a cook. He makes Charles Barron sound like a distinguished statesman. The Brooklyn Bridge IS a national treasure, of course, but that means we should honor it by surrounding it with parking lots? How does a nearby school and housing sully a national treasure? Only parked SUVs properly honor this treasure?

No logic, as usual.

At least Avella is retiring from the Council. He barely won reelection, and his district is now heavily Asian (who don't exactly appreciate his anti-immigrant and anti-development stances), so he's retiring rather than running again.

[Merry]

Wow! Those clock windows are amazing.


No Need to Wear a Watch

By JOSH BARBANEL

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TIME waits for no man, certainly not during a real estate downturn in Brooklyn.

So despite the tumbling prices for trophy apartments, a striking triplex penthouse apartment in a clock tower overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge and New York Harbor has gone on the market for $25 million, more than double the highest price known to have been paid for a home in Brooklyn.

The main floor of the sleek modern apartment is dominated by four working clocks housed in four 14-foot-high round windows, which provide nearly unobstructed views (except for the clock faces) out to the four points of the compass.

The penthouse sits atop one of the tallest buildings in Dumbo, the cobblestoned neighborhood that in the 1980s sprang to life in a former industrial area between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.

The 3,000-square-foot main floor has an open living room, dining room and kitchen with 16-foot-high ceilings. A glass-walled elevator and a three-story floating staircase at the center of the space lead to smaller floors that narrow toward the top of the tower. There are three bedrooms on the 2,300-square-foot second floor (watch your head as you walk along the exterior walls), and on the floor above that, a 988-square-foot open loft with a 15-foot ceiling. Finally, up a narrow staircase at the very top of the building is a tiny windswept crow’s nest.

The apartment was created by David Walentas, the creator of the Dumbo neighborhood, in an old industrial building built by a cardboard box manufacturer. Mr. Walentas renamed the factory the ClockTower Building and converted it first into offices for the New York State Labor Department, and then, in 1998, into 124 condominiums.

Mr. Walentas kept an apartment in the building, where he lives with his wife, Jane, as well as the apartment with the clocks on the 16th floor. He negotiated a deal with the condominium board a few years ago to incorporate the tower space into the 16th-floor apartment.

The highest sale price on record for a home in Brooklyn was the $11 million sale of a house in 2006 in Gravesend, a center of the Syrian Jewish community, and the highest price paid for a condominium was the $7 million sale of a 14th-floor apartment at the ClockTower last year. That condo is now listed for sale at $8.5 million.

Mr. Walentas’s real estate company recently won approval to construct an 18-story building near the base of the Brooklyn Bridge over the objections of neighborhood residents, but Mr. Walentas said that the building would not affect the views from One Main Street, as the ClockTower is also known.

Mr. Walentas said the marketing of the ClockTower apartment was not timed to the fluctuations in the real estate market, because the apartment was a one-of-a-kind space that would appeal only to a one-of-a-kind buyer.

The buyer of the apartment need not worry about the nightmare of having four giant clocks each showing a different time. The four clocks are electronically synchronized to show exactly the same time, Mr. Walentas said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/realestate/09deal1.html?_r=1

[BrooklynLove]

That apartment is amazing but it's going to be a long long time before they find a buyer - even if there had not been an economic downturn.

[Alonzo-ny]

Jaw dropping.

[ablarc]

Do those clocks' works make any sound? Where are the works, anyway? Miniaturized in the hubs of the hands? And how do they keep them synchronized?

The hands seem to move in even one-minute increments; does that make a slight tock? Are the ratchets in each hub synchronized by radio waves?

[ZippyTheChimp]

Do those clocks' works make any sound?Hmmmm. Let me think.


Where are the works, anyway? Miniaturized in the hubs of the hands?Probably an electric motor. Maybe the hands are lightweight composite.


And how do they keep them synchronized?Master clock? GPS?


The hands seem to move in even one-minute increments; does that make a slight tock?Maybe the photographer is an obsessive-compulsive personality.

[BrooklynLove]

http://www.ny1.com/Default.aspx?ArID=103978

[Merry]

September 28, 2009

Development Watch: Inside 37 Bridge Street

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/37-bridge-001.jpg

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/37-bridge-001_restrict_width_72.jpg (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/09/inside_37_bridg.php?gallery1741Pic=1#gallery-1741) http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/37-bridge-002_restrict_width_72.jpg (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/09/inside_37_bridg.php?gallery1741Pic=2#gallery-1741) http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/37-bridge-003_restrict_width_72.jpg (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/09/inside_37_bridg.php?gallery1741Pic=3#gallery-1741) http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/37-bridge-004_restrict_width_72.jpg (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/09/inside_37_bridg.php?gallery1741Pic=4#gallery-1741) http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/37-bridge-005_restrict_width_72.jpg (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/09/inside_37_bridg.php?gallery1741Pic=5#gallery-1741)
http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/37-bridge-006_restrict_width_72.jpg (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/09/inside_37_bridg.php?gallery1741Pic=6#gallery-1741) http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/37-bridge-007_restrict_width_72.jpg (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/09/inside_37_bridg.php?gallery1741Pic=7#gallery-1741) http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/43-bridge-008_restrict_width_72.jpg (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/09/inside_37_bridg.php?gallery1741Pic=8#gallery-1741) http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/43-bridge-009_restrict_width_72.jpg (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/09/inside_37_bridg.php?gallery1741Pic=9#gallery-1741) http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/43-bridge-010_restrict_width_72.jpg (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/09/inside_37_bridg.php?gallery1741Pic=10#gallery-1741)
(click thumbnails to enlarge)

Last week we got to walk through the ongoing conversion project at 37-43 Bridge Street in Dumbo. The project is notable for its adaptive reuse of the existing six-story steel silos that remained at 37 Bridge Street from when it was a soap factory. As we saw last month in this video, the silos are being sliced up and, in some cases, repurposed to form the organizing design principal of new condominium. He catches enough crap from us and others for all the stuff he doesn't do right that we gotta give a big nod to Robert Scarano for being the architect of record on this one. (He didn't design it, but it was the brainchild of a former employee and he championed it.)

Anyway, in our opinion, the current design divides the apartments into way too many small bedrooms instead of letting to silos rule the day in larger, loftier spaces, but the approach and vision of the adaptive reuse is very laudable. In related news, the attached building at 43 Bridge Street (photos 8-10) is being turned into 3 townhouses. Also a cool idea.

Checking In at 37 Bridge Street (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/08/37_bridge_stree.php) [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 37 Bridge Street (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/02/development_wat_358.php) [Brownstoner]

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/09/inside_37_bridg.php

[Merry]

Education Department architect concludes Dock Street in DUMBO was bad site for public school

BY Erin Durkin

September 30th 2009

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/09/30/alg_dumbo.jpg

A top Education Department architect concluded the controversial Dock Street project in DUMBO was a bad site for a public school, new documents show.

