March 9, 2010

Closing Bell: Ground Broken at Luna Park 2.0

Via a tweet today from Coney shopkeeper extraordinaire Lola Star, visual (albeit blurry) evidence that work has started on the new incarnation of Luna Park. Makes sense, given that they're shooting for a Memorial Day opening.

Building of the Day: 349 Park Place

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The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy.

Address: 349 Park Place, corner of Underhill Ave.
Name: Mount Prospect Laboratory, now Community School District 13 offices
Neighborhood: Prospect Heights (Prospect Heights Historic District)
Year Built: 1938
Architectural Style: Moderne
Architects: Aymar Embury II

Why chosen: The Laboratory was built by the Dept. of Water Supply, Gas & Electric, of the City of NY to test water samples from the city’s reservoirs and waterways. Built at the end of the Depression with WPA funds, it replaced a lab built for the same purposes in 1897. It remained the main testing lab in the city until the 1960’s. The Board of Ed has had it ever since, and it is now offices. Embury was one of the giants of NYC public works, designing or supervising the building of the Triborough Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel, Orchard Beach, Prospect and Central Park Zoos, Bryant Park, and McCarren Play Center, all under Robert Moses. GMAP

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Development Watch: 324 Grand Avenue

The last time we checked in on 324 Grand Avenue, the ugly-brick rental building between Lexington and Greene Avenues in Clinton was just starting to poke its head above the construction fence. Now, as of last week, it's got all of its windows and balconies. This place is being built by the same developer who put up this rental across the street in 2006. Compared to that place, this new building at least gets props for the bigger windows; credit also for lining up the facade with the adjacent building.
Development Watch: 324 Grand Avenue [Brownstoner]
Heinous Bricks Confirmed at 324 Grand Avenue [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 324-328 Grand Avenue [Brownstoner]
324 Grand Avenue Status Check [Brownstoner] GMAP
SWO for 324 Grand Avenue [Brownstoner] P*Shark DOB
Development Watch: 328 Grand Avenue [Brownstoner]
328 Grand: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow [Brownstoner]
Razing 328 Grand: What a Waste [Brownstoner]

Streetlevel: Locavore Restaurant to Replace Cafe on Clinton

A month ago, we wondered aloud what the heck was going on with Cafe on Clinton, the formerly-beloved-but-now-forsaken neighborhood spot at 268 Clinton Street in Cobble Hill. The restaurant had sat, ghost-town-like, since the New Year with tables set but doors locked. Now we have the full story: A new restaurant under new ownership is taking over. To be called Breuckelen, the new spot will be a locavore "field to fork" experience. According to the owner, the menu will most likely have a Roman's-esque three-course approach (apps, small pastas, mains) and include ingredients from the garden that will soon be planted out back and on the roof of the one-story building. Weekdays there will be lunch geared toward the stroller set plus dinner, and on the weekends the standard brunch-and-dinner combo. Seems to us this should be a great fit and much-welcomed addition to the neighborhood. GMAP

From the Forum: Porcher Sinks and Toilets

I'm redoing a bathroom, and am looking at buying a Porcher sink and toilet, but I'm not that familiar with...More >

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Factoid of the Day

Did you know that Stella Artois is our most popular beer in Brooklyn?

House of the Day: 17 Garden Place

This charming townhouse at 17 Garden Place was on the market for a couple of months last fall with a price that started with the number 4. After taking the winter off, the single-family home has been re-listed as a co-broke for $3,700,000, which brings the price per square foot under the $1,000 mark. While not quite one-of-a-kind, the house is pretty darn unusual and special and has clearly had a spare-no-expense renovation. Do you think the price is in the ballpark now?
17 Garden Place [Brown Harris Stevens]
17 Garden Place [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark

Co-op of the Day: 60 Plaza Street East, #3D

The whole stuffed animal thing is pretty weird, but maybe it's a brilliant stroke of marketing genius on the part of Arlene Greendlinger since it gets our attention! Cat or no cat, this studio at 60 Plaza Street East is one of the cheaper apartments you'll be able to find so close to the park (on this side of the park). It's certainly nothing fancy, but with a maintenance of $633 and an asking price of $249,000, this may be just the ticket for a single person on a budget.
60 Plaza Street East, #3D [Arlene Greendlinger] GMAP P*Shark

Restaurant of the Day: Madina

We've seen a lot of positive reviews for this Pakinstani spot. Sarah DiGregorio for the Village Voice says, "My favorite item at Madina is a popular Pashtun dish that was brought to Pakistan by Afghans. That's the flat, spicy chapli kebab, which comes with a generous amount of salad... Madina serves many other kinds of kebabs, and there's also a steam table loaded with the usual suspects (saag, lamb korma, mixed vegetable curry), made unusually well. Get an enormous plate of rice and three meat or veg dishes, which could serve two."

Chowhound JackS has been going to Madina for years and thinks the food has recently gotten better: "The samosa chat stands out for me as a delicious combination of spices with a hint of sweetness... I also got a lamb dish that I liked a lot as well, with a nice tender lamb in a spicy sauce." Flatbush Vegan likes the place, too: "For $7 you get a huge plate with a ton of rice and your choice of three vegetables, plus roti bread and a really small side salad... You also have to get a samosa or two (or three). They are other worldly." How would you rate Madina?

Flea Blog: BFF of the Week - Tetsuhi

Who doesn't love a good ol' orange hanging lamp? Check out bro and sis Joe Heidecker (Jaybird Antiques) and Pat...More >

Ellis Restaurant and Bar Has Closed

On the morning of February 28th, workers at Ellis Restaurant and Bar in South Slope Brooklyn found out they no longer had jobs via giant pad lock on the doors. (New blog Greenwood Frame confirms the suddenness of the move.) After months of unpaid rent and disputes with the landlord, Ellis Restaurant and Bar is no longer in business. The place was open just shy of two years. It never quite found it’s footing in South Slope, feeling more like it belonged somewhere on the Upper West Side. The opening of the bar South next door a few months back, with its more relaxed jukebox and free popcorn environment, seemed to also deal a blow to Ellis. The space Ellis is leaving behind is enormous; it will be interesting to see if a food or beverage establishment can survive in it. GMAP

Last Week's Biggest Sales

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1. BROOKLYN HEIGHTS $4,059,000
10 Schermerhorn Street GMAP
This 2-family, 5,000-sf brick house hit the market in November '08 with an asking price of $4,495,000. The price was lowered to $4,250,000 in April of last year, according to PropertyShark. Entered into contract on 1/22/09; closed on 2/25/10; deed recorded on 3/3/10.

2. PARK SLOPE $2,950,000
591 2nd Street GMAP
We fell in love with this perfectly appointed 1-family, 4,660-sf limestone home and made it House of the Day back in September, when it was listed at $3,200,000. Entered into contract on 11/24/09; closed on 2/23/10; deed recorded on 3/4/10.

3. DUMBO $2,940,000
1 Main Street; 12A GMAP
This 2,198-sf loft is located in the Dumbo Clocktower building, below one of the most expensive apartments on the Brooklyn market. According to StreetEasy, this space sold for $2,570,000 in 2006. Entered into contract on 2/5/10; closed on 2/23/10; deed recorded on 3/3/10.

4. CARROLL GARDENS $2,005,000
396 Sackett Street GMAP
This 4-family brownstone was an Open House Pick back in June, when the asking price was $2,375,000. Entered into contract on 8/26/09; closed on 2/18/10; deed recorded on 3/3/10.

5. BROOKLYN HEIGHTS $1,551,000
166 Montague Street; 8A GMAP
Located in the Franklin Trust building, this "3 bedroom, 2.5 bath apartment [has] high ceilings, over-sized windows, Brazilian cherry hardwood floors, individually controlled heating and air-conditioning, Viking designer kitchen appliances and spa-like baths," according to the listing on StreetEasy. Entered into contract on 6/1/09; closed on 1/8/10; deed recorded on 3/4/10.

Photos from Property Shark.

From the Forum: Timeframe to Renew Lease?

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Walkabout: Millionaire’s Row - St. Marks Ave.

Dean Sage House, corner of Brooklyn Avenue and St. Marks Avenue. Crown Heights North. Russell Sturgis, architect.1870. (NY Public Library)

Every well to do neighborhood has a street, or maybe more than one, that is THE desired address. In Manhattan, that may be Park Ave, or Sutton Place. In Brooklyn, in the late 19th and early 20th century, Clinton Hill had Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn Heights; Pierrepont Street, or Columbia Heights. Stuyvesant Heights had Stuyvesant Avenue, and nearby, in the southern part of Bedford, was St. Marks Avenue.

The story of the development of Brooklyn cannot be properly told without the inclusion of the advances in transportation. By the mid 1800’s, parts of Brooklyn were gaining reputations as desirable suburban retreats. In 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge opened, making travel between Brooklyn and Manhattan possible for businessmen who wanted to live far from their lower Manhattan offices and warehouses. Clinton Hill became a wealthy neighborhood with the mansions of the newly rich; the merchants, inventors, financiers, and their lawyers building large estates on Clinton Avenue. Park Slope, with its mansions on Prospect Park West and Eighth Avenue, near Prospect Park, followed several years later. By this time, horse drawn trolleys and omnibuses ran regularly up Flatbush Avenue and down Fulton Street, electrified by the late 1990’s. However, it was the advent of the King’s County Elevated Railroad, beginning at Fulton Landing, running along Fulton St, and extending to East New York, by 1889, that was responsible for the rapid growth of Bedford, Stuyvesant Heights, and what is now known as Crown Heights North. By the 1890’s, large mansions and homes were springing up between Pacific and Sterling, Bedford and Kingston. This area became known as the St. Marks District, and St. Marks Avenue was its most expensive and desirable address.

Continue reading "Walkabout: Millionaire’s Row - St. Marks Ave."

Scarano's Bigger Sin?

"By dodging the rules, Scarano violates a commandment that architects don't take, but should: first, do no harm. But his bigger sin is not just squeezing in slightly bigger buildings. It's that he is fundamentally guilty of arrogant disdain for the city fabric, from the much-mocked "Finger Building" on North 8th Street in Williamsburg to the crassly insensitive gray splinter of a tower at 52 East 4th Street on the Bowery. New York has always grown upward, of course, but a tall building has to earn its height — to replace the light it blocks and the change it wreaks with a measure of brilliant design. Otherwise it becomes a double blot. Scarano's buildings are poseurs: cheap, flashy structures dressed up in metal sheeting and tinted glass. The greatest architecture embodies the ethos of its era, but mediocre architecture can do the same thing more transparently. Scarano's designs perfectly capture today's rapacious spirit: Glitter and be greedy, and try not to get caught."
— Justin Davidson in New York Magazine

Paulie Gee's Opening Today in Greenpoint

Paul Ginnone, a man Serious Eats calls “the consummate pizza lover," opens the eponymous Paulie Gee’s this week at 60 Greenpoint Avenue. Taking over the space of the old Paloma, Paulie Gee’s will put out authentic wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizza and utilize fresh local ingredients from Rooftop Farms. The rustic and welcoming space (check out the interior photo on the jump) features handcrafted woodwork throughout with the imported hearth as its anchor. Designed by hOmE, the same team behind the Manhattan Inn and Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Café, the bar will be fully operational in short order. The menu? To start, Ginnone will offer about eight standard pies and a couple of specialty pies to change in accordance with local ingredient availability. While Paulie will never put pepperoni on his pizzas, he will garnish them with soppressata, prosciutto di Parma, guanciale, speck, even Kale. He’ll pull the first official pie from the oven at 5PM Tuesday. Check out some of Paulie’s pizza pics here. GMAP

Continue reading "Paulie Gee's Opening Today in Greenpoint"

From the Forum: 75 Livingston - Noise Factor

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348 Clermont Avenue Getting Demolished

File this one under "Gigantic Bummer." Following a November 2009 determination by the Department of Buildings that 348 Clermont Avenue was unsafe and needed to be torn down, HPD contractors arrived yesterday to begin demolition of the long-neglected brownstone. (You can see some interior photos in this old post.) The building, which is within the Fort Greene Historic District, only abuts one other house, also a brownstone, which will be protected as part of the demolition. The silver lining, if you can call it that, is that the Landmarks Preservation Commission is suing the owner for the full market value of the property in an effort to prevent him from profiting from the neglect and as a deterrent to other homeowners who might consider a similar course of inaction. Let's hope they make an example of him. And before anyone starts crying us a river, this isn't even a case of some old-timer who couldn't afford to fix up his house: This place has changed hands (at least) four times since 2006 for prices ranging from $499,000 to $1,500,000. Smell a rat? Check out the transaction history on the jump.
House of the Day: 348 Clermont Avenue Shell [Brownstoner] GMAP

Continue reading "348 Clermont Avenue Getting Demolished"

Open Thread

Quaker School Expanding to 470 Vanderbilt

Developer GFI has been working to gradually reposition and fill the commercial space at 470 Vanderbilt while it tries to gain approval for a residential building fronting on Fulton Street. Last July, the developer announced that it had leased the second floor to the NYC Housing Authority. According to its website, a Quaker school called the Mary McDowell Center for Learning has taken space on the 8th, 9th and 10th floors for its new Upper School location. The plans, including the creation of a basketball court, are online here. That should be a nice shot of life for the area. GMAP