Flatbush
July 30, 2008
StreetLevel: Cornbread Diner Coming to Flatbush
Park Slope's former Cornbread Cafe is being reincarnated in Flatbush Junction as the Cornbread Diner. The Southern-style restaurant opens this Monday on Flatbush Ave between Farragut and Glenwood. The same chef/owner behind the old 7th Avenue Cornbread, Bettina Harris, is helming the new venture, which'll offer garden dining while the weather's still fine. The locals certainly seem excited about the development: "Three cheers to Bettina Harris for gracing one of Brooklyn's most
"epicuriously challenged" strips with some comfort food," quoth the blog Flatbush Pigeon. "We need it out here!"
Big Flatbush News! [Flatbush Pigeon] GMAP
April 23, 2008
Caton Avenue Condo Plans For Sale: Flatbush Edition
Yet another Caton Avenue property is for sale with approved plans for condos, this one in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Last week, we wrote about 417 Caton Avenue, on the market for $1.35 million, and Caton On the Park (technically on Caton Place, which is really close to Caton Avenue), where construction on 107 apartments abruptly stopped with 40 percent of the work done. This newest property has plans to build 27 apartments and 24,400 square feet, only a few blocks away from Prospect Park. Asking price is $1.83 million, not much more than the $1.2 million purchase price two years ago. Think this one will be able to find a buyer?
Work Stops At Caton On the Park [Brownstoner]
417 Caton Avenue Going For Another Flip [Brownstoner]
March 17, 2008
Developer Save the Kings?
The city is once again shopping around for a developer to bring the dilapidated Loew's Kings Theatre in Flatbush back to life, according to an article in the Post. Potential grand plans for the neglected building could extend further than simply getting the 63,000-square-foot structure in working condition again; the deal might include giving a developer air rights to build residential space, a boutique hotel and retail shops. The price tag for just restoring the theater is expected to cost a whopping $70 mil. The EDC has a video on its website (developer no like read?) about the building's history that includes Marty Markowitz waxing poetic about how his first date was at the Wonder Theater. In all seriousness, though, it does seem high time for somebody to step up to the plate and hopefully broker a win-win: Brooklyn would get to see the revitalization of one its most magnificent structures, and a developer would get to make some cash off that work.
'King' of Rehabs? [NY Post]
Loews Kings Theater [EDC]
A Chance to Bring Back an Old Brooklyn Gem [Brownstoner] GMAP
Photo by marioletto.
March 5, 2008
Closing Bell: Brooklyn College's New Dorm
Brooklyn Junction dug up a fresh rendering, above, for the new building on at Farragut Road and Kenilworth Place that will provide housing for about 220 Brooklyn College students. Developer Sefi Zvieli is putting up the 8-story building, and the residence hall will be privately owned and operated (not by Brooklyn College). The dorm rooms will be ready to rent in Spring '09, according to a statement from the school.
Brooklyn College Dorm: Second Rendering [Brooklyn Junction] GMAP
February 21, 2008
Flatbush Junction Target Coming Soon
Fading Ad Blog has been chronicling the construction of Brooklyn's newest Target at Flatbush Junction (the intersection of Nostrand, Flatbush and Avenue H). The store is scheduled to open within the next month or so. Here's what the blog has to say about changes to the area:
When Canal Jeans came to Flatbush, I was astounded. They were pioneers way before the first Flatbush Starbucks replaced the only decent diner on Hillel Place. Then the banks came. We already had banks, and fast food chains, and now places to buy cell phones. To replace the municipal lot where commuters would park to take the train into “the city” to work is a Target Superstore. Now with the Congestion Pricing plans underway, where are commuters going to park? In my driveway.
Any readers foresee going to the new store?