"The proposal would yield an extremely small school ... with premium costs due to the mixed use with the high-rise residential building," wrote School Construction Authority architect and engineer Bruce Barrett in an internal e-mail obtained by City Councilman David Yassky (D-DUMBO).

But the city picked the site anyway - and the promise of a new middle school became a key selling point used by developers Jed and David Walentas to get approval for the 18-story apartment tower, which opponents charge will block views of the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Council voted overwhelmingly to approve the project in June.

"We know now that Dock Street did not represent the best deal for city taxpayers and the future students in the district," Yassky said. "The developer of the Dock Street property was spewing false propaganda - is there any other kind? - about the proposed school's amenities, which fall far short of SCA's standards for public schools."

Two Trees, the Walentases' company, said that changes to the space were made after Barrett's 2007 e-mail to make it more suitable for a school. The developer increased ceiling heights, added a staircase and enlarged the lobby.
But the changes didn't add any additional space to the school, the Walentases have acknowledged.

"These 'new' ... documents are two years old, and in the intervening time Two Trees has undertaken negotiations with the SCA ... that [have] resulted in an even better school for the children of Brooklyn," said spokeswoman Barbara Wagner.

Barrett also found that putting the school in a manufacturing area would create "safety, environmental and noise impacts (trucks, traffic, pollution, etc.)," and that its closeness to the Brooklyn Bridge meant there wouldn't be much daylight or fresh air.

"As with most potential school sites in New York City, the Dock Street location presents some design challenges, but the fact remains that the city will receive the land, core and shell of the building at no cost, making it a great deal for New Yorkers," said Department of Education spokesman Will Havemann.

But Yassky charged the documents are further evidence the city bent over backward to accommodate the developer instead of giving fair consideration to other spots for a school.

"Shame on the SCA for completing a deal for a school that is apparently not suitable for the students it is supposed to serve ... as a result of the shocking lack of due diligence for alternative sites," he said.


http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/09/30/2009-09-30_top_education_department_architect_concludes_.h tml

[BrooklynRider]

It might not have represented the "best" site for a school, but no one is mentioning all of the other options the story implies that they had to choose from.

[BrooklynLove]

This is just more of the same crap that made the opposition to this development so innefective in the first place. Also more of the typical crud that keeps Yassky in a meaningless political slot.

[Derek2k3]

My apologies if you don't like HDR.

The site for the school/tower is the parking lot w/ cars abutting the Bk Bridge.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2080/3692685206_58008d43b4_b.jpg
JoshDerr (http://bighugelabs.com/onblack.php?id=3692685206&size=large)

[ZippyTheChimp]

http://www.emofaces.com/en/smilies/a/anonymous-smile.gif

[BrooklynLove]

The site for the school/tower is the parking lot w/ cars abutting the Bk Bridge.

The site is actually the parcels across the street closer toward the water.

[Meatslim]

is there a higher reseolution version of this? thanks :)


My apologies if you don't like HDR.

The site for the school/tower is the parking lot w/ cars abutting the Bk Bridge.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2080/3692685206_58008d43b4_b.jpg
JoshDerr (http://bighugelabs.com/onblack.php?id=3692685206&size=large)

[Merry]

Walentas sued over slippery Dock docs

By Ben Muessig

Opponents of a planned high-rise near the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO sued to stop the project this week on the grounds that the city colluded with the developer and allowed him to expand the perimeter of his project site to take advantage of zoning perks.

The suit by the nascent DUMBO Neighborhood Foundation names the Department of City Planning, the City Planning Commission, the City Council, the Department of Education, and the School Construction Authority as guilty of improperly allowing the development company Two Trees Management to win a zoning change that paves the way for a planned 17-story project that includes a public middle school as a sweetener to seal the deal.

“There was a concerted effort to advance this project at any cost,” said Gus Sheha, a plaintiff in the case. “When you connect the dots, it’s apparent that people didn’t do their due diligence for a reason: they wanted to pass this.”

(http://www.brooklynbridgerealty.com/display.cgi?mode=display_property&id=2000) Coming just weeks after the release of documents revealing that the development’s promised middle school may have failed to meet city standards when the project was approved earlier this year, the suit alleges that the city officials “failed to fulfill their respective obligations to conduct a full, fair and objective examination of the appropriateness of including a middle school as part of the Dock Street Project as well as to conduct a full, fair and objective comparison of alternative middle school sites.”

“All evidence points towards a pattern of cooperation (if not collusion) between [the city] and Two Trees,” continued the complaint, which also cited the city’s flip flop over the need for a new middle school in the neighborhood.

The DUMBO group also accused the city of overlooking zoning regulations that could have halted developer Jed Walentas (pictured), whose project, opponents claim, will forever mar public views of the Brooklyn Bridge, though a Brooklyn Paper investigation revealed otherwise.

The group contends that Dock Street should not have qualified for as a “General Large Scale Development” — a jargony designation that gives developers of plots larger than 1-1/2 acres additional flexibility “in order to achieve a superior site plan.” But the key requirement is that all of the included plots are “designated as a tract, all of which is to be used, developed or enlarged as a unit.”

The suit claims that in order to reach the 1-1/2–acre threshold, Two Trees included properties that it doesn’t intend to raze — namely, a parcel across the street that currently houses the beloved Galapagos Art Space.

“The Galapagos Art Space is not contiguous and it’s not coming down, so it is not contributing to the new development,” said Sheha.

The suit goes on to contend that if the Galapagos plot — which is within 800 feet of the waterfront — is considered part of the Dock Street development, then the entire project should have been forced to comply with “waterfront block” regulations, which were not studied throughout the city’s land use review.

Two Trees claimed the suit was bunk.

“We complied with all of the legal and environmental requirements and properly obtained all necessary approvals from the city,” the company said in a statement.

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/41/32_41_bm_dock_st_suit.html

[Merry]

Dumbo Art Space St. Ann’s Mulls Manhattan Move

October 19, 2009

On Oct. 9, at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Dumbo, Rosanne Cash sang songs her father, Johnny, recommended she learn 36 years ago, in a concert marking the venue’s 30 years of existence. Ms. Cash also performed there in 2006. If she reappears in another three years, she will return to a venue in an entirely new location. Maybe even in Manhattan.

St. Ann’s Warehouse, the art space that has paid precisely $0 in rent since it moved into the Walentases’ 38 Water Street in 2001, is moving.

“We’d love to stay in Dumbo,” said Susan Feldman, the Warehouse’s president and artistic director. “We would love to be able to stay in Brooklyn, but we’re also going to look in Manhattan.”

St. Ann’s is being displaced by the Walentases’ controversial 17-story Dock Street residential development, which the city finally approved in June over howls of protest from some neighbors, who, despite the developer’s inclusion of a middle school, deplore the building’s height and proximity to the Brooklyn Bridge. (This month, those neighbors filed a lawsuit against the city for approving the development.)

One person the Dock Street project is not controversial with is Ms. Feldman, despite its role in her displacement. After all, when St. Ann’s first relocated to Dumbo from Brooklyn Heights in ’01, it was only planning on staying nine months. Thanks to what Ms. Feldman called the Walentases’ “enlightened development” practices, her organization has been allowed to stay on rent-free.

“The Walentases are working with us to find a space,” Ms. Feldman told The Commercial Observer. “We always knew that at some point it was going to be developed. So they’re helping us move, and they’ll support us in our move, and it’s friendly.”

Ms. Feldman has hired nonprofit specialist Paul Wolf, of Denham Wolf Real Estate Services, to scout out about 15,000 square feet of space, which, in an otherwise exceedingly tenant-friendly market, is more difficult than it might seem, given the Warehouse’s unusual space needs. Requirement No. 1: 25-foot ceilings. Requirement No. 2: columns spaced as close to 50 feet apart as possible.

Worst comes to worst, the Warehouse could buy a development site and put up a second incarnation of its current digs
.
“The building we’re in right now is fairly inexpensive to build,” Ms. Feldman pointed out. “It’s just a cinder block building.”

http://www.observer.com/2009/real-estate/dumbo-art-space-st-ann%E2%80%99s-mulls-manhattan-move#

[Merry]

January 4, 2010

EXCLUSIVE: Toll Brothers Planning Large Dumbo Project

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/205-Water-Street-0110.jpg

Huge news for Dumbo: Toll Brothers just purchased the vacant lot at 205 Water Street in Dumbo and the firm intends to build a condo on the site. The project will be the first new condo in the recently rezoned (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/08/dumbo_rezoning.php) section of the neighborhood. Toll bought the land for $8.6 million a couple days before Christmas; the deal was recorded in public records last week. David Von Spreckelsen, a senior vice president at Toll, says the company is looking to build a condo with around 70 units, but the plans are still very much in their infancy. Although the Dumbo rezoning allows for as-of-right residential development, the area is also landmarked (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/12/breaking_dumbo.php), so the developer is going to present plans to the LPC and various community groups before moving forward. Von Spreckelsen says that he hopes to start building by the end of the year. The property at 205 Water Street (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/11/waiting_for_the.php) was purchased by the HK Organization in late 2005 for $5.45 million. HK demolished the warehouse that was on the site—angering some in the community along the way—and intended to build a residential project on the land, but obviously that never happened.

DUMBO Rezoning Passed (Without Much Fanfare) (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/08/dumbo_rezoning.php) [Brownstoner] GMAP (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=205+water+street,+brooklyn,+ny&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=205+Water+St,+Brooklyn,+NY+11201&gl=us&ei=8BBCS_H-IcyutgfD4bCGCQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CAkQ8gEwAA)
Praying for the Variance Gods at 205 Water Street (http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/11/waiting_for_the.php) [Brownstoner] P*Shark (http://propertyshark.com/mason/nyc/Reports2/showsection.html?propkey=120556)

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2010/01/toll_brothers_p.php

[BrooklynLove]

This is technically Vinegar Hill but close enough. Big news for the continued expansion of renewal into Vinegar Hill. Toll Bros. has built up a huge cash position over the last few quarters and is being very conservative deploying it right now so it says a lot for their view of this area's property values over the near term to buy here now.

[Merry]

Landmarks approves two downtown projects

The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission Tuesday approved Certificates of Appropriateness for development and work on sites in two historic districts in the Downtown area.

The sites are 201 Water Street, which is part of the DUMBO Historic District, and 9 Old Fulton Street, which is part of the Fulton Ferry Historic District.

Designed by Frank H. Quinby and built in 1913, 201 Water Street is a Daylight Factory style factory building, according to the LPC website.

The LPC approved a new storefront and opening on the ground floor of the site, which is owned by Peter Forman.

Doreen Gallo, executive director of the DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance, attended the hearings and said she generally agrees with the LPC approvals.

“It’s (201 Water Street) a great space because there’s lots of windows and a beautiful skylight that covers the top of the building,” she said.

Currently 9 Old Fulton Street is a vacant lot. City records list the DUMBO Development Group LLC as the owners.

The LPC approved a four-story building with a one-story penthouse for the site.

Gallo said that architect and Brooklyn Heights Association President Tom Van den Bout represented the owners at the LPC hearing, and the plans for development appeared very reasonable.

“It seemed like a thoughtful consideration of the historic character of the Fulton Ferry Historic District and the street,” said Gallo.

Van de Bout said the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals must also sign off on the project as the site is zoned for manufacturing and it’s going to be residential.

“There’s still a few substantial hurdles to get over before construction begins,” he said.

http://yournabe.com/articles/2010/02/10/brooklyn/courier-yn_brooklyn_front_page-lpcdumbo.txt

[Merry]

Toll Brothers looks to DUMBO

After bruising Gowanus fight, the suburban McMansion developer gears up for a battle on Water Street.

By Andy Campbell

Toll Brothers may try to reach for the sky in DUMBO.

The mammoth suburban developers — fresh from a bruising withdrawal from the toxic Gowanus Canal — says it may seek to build as high as the law allows in the famously hot neighborhood between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges.

That would mean a 120-foot tower at 205 Water St. between Jay and Bridge streets.

Toll Brothers bought the lot just before Christmas for $8.6 million and needs the go-ahead from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which oversees new construction in the DUMBO Historic District.

The company is confident.

“It’s a big vacant site — people would like to see some activity there,” said Toll Brothers spokesman David Von Spreckelsen. “Our goal is to have the whole process finished by April, and start building shortly thereafter.”

He was less specific about what the 70-unit building would look like — or even if the tower would include below-market-rate apartments, which would give the developer a bonus that would allow a bulkier structure.

“We’re going back and forth on height at this point,” he said. “If there were no Landmarks Commission, we’d go to 12 stories without question.”

Von Spreckelsen didn’t comment on whether the site is a backup plan for Toll Brothers’ bid to build along the Gowanus Canal, a 575-unit development that the company says is dead (http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/14/32_14_bm_gowanus.html) if the waterway is designated a Superfund site.

The DUMBO property fronts both Plymouth and Water streets, which gives the developer plenty of options, even in a neighborhood that was rezoned to cap residential development at 12 stories last year (http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/23/32_23_bm_dock_this.html).

Getting the nod for new development has not been easy of late in DUMBO. Not only does Community Board 2 often reject residential development in the area, but the new DUMBO Historic District adds another hurdle for the developers to jump.

Toll Brothers is following in the footsteps of other big developers that have sought to build controversial projects. After a bitter fight last year, David Walentas won approval for a 17-story tower on Dock Street next to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Oddly, the Toll Brothers site was briefly linked to that Walentas project when opponents suggested 205 Water St. as a potential location for the middle school that comprised the main public amenity in Walentas’s proposal.

But the city ended up choosing Walentas (http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/12/32_12_gk_dock_school.html) to develop the middle school on Dock Street, dashing opponents’ hopes.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/toll_brothers_looks_to_dumbo_V7j3xgEJ9xxJn8U8XXRpQ N#ixzz0fsWrQ7Sz

[Merry]

Toll Brothers' Dumbo Development Shows Its Other Side

April 5, 2010, by Joey

http://cdn0.cstatic.net/cache/gallery/2787/4484755137_e2e8aa8de7_o.jpg

http://cdn0.cstatic.net/cache/gallery/2687/4485402768_83f5a76e26_s.jpg (http://cdn0.cstatic.net/cache/gallery/2687/4485402768_15254e3813_o.jpg) http://cdn0.cstatic.net/cache/gallery/2682/4493500442_1f9a7eae29_s.jpg (http://cdn0.cstatic.net/cache/gallery/2682/4493500442_2b8435f50a_o.jpg) http://cdn0.cstatic.net/cache/gallery/4054/4493500350_2277cc7aca_s.jpg (http://cdn0.cstatic.net/cache/gallery/4054/4493500350_f9a5449e84_o.jpg) http://cdn0.cstatic.net/cache/gallery/2712/4485405126_dfca28e7f6_s.jpg (http://cdn0.cstatic.net/cache/gallery/2712/4485405126_d06f93655f_o.jpg)
(click to enlarge)

Tomorrow Toll Brothers will take its application for a new 67-unit condo building at 205 Water Street in Dumbo to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which has final say over the proposed concrete and rust-colored building. Designed by architects GreenbergFarrow as a gritty homage to the formerly industrial 'hood, 205 Water Street has already given curious Dumboites a peek at its Plymouth Street facade (http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2010/03/18/toll_brothers_rusty_dumbo_condo_building_revealed. php), but in advance of the building's date with the LPC here's a look at the Water Street side (above) as well as some before-and-after shots of the site, currently a vacant lot. Any reason this proposal won't sail through the approvals process?

205 Water Street coverage (http://ny.curbed.com/tags/205-water-street) [Curbed]

UPDATE: As a commenter points out, the refreshed LPC itinerary shows that the Toll Brothers' application has been laid over. Dumbo will just have to wait a bit longer.

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2010/04/05/toll_brothers_dumbo_development_shows_its_other_si de.php

[Merry]

Bold vision for Pearl Street Triangle in DUMBO

By RICH CALDER

Here’s a sweet plan to transform DUMBO’s popular Pearl Street Triangle into a grand event space with amphitheater-like spaces that showcase the arch beneath the Manhattan Bridge and pay tribute to the area’s industrial past.

An "ideas" competition that is intended to get people interested in creating a long-term strategic plan for the Pearl Street Triangle and the use of public space in the neighborhood was sponsored by the DUMBO Improvement District.

Eight sets of designs were entered, and panelists representing both the private and public sector selected a winner during a gala event there last night.

PLANS: RENDERING 1 (http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2010/06/22/news/photos_stories/plan--section075217.jpg)
PLANS: RENDERING 2 (http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2010/06/22/news/photos_stories/View-1a075306.jpg)

The winner is “The Tracks: Ride the Rails!” by Brendan Coburn and his staff at Coburn Architecture in DUMBO.

http://www.nypost.com/r/nypost/2010/06/22/news/photos_stories/Untitled-1055737--415x215.jpg

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/pearl-triangle-coburn-0610.jpg

Here’s a description of the winning plan provided by contest officials:

“The Tracks plaza takes it’s inspiration from the myriad of rail lines that at one time weaved their way through the industrial streets of DUMBO. As these tracks emerge from beneath the pavement surrounding the triangle, they become the armature for a series of tiered seats that wind through the site to create three amphitheater-like spaces: the first, facing the Manhattan Bridge, is delineated by seating for films projected onto the masonry wall that encloses the arch beneath the bridge; the second, a performance and display space enclosed by two opposing tiers; and the third, where a low tier hugs a series of in-ground fountains. Shallow alcoves are molded underneath the higher tiers, welcoming local artists to display their creations.”

Despite the buzz over the plan, it is ultimately up to the city to determine how best to use the site.

The Pearl Street Triangle between Pearl Street and Anchorage Place was a parking lot before the city and Improvement District transformed it into a green-themed public plaza three years ago. On Sundays it is home to the Improvement District’s Farmers’ Market.

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/brooklyn/bold_vision_for_pearl_street_triangle_R9ZR5rD3M5Pl b1IaSRORqO

[ZippyTheChimp]

25 Washington St (http://dumbonyc.com/2010/07/14/25-washington-st-progress/) conversion.
http://a.imageshack.us/img521/6264/dumbo61.th.jpg (http://img521.imageshack.us/i/dumbo61.jpg/)

Water St. Technically in the Fulton Ferry historic district, but considered part of DUMBO. Street is getting major infrastructure work, and they've added new curbs, sidewalks, planters for trees. Seems likely that it will be cobble-stoned. Brooklyn Bridge Park issued RFP for the tobacco warehouse (http://www.brooklynbridgeparknyc.org/news/press-releases/brooklyn-bridge-park-releases-request) (center). Empire Stores (right) owned by the state.
http://a.imageshack.us/img409/7418/dumbo62.th.jpg (http://img409.imageshack.us/i/dumbo62.jpg/)

Almondine Bakery (http://www.almondinebakery.com/Stores.html)
http://a.imageshack.us/img401/8256/dumbo63.th.jpg (http://img401.imageshack.us/i/dumbo63.jpg/)

http://a.imageshack.us/img185/3479/dumbo64.th.jpg (http://img185.imageshack.us/i/dumbo64.jpg/)

Galapagos Art Space (http://www.galapagosartspace.com/) settled into its new home at 16 Main St. The Fulton Ferry and DUMBO historic districts abut here, but both excluded this building from the districts. Obviously altered over the years, but it's been around for over a hundred years.
http://a.imageshack.us/img594/8701/dumbo65.th.jpg (http://img594.imageshack.us/i/dumbo65.jpg/)

[Merry]

Silly furniture, which surely wouldn't make a scrap of difference to the loft's saleability (?), but magnificent view of the bridges.



$8.5 Million Dumbo Loft Now Has Chairs and Books and Stuff

November 29, 2010, by Joey Arak

http://cdn.cstatic.net/cache/gallery/5169/5218606249_89c042939d_o.jpg (http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2010/11/29/85_million_dumbo_loft_now_has_chairs_and_books_and _stuff.php)

http://cdn.cstatic.net/cache/gallery/4089/5218606309_c3974c0e13_o.jpg

There's no more sticker shock when it comes to Dumbo's One Main Street, aka the Clocktower. After all, the building's developer, David Walentas of Two Trees, put the penthouse on the market for a staggering $25 million. So what is this strange sensation we're feeling while gazing at the new $8.5 million listing for the unit downstairs, a 3BR/2.5BA condo that takes up the 14th floor? Ah, it's déjà vu! If this 3,208-square-foot loft feels familiar, that's because it is, silly. Who says you don't get a second chance to make a first impression?

Back in the summer of '09, the apartment was put on the market for that same $8.5 million price tag, just nine months after a group of investors made it Brooklyn's most expensive apartment sale at $7 million. No buyer surfaced, and the listing eventually vanished. But now it's back, which we'd normally say signals confidence in the real estate market's rebound, but it's not like the Dumbo luxury market ever really took any major lumps. So what's changed during the absence? The furniture! Last time around the listing photos were barren. Could it be that One Main's killer views aren't enough to sell the apartment on their own? While we ponder, have a look at the floorplan. We're assuming the listing's warning, "Don't forget your sunglasses," doesn't apply when staring at a computer screen.
http://ny.curbed.com/uploads/2010_11_1main.jpg
Listing: 1 Main Street, 14th Floor (http://www.sothebyshomes.com/nyc/sales/0135380#) [Sotheby's]

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2010/11/29/85_million_dumbo_loft_now_has_chairs_and_books_and _stuff.php#more

[Merry]

Empire Stores park project finally on track

By RICH CALDER

After years of failed attempts, a row of historic, 19th Century former coffee warehouses in DUMBO is finally set to become a major revenue source for Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Officials overseeing the 85-acre city park plan announced last night that they expect to begin soliciting bids from developers for the Empire Stores warehouses along Water Street in March and to choose a winner by year’s end.

The Empire Stores project is expected to bring 325,000-square feet of retail and commercial space to the park.

Under the proposed $16.1 million maintenance budget for a built-out park, Empire Stores would generate $1,075,000 of the annual revenues needed.

Much of the rest of the budget would be paid for with high-rise condos complexes, although the city is studying alternatives to building new apartments in the park.

During a meeting at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, Regina Myer, president of the city's Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corp., told members of the park’s Community Advisory Council it would up to the developer tapped to decide which type of tenants to bring to Empire Stores.

Some CAC members recommended soliciting tenants providing educational and cultural programming.

DUMBO developer David Walentas had held the rights to the Empire Stores dating back to the 1980s. But in 2002, the Empire State Development Corp., when it was overseeing the park plan, tapped rival developer Shaya Boymelgreen to develop it into a shopping mall modeled after the Chelsea Market.

But in 2005, ESDC took the site back after Boymelgreen let it deteriorate while concentrating on other developments. The ESDC then considered bringing a performing arts venue to the site, but that idea stalled in late 2007 after the buildings were declared unsafe and major renovation work became necessary.

During the CAC meeting, things got heated late when members were split over language in the new bylaws they were being asked to adopt by the city. At one point, Cobble Hill activist Judi Francis, a member, said she felt powerless and that the CAC resembled a "Kangaroo Court." Her motion to table a vote on the bylaws was narrowly rejected 11-10 with six absentees (Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy Executive Director Nancy Webster -- who has long been at odds with Francis -- had the honor of casting the deciding vote).

The bylaws were then adopted 14-7, but only after certain language was removed so the 27-member board could someday add additional seats on the CAC.

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/brooklyn/empire_stores_park_project_finally_3twp5D0wdL6gmfJ SVjpM8L

[Merry]

Bringing Up Dumbo

By JAKE MOONEY

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/05/08/realestate/20110508cov/20110508cov-custom1.jpg

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/05/08/realestate/20110508cov/20110508cov-custom2.jpg
Near the corner of Plymouth Street and Adams Street

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/05/08/realestate/20110508cov/20110508cov-custom10.jpg
The ClockTower Building at 1 Main Street and The Manhattan Bridge

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/05/08/realestate/20110508cov/20110508cov-custom12.jpg
Brooklyn Bridge Park

THE freight train tracks that snake along Jay Street on the Brooklyn waterfront were laid down in 1904, to carry coffee beans and other cargo from docks to warehouses. Freight service shut down in 1959, decades before anyone dreamed of calling the area Dumbo. It was the end of an era in a neighborhood where eras come and go with increasing speed.

Since industry left the waterfront, Dumbo — Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass — has variously been a deserted no-man’s-land, a haven for artists, a hip loft destination and a target of upscale developers.

Now the next chapter is being written. In recent years, debates about the neighborhood’s future have brought about designation of a historic district and a rezoning of the eastern end, designed in part to encourage residential growth. Old commercial buildings continue to be converted, and several major construction projects are in the works, including one in the historic district from the giant builder Toll Brothers. Prices and rents in the neighborhood are among the highest in Brooklyn, and the city as a whole.

Dumbo’s indigenous warehouses have become home to advertising, design and creative companies like the online crafts marketplace Etsy, whose young workers have brought activity to the quiet cobblestone streets in the shadows of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.

And the waterfront has once again become a destination — not just for commerce, but also for recreation, with the expansion of Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Longtime residents have mixed reactions to the changes. “It was cool in the ’80s,” said Doreen Gallo, the executive director of the Dumbo Neighborhood Alliance, a residents’ group. “It was very cool in the ’90s.” Now, she said, “it’s different.”

Many of the artists who lent the neighborhood its character have been forced to move, she said, and historic buildings have been lost. On the other hand, the rezoning, which many preservationists opposed, has delivered residents, businesses and cultural institutions.
The contention of some critics that the 2007 historic district designation would stifle development has not been borne out. In one prime corner of the historic district, Two Trees Development, which was behind Dumbo’s earliest luxury buildings, has converted an office property at 25 Washington Street to 106 rental units. It opened this month.

Three blocks east, at 205 Water Street, Toll Brothers is erecting a 65-unit condo, the first new building in the historic district. Across the street at 192 Water, Hamlin Ventures and Alloy Development are converting an 1887 tea warehouse into nine loft units. And a few yards away, GDC Properties is making a pair of century-old historic buildings into a 200,000-square-foot mixed-use project with a ground-floor restaurant and 146 rental units.

Finally, around the corner at 37 Bridge Street, and still in the historic district, Halstead Property Development Marketing is selling 45 condominium units called Kirkman Lofts. Carved out of a soap factory, the building has steel silos that were incorporated into the design.

These simultaneous projects have created a wide construction zone at Dumbo’s eastern border, Ms. Gallo said. Referring to the Water Street buildings, she added, “It’s very difficult for the community that it’s happening, but at the same time there’s something really great about these projects.”

In each case, she said, the developers were sensitive to historical concerns, and had worked closely with city preservation officials.

A renovated section of Brooklyn Bridge Park between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges is to open this summer, and another new stretch is planned for the foot of Jay Street. Eventually, plans call for the park to link many isolated areas of Brooklyn’s waterfront.

David Von Spreckelsen, the division president of Toll Brothers City Living, said the company was hoping to develop more properties in Dumbo. He predicted that the growth of Brooklyn Bridge Park would be a “huge factor” in improving the quality of life in Dumbo.

“The park will really change it,” he said. “When I moved to the neighborhood 12 years ago, people would still come down Main Street and dump garbage and drive off.”

It can seem that everyone who arrived in Dumbo in the postindustrial period has a tale of urban squalor. Aaron Shapiro, the chief executive of Huge, a digital marketing and design agency founded in the neighborhood in 1999, said that in the company’s early years, security guards escorted female employees to the subway at night.

Now, Huge employs 275 people spread across four floors at 45 Main Street, and Mr. Shapiro said the days when its location presented a challenge were a distant memory.

“Back then,” he said, “there was convincing people to come to the neighborhood. Now, there’s no convincing. People want to come here, and it’s tremendously attractive for employees.”

Many of those employees commute, often by bike, from nearby neighborhoods like Fort Greene and Williamsburg, which makes for a vivid and multidirectional rush hour. Others have made Dumbo their home.
“You have this wonderful flow in the morning, where you have the cultural creatives stomping in, and the residents on their way out to their jobs in Manhattan,” said Mitch Baranowski, a founder of BBMG, a branding firm that moved to Dumbo from Union Square about a year ago.

BBMG is one of several companies that set up shop in the neighborhood as it blossomed into one of Brooklyn’s leading office districts. Etsy moved its headquarters and about 50 employees to 55 Washington Street in 2009; since then it has grown to 175 employees.

The clothing retailer Brooklyn Industries moved its headquarters to 20 Jay Street last summer. It opened a 2,200-square-foot store on Front Street, the neighborhood’s main retail strip, in March.

The companies join agencies including Carrot Creative, Big Spaceship and Brooklyn Digital Foundry in a loosely organized community of office tenants, many of whom take part in regular workshops and mixers organized by the site Digital Dumbo.

Part of the neighborhood’s allure for companies, Mr. Shapiro and Mr. Baranowski said, lies in amenities like the park, restaurants and bars like Superfine and reBar, and stores like Jacques Torres Chocolates and Almondine bakery.

In turn planners hope that the neighborhood’s growing office and residential core will feed area businesses.

Recent condominium developments like Beacon Tower, a 79-unit building completed in 2006, and the J Condominium, with 267 units, finished the following year, brought an influx of residents. Managing even more growth was one of the Department of City Planning’s goals in rezoning roughly a dozen blocks at the neighborhood’s eastern end for residential development.

“I think that’s the place where there’s potential for new development,” said Mr. Von Spreckelsen of Toll Brothers. “Because if you look at the area between the bridges, most of it is built already and fully occupied.”

Mr. Von Spreckelsen said that units on the Vinegar Hill side of the neighborhood will sell and rent for slightly less than those in the Two Trees buildings at its center. Sale prices, the company has said, will be in the range of $800 per square foot.

At 37 Bridge Street, whose completion is expected at summer’s end, one-bedrooms and studios are on the market for $555,000 and up, and two-bedrooms start at $625,000. The building also includes three- and four-bedroom units with asking prices as high as $1.6 million.

In established Two Trees buildings near the area’s heart, like 1 Main Street and 70 Washington Street, asking prices for one-bedrooms are solidly above $1 million — closer to $2 million at 1 Main, which is nearer to the water, and occasionally below $1 million at 70 Washington. A 2,139-square-foot two-bedroom apartment at 1 Main Street is on the market for $2.2 million, and a two-bedroom, 1,384-square-foot unit at 70 Washington is listed at $1.35 million.

At the J Condominium, 100 Jay Street, which went up just before the rezoning and landmark designation, prices are lower: A two-bedroom unit on a high floor is for sale for $1.149 million, a one-bedroom for $560,000. One-bedroom rentals in the building start at $2,500 a month.

At 25 Washington — known as Gair2, after an early Dumbo landowner — the smallest one-bedroom units, just under 500 square feet, will rent for around $2,400 a month, said Asher Abehsera, the head of sales and rentals at Two Trees. Larger one-bedrooms will start at $2,900, and 900-square-foot two-bedrooms will be $3,950 and up. The building has a 2,500-square-foot roof deck looking out over Brooklyn Bridge Park and the East River, and its most expensive unit, a two-bedroom with a private terrace, has already rented for $4,800 a month, Mr. Abehsera said.

Regardless of location, the neighborhood’s landmark status and its dearth of empty development sites complicate matters for builders. The two most prominent vacant plots are parking lots owned by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Also known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the society is headquartered just outside the neighborhood but has been moving many of its operations upstate in recent years. One of the lots, at 85 Jay Street, was rezoned for a large mixed-use development, but that project never materialized.

The preservation ethos remains strong in the area. A city plan to subsume the shell of a 19th-century tobacco warehouse and another neighboring building into Brooklyn Bridge Park, with the goal of redeveloping them, was derailed when a judge ruled against it in April. Another project that drew vocal opposition, a Two Trees building on Dock Street next to the Brooklyn Bridge, remains unbuilt, though the City Council approved it in 2009.

The struggle leading up to that vote was a bruising one, a fact that Ms. Gallo, of the neighborhood alliance, sees as illustrating the mixed results achieved through preservation efforts. On one hand, she called the landmark designation a “miracle.” On the other, she added, “by the time you become a historic district,” many of the buildings in the district have been demolished or altered.

Still, although the historic designation allows developers to add on to historic buildings like 25 Washington, and to request city permission for even greater changes, including demolition, it also requires them to get approval for construction and design plans.

Thomas Brennan of the Rinaldi Group, the general contractor on the 220 Water Street warehouse conversion project in the historic district, said work there had involved putting in wood-framed windows with real muntins, or separations between panes of glass. That touch, which was required by the historic district, was expensive, he said. But he acknowledged that those same details tended to draw more money from buyers and renters.

At the Toll Brothers site, the architect Navid Maqami, a principal at GreenbergFarrow, said that approval from the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission came relatively quickly — and that historic district requirements, and the industrial surroundings, had served as an inspiration.

“We were interested in that whole unfinished rawness of the neighborhood, and reflecting that,” he said.

The neighborhood, of course, is far less raw than it used to be — and far more finished.

The train tracks and Belgian blocks in the streets now have landmark protection, and merchants and residents say the area seems as busy as ever. And even though the shoreline may not be the commercial destination that it once was, Dumbo’s new creative businesses have found it to be a boon in a different, less tangible way.

“Just to be able to get to the water and think, walk and talk,” said Mr. Baranowski of BBMG; “how do you put a value on that?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/realestate/08cover-dumbo.html?_r=1

[Merry]

Water Street. Lovely.

http://cdn.brownstoner.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/belgian-blocks-water-street-080111.jpg

http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2011/08/belgian-blocks-now-in-dumbo-streets/?stream=true

[BrooklynLove]

Second mention I've seen of this development in the month of August, so I feel ok getting excited now. So excellent for Vinegar Hill.

http://brooklynpaper.com/stories/34/31/all_bbpopedgallo_2011_8_5_bk.html
The John Street site should remain public — a great open space to see the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges together on the waterfront. With the power plant closing this year, we should be looking at this site in its entirety up to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and not be thinking about the immediate real estate greed of the present administration.

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=10&id=45386
For the longest time, the precious waterfront from Jay Street to the Navy Yard has been the site of a large and ugly electric power plant owned by Con Edison. It used to be the major source of steam heat for much of Manhattan. None of the new buildings in Manhattan use steam heat, and the need for this plant has diminished.
Believe it or not, Con Ed is going to tear that old rattletrap down, much to the delight of Vinegar Hill residents.
Park leadership has had some preliminary discussions with Con Ed about the site. No one is saying anything right now. It will take awhile to dismantle the plant; environmental surveys will surely have to be done, and finances will have to be calculated.

[BrooklynLove]

Adios beeatch!!
13824

[RoldanTTLB]

So, yeah. I'm happy to see this go. That said, the only thing putting more park here does is prop up the values of DUMBO homes by preventing new construction. The city as a whole would benefit from more housing options here at a lower cost. Put the park around on the water, and give it public access, but this should all be built out along with the rest of DUMBO. This is a neighborhood begging for additional density (there's still too many surface lots). Again, don't let the residents bar the door after they get through.

On a lighter note, I'm planning a walk-around of DUMBO to hit on all the current work going on. TONS of new Belgian block on Washington St as well as massive progress on is it 205 Water? And the Carousel Pavilion too.

[Merry]

Video tour of the Clocktower, furnished by Esquire and complete with gorgeous Aussie chick :cool:...alas, not me :(.


http://dumbonyc.com/2011/10/31/video-tour-of-the-esquire-apartment/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DumboNyc+%28Dumbo+NYC%29

[RoldanTTLB]

Oh, the new belgian block is in on Wash. Holy crap. I can't even begin to imagine how many millions over even plain block it cost. I'll try to grab photos at some point, but it's just gorgeous. Clocktower was heavily featured on the newest Selling NY as well.

[Derek2k3]

I saw that as well, could you believe the brokers acting as if Brooklyn was some foreign land.

[infoshare]

I 'like' that: and the apartment is amazing too!

[Derek2k3]

Second mention I've seen of this development in the month of August, so I feel ok getting excited now. So excellent for Vinegar Hill.

http://brooklynpaper.com/stories/34/31/all_bbpopedgallo_2011_8_5_bk.html
The John Street site should remain public — a great open space to see the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges together on the waterfront. With the power plant closing this year, we should be looking at this site in its entirety up to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and not be thinking about the immediate real estate greed of the present administration.

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=10&id=45386
For the longest time, the precious waterfront from Jay Street to the Navy Yard has been the site of a large and ugly electric power plant owned by Con Edison. It used to be the major source of steam heat for much of Manhattan. None of the new buildings in Manhattan use steam heat, and the need for this plant has diminished.
Believe it or not, Con Ed is going to tear that old rattletrap down, much to the delight of Vinegar Hill residents.
Park leadership has had some preliminary discussions with Con Ed about the site. No one is saying anything right now. It will take awhile to dismantle the plant; environmental surveys will surely have to be done, and finances will have to be calculated.

Maybe they could build a ferris wheel here. Great views of Midtown, the harbor, the bridges and the navy yard. Considering how sparsely populated that area is and its distance from the subway, just building another manicured passve recreation space might not be so economical. There should be some attraction to get people there and a ferris wheel will work well with the carousel further south.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6096/6289682289_ebf7a623fa_b.jpg
jackiew (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackiew/6289681661/sizes/l/in/photostream/)


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6109/6289681661_16910abb07_b.jpg
jackiew (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackiew/6289681661/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
Only New York would put a round carousel in a box.


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6109/6289682143_80f8ecec8a_o.jpg


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6214/6289681767_3c7d58b011_b.jpg
jackiew (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackiew/6289681767/sizes/l/in/photostream/)


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6232/6289681869_c7b05a1e3b_b.jpg
jackiew (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackiew/6289681869/sizes/l/in/photostream/)


Not impressed because she wants to ride a ferris wheel.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6239/6290201560_a1e895f7e3_b.jpg
jackiew (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackiew/6290201560/sizes/l/in/photostream/)

[ramvid01]

^^ That carousel permanent or a temporary attraction?

[scumonkey]

permanent:
http://janescarousel.com/

[RoldanTTLB]

Followup on the Belgian Block. The city just put aside an ADDITIONAL $20m for more of it. I don't know how much of the rest of DUMBO that'll do, but you could probably pave the entire neighborhood with fresh asphalt for less than the additional $20m. I don't mind, but I find it intriguing. Our street just got milled and repaved, and apparently it used to be truly gorgeous belgium block up until the streetcar terminus (also gone). Repaving it was, though. Came out pretty nice all the same.

[mariab]

This is a grand lobby. Looks like a hotel.

Inside one of New York City's best lobbies

DUMBO’s 220 Water St. has a grand entrance and spacious apartments

By Jason Sheftell (http://wirednewyork.com/authors?author=Jason Sheftell) / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Friday, May 4, 2012, 12:40 PM
Updated: Friday, May 4, 2012, 12:40 PM

Print (http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/york-city-best-lobbies-article-1.1072631?print)

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1072625.1336148717!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/image.jpgJeff Bachner for New York Daily News

Ceilings as high as 30-feet create a soaring lobby at 220 Water.



It’s rare for a lobby to seal the deal, but the soaring 30-feet ceilings under a glass atrium at DUMBO’s 220 Water St. make this one of New York City’s grandest entrances. At 100 by 40 feet, with gray limestone floors, it echoes.

Developed by GDC Properties and designed by New York-based Perkins Eastman (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Perkins+Eastman), the conversion of this 135-unit loft rental building on the eastern edge of the neighborhood stretches across two distinct structures separated by an old courtyard. Rather than keep the outdoor space at the 1893 Hanan & Son shoe factory, the architect and developer decided to turn it into a giant amenity.
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1072627!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/image.jpgJeff Bachner (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Jeff+Bachner) for New York Daily News

Adam Ginsburg (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Adam+Ginsburg) of GDC Properties.


The lobby has a coffee bar, wall-mounted water feature, full-service concierge, free WiFi and lounge area. Light gray limestone tiles, original brick and vaulted windows give the feel of being ¬inside an old candy factory. Because of the long hallways and distinct layouts, some with home offices, all with high 12-foot ceilings and industrial windows, there is a sense of adventure when touring the building. If an Oompa Loompa had jumped out, we wouldn’t have been surprised.
“This is actually two structures built at two different times by the same company,” says Adam Ginsburg, co-chairman of GDC Properties, the project’s developer. “As a result, half the building is concrete construction, the other half is wood construction. Both make for great lofts. The original construction is so solid you can’t hear a thing when you’re in these apartments.”
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1072630!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/image.jpgJeff Bachner for New York Daily News

The loft apartments feature ample kitchen layouts.


Units are spacious. The hallways are double-wide, and with white walls, hardwood floors, beamed ceilings, walk-in closets and concrete columns, all the homes feel like true lofts. DUMBO, though, is not inexpensive. Studios rent for $3,175, one-bedrooms for $3,450 and two-bedrooms for $5,700. Amenities include a gym, child’s room and roof deck with Manhattan views and barbecues with a working fireplace. The harbor views are better than most, especially at this relatively low height.
“We’re design-conscious,” says Ginsburg. “We pay attention to what to put on a roof, where to place an outlet, and walk-in closets. We hold on to our properties. We have to build them right. The ultimate goal is to attract quality residents and make it hard to leave.”
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1072624!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/image.jpgJeff Bachner for New York Daily News

The lobby also has a water feature.


This part of DUMBO, near Vinegar Hill, has never been a destination location. The luxury developers stayed away. Until now. Toll Brothers’ 205 Water, from its City Living division, has seen fast and steady sales. Kirkman Lofts around the corner attracted buyers with a strong American theme. One-bedrooms there are available for $755,000. There are warehouse buildings ripe for conversion, and a full-block empty lot owned by the Jehovah’s Witnesses church.
Some say it’s far from DUMBO proper or Brooklyn Bridge Park. We like the distance. It feels like Tribeca or the Meatpacking District 15 years ago. Look at those prices now. Go to 220water.com for more.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/york-city-best-lobbies-article-1.1072631#ixzz1twkM1Oh8

[Merry]

Wanted: developer for historic Dumbo site

After legal battle, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp. is finally issuing a request for proposals to develop the long-vacant Empire Stores along the waterfront.

By Amanda Fung

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/storyimage/CN/20120928/REAL_ESTATE/120929898/AR/0/Empire-Stores.jpg&q=80&MaxW=320 (http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/storyimage/CN/20120928/REAL_ESTATE/120929898/AR/0/Empire-Stores.jpg&q=100&MaxW=800)
Julienne Schaer
(click to enlarge)

Developers will finally get a chance to transform Brooklyn Bridge Park's historic Empire Stores, a group of former coffee warehouses along the Dumbo waterfront, into a bustling commercial and retail development.

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp., the entity responsible for overseeing the planning, building and maintaining the park, will issue a request for proposals Friday seeking a developer to redevelop the long vacant site comprised of seven contiguous brick and timber buildings on a 72,000-square-foot plot of land. The buildings, which contain roughly 327,000 square feet of space and range from four to five stories high, are bounded by Water, Main and Dock streets and Empire Fulton Ferry Park. Jane's Carousel operates nearby. Submissions are due Dec. 10, and a winner is expected to be selected during the summer of 2013.

"The adaptive reuse of the warehouses is something very important to us," said Regina Myer, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp. "It has been vacant for over 50 years, and that is a shame because it is a historical resource. We want to put in place a long-term plan to preserve the building."

The selected developer will sign a 96-year lease. A developer would be able to add 70,000 square feet to the existing structures and build one-to-two stories up, according to David Lowin, vice president of real estate at Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp., adding that significant interior work would have to be done. That includes installing new floors and bringing the property up to city building codes.

Revenue generated from the redeveloped Empire Stores will go toward the overall maintenance of the entire 85-acre park. Annual upkeep of the park is estimated to cost $16 million once it is complete. "It is one of our goals to ensure we have funds to operate the park," Ms. Myer said.

Development of the Empire Stores and nearby Tobacco Warehouse only became possible earlier this year when the city settled a lawsuit filed by preservationists and community groups over the legality of taking parkland (http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20120521/REAL_ESTATE/120529993). Under the settlement, new parkland would be created below the Manhattan Bridge and added to Brooklyn Bridge Park allowing for the development of the two sites. A few months after the deal was reached, a state law to remove it as parkland was signed in July, and now the National Park Service is reviewing the development plans for final approval. Ms. Myer expects the green light to come in before a developer is selected; the winning developer won't be able to sign the lease until such approval is granted.

This will be the second time Empire Stores, which was owned by the Arbuckle Brothers who used it for coffee bean storage in the 1920s, will be poised for redevelopment. In the early 2000s, when the site was still owned by a state entity, developer Shaya Boymelgreen, who ran into trouble in the recent real estate collapse, was selected to revive the site, but he decided to focus on projects outside of the city so plans were dropped. The warehouses have been left vacant and in disrepair since the 1950s.


http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20120928/REAL_ESTATE/120929898#ixzz27pC7Aw7Y

[Merry]

Here are 10 Proposals for Dumbo's Empire Stores Buildings

by Sara Polsky

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The Empire Stores coffee warehouse buildings on Dumbo's Water Street are headed for a makeover so that they can contribute to the filling of Brooklyn Bridge Park's coffers. The park issued an RFP (http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2012/09/28/dumbos_empire_stores_finally_getting_redevelopment _turn.php) in late September for developers interested in leasing, restoring, and running commercial/retail spaces in the seven landmarked buildings, and a winning plan will be chosen this summer. In the meantime, Brownstoner (http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2013/04/proposals-for-historic-empire-stores-are-online/) spotted the RFP responses on the Brooklyn Bridge Park website (http://www.brooklynbridgepark.org/about-us/brooklyn-bridge-park/project-approvals-presentations); there are 10 major proposals (with no developer names given, alas).

The warehouses contain about 398,760 square feet of space that can be used once the buildings are redeveloped, and the developer must respect "the architectural and historic significance of the resource." The plans show everything from restaurants and cafes to a gallery to sports, home design, and apparel retail to offices and event spaces. Check out the renderings from each team in the gallery above.

Proposals for Historic Empire Stores Are Online (http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2013/04/proposals-for-historic-empire-stores-are-online/) ['Stoner]
Project Approvals and Presentations (http://www.brooklynbridgepark.org/about-us/brooklyn-bridge-park/project-approvals-presentations) [Brooklyn Bridge Park]

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/04/12/here_are_10_proposals_for_dumbos_empire_stores_bui ldings.php

[Visionist]

What's needed here is a rooftop pool looking out over the bridges. Make it public for extra brownie points.

Sydney has one:

17206