Development Watch: Slowly But Surely at Albee Square
[nggallery id=”22465″ template=galleryview] It’s been a month since we last checked in with the demolition process at Albee Square Mall, future home of mixed-use City Point development. And while progress has arguably been steady, it hasn’t been particularly swift as far as we can tell. (Then again, there are probably some very good reasons why…
[nggallery id=”22465″ template=galleryview]
It’s been a month since we last checked in with the demolition process at Albee Square Mall, future home of mixed-use City Point development. And while progress has arguably been steady, it hasn’t been particularly swift as far as we can tell. (Then again, there are probably some very good reasons why taking down an entire complex like this can’t be rushed.) Wonder when they’ll actually be able to start excavating?
Development Watch: Whole Hog at Albee Square [Brownstoner] GMAP DOB
Development Watch: Albee Square Mall Gets Gutted [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: RIP, Albee Square Mall (Garage) [Brownstoner]
More Details on Albee Square aka City Point [Brownstoner]
But they are brooklynlove exclusive right now. How many members of the “diverse (read black/poor”) community can afford to live in this part of town now? How many of the businesses that stuck it out while downtown was less than stellar will be invited back after the development phase? None. I’m not saying that I think downtown, or the rest of Brooklyn is just fine the way it is. I just don’t think it’s fair to the people who have been here all along and dealt with the bullshit to have to leave just when it’s getting better. I think you are misunderstanding what I meant by losing. Brooklyn will always be Brooklyn in name, but it will cease to be mine when I can’t afford to stay (or am unwilling to pay the asking price).
BrooklynLove. thanks for the info about east of the Toren. This property is just too valuable to just sit there.
I read this blurb on nyc.gov:
Willoughby Square is proposed south of MetroTech to establish a corporate
address for the new commercial office buildings and to provide an attractive
environment for evening and weekend use by residents and employees.
The space would include cafes, restaurants and new retail establishments.
A triangular park is proposed on Flatbush Avenue Extension at the entrance
to Willoughby Street. This park will provide a gateway from the Fort Greene
community to Willoughby Square and the new commercial core office
buildings.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/dwnbklyn2/downbklynfull.pdf
i just don’t get it. why is replacing a shit building with a vast improvement asthetically and substantively “losing brooklyn” or “making downtown brooklyn into manhattan or even jersey”? brooklyn is not losing anything, it’s gaining, and the boro is not being made like jerkey or the state of manhattan – the people and communities make the boro, not the buildings. this is downtown friggin brooklyn, not lefferts gardens. the metro center of the boro has basically been in stall mode for the past 50+ years, now finally we are getting it back poppin. i’m all for preserving the diversity of the boro’s communities and residents, but not at the expense of development. the 2 need not be exclusive.
At guest at 9:31 from guest at 2:31
I can’t imagine how sad your life is to incite such a strong reaction to a complete stranger. If my post was waxing poetic then we have different definitions of what that is. It was also never my intention to impress anyone on this blog with my comment. The feelings I expressed are not just about the mall, it’s the losing of Brooklyn in general. You can save the “showing your age” crap too. I know all about Mays and Woolworth’s and Everyone’s and The Wiz. I could go on.
I am not impressed with your violent crime statistics either. I’m from the projects, I know violence and I wont miss it. But if you think making downtown Brooklyn into Manhattan or even Jersey will stop crime and bullshit from being built then I can’t imagine that you really spent your formative years in this borough.
i couldn’t find anything telling either way concerning the triangular park. however i did find something noteworthy concerning that block to the immediate east of toren. looks like the city filed to change the street grid – (1) extending fleet place up to myrtle and (2) eliminating fair street and prince street between fbx and myrtle. the elimnation of the streets seperating the block from toren and the cats plot seems to indicate that there are plans of some sort in store for the contents of that block.
beware, fake what alert.
7/2@8:20am – wut up. good questions, let me see what kind of info i can find.
I guess no one thought that post about losing Brooklyn was supposed to be a goof? I could get a teary over the Macy’s building- which was once a magnificent structure but my guess is that 9:31 was pulling the collective b’stoner leg. And no- it wasn’t me 🙂
Posted by: guest at July 2, 2008 9:31 AM
Hey Homeboy after you have you enema please re-read my post. I’m talking about Brooklyn as a whole. Albee Square Mall feel in disarray, I will agree on that but the “improvements” are not meant for you. They are trying to turn Brooklyn into “Manhattan Lite” and when the Asshats find out that the City is cheap again, there will be a mass exodus out of Brooklyn.
Manhattan Second-Quarter Apartment Sales Drop Most Since 1998
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a05lmF8fkldM&refer=home
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…
“For people that view Downtown Brooklyn as a part of their childhood, your comments proclaiming how glad you are to see it go sound cold hearted. I passed the mall for the first time in a while this weekend and nearly cried. With every swing of a wrecking ball I feel like I’m losing Brooklyn, more and more.”
——
Break out the violins, y’all!
You guys who are crying over the demise of the Albee Square Mall are freaking insane. What– just because Biz Markie did a song about it you’re all teary eared? Gimme a break!
BTW, spare me the nonsense of all this “born and raised” garbage and “coldheartedness.” You’re not impressing anyone with such corny sentimentalist pandering. I too spent my formative years going Downtown, and I’m happy to see the mall go. I’m not being coldhearted; I’m just not viewing the past through rose-colored glasses.
I’m also not a baby. You guys waxing poetic about some trashy ghetto mall are showing your age. It wasn’t Albee Square that defined Downtown Brooklyn, but A&S (now Macys) two stores that used to be across the mall but closed in the 90s (McCrorys and Mays), and Woolworths. Albee Square–which was a step down from these places– came much later. Why would I be coldhearted for being happy that some trashy mall is going when so much of my youth was spent going to these other places?
I don’t even get the nostalgia, either. Albee Square Mall had a “few” good days in its early years but steadily went downhill just a few years after it opened. For the people who are “so sad” over its demise, exactly what are you missing? The last decade of its existence when half the retail spaces were constantly shuttered and the basement/ food court level virtually empty? The disgusting bathrooms that were never, ever cleaned or renovated? The loss of scores of retailers like Waldenbooks and Junior’s cheesecake outlet? The really cheesy blingbling style renovation that took an already trashy mall and made it look even trashier than before? The violent killing that happened just a few years before it closed?
Puhleeez…