What Difference Will Targé Make? [Fading Ad Blog] GMAP
February 14, 2008
Foreclosures of the Week
There are a couple of cute houses up for auction today that aren’t in Bed-Stuy or East New York. To the left is a turn-of-the-century, three-story Bay Ridge house that appears to have been refinanced again and again (and again) by its current owner, who took control of the property in ’02. The lien for this one stands at $787,627. To the right, meanwhile, is a Flatbush house that seems to have been owned by the same people since 1976; the lien here is a comparatively skimpy $85,753, suggesting a sadder story. Both auctions take place at 3 p.m. this afternoon at 360 Adams Street, room 261.
230 95th Street [Property Shark] GMAP
435 E 34 Street [Property Shark] GMAP
January 25, 2008
Video: Imagining Flatbush in 2030
Here's a clip put together by the Municipal Art Society about a workshop the organization conducted last month along with the Flatbush Development Corporation. The workshop was one of a series called Imagine Flatbush 2030 that "is piloting the idea that full implementation of the Mayor’s PlaNYC 2030 will depend on engaging neighborhoods more fully in the dialogue about sustainability in planning and development," according to the MAS. The most recent Imagine Flatbush meeting was held last night—did any readers attend?
Building a Consensus for Growth in Flatbush [Brownstoner]
Imagine Flatbush 2030 [Vimeo]
January 22, 2008
Foreclosures of the Week
There are two interesting co-op foreclosure auction scheduled for tomorrow morning. First off, unit 8F at the 13-story, prewar 40 Boerum Place is going on the block. There’s currently a lien of $327,669 on the property, which sold for $420,000 in 2005. There’s also an auction scheduled for unit 6A at 381 Argyle Road in Flatbush (a block away from Ditmas Park West). The unit has a lien of $78,586 on it, and it last sold for $89,610 in 2005. The Argyle Road auction is scheduled for 11 a.m. tomorrow on the steps of 360 Adams Street; the Boerum Place auction will follow at 11:30.
40 Boerum Place, Unit 8F [Property Shark] GMAP
381 Argyle Road, Unit 6A [Property Shark] GMAP
January 14, 2008
Theater Operator Said to be Eyeing Loew’s Kings
There’s potentially exciting news brewing about the Loew’s Kings theater in Flatbush. An unspecified “major theater operator” is considering answering the EDC’s longstanding call to redevelop the property, according to Brooklyn Junction. A city official told the blog that the company is holding focus groups to try to determine what sort of programming would work at the theater, which would probably cost between $20 and $40 million to renovate. The EDC issued an RFP for the former wonder theater in September ’06. Any guesses about who the operator is or what its plans may include?
Theater Operator Expresses Interest in Loew's Kings Theater [Brooklyn Junction]
Real Estate Round-Up [Brooklyn Eagle] GMAP
Wondering About the Loew’s Wonder Theater [Brownstoner]
A Chance to Bring Back an Old Brooklyn Gem [Brownstoner]
December 5, 2007
Building a Consensus for Growth in Flatbush
Frightened, perhaps, by the top-down-dictatorship approach of Atlantic Yards or the too-little-too-late reaction of Carroll Gardens residents to encroaching development, stakeholders in Flatbush are trying to make a preemptive strike at defining what their neighborhood should look like in the coming decades. As detailed on yesterday's Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC, the Flatbush Development Corporation (which has been around for 30 years) has teamed up the the Municipal Art Society to form a grassroots campaign (dubbed "community visioning") that aims to get input from members of one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the city. The population's growing at 8% a year and, despite last Sunday's New York Times article, real estate prices have been steadily increasing. (A guest on the show told of how her mother purchased her co-op in 1989 for $40,000 and could sell it now for over $300,000.) The development corporation has already been lobbying City Planning to consider a rezoning that would help maintain the residential feel of the neighborhood while promoting the creation of more affordable housing. Two ideas, borrowed from recent rezonings of other neighborhoods in the borough, include (1) downzoning the R6 areas to prevent the destruction of Victorian homes to make way for six-story atrocities and (2) creating inclusionary zoning around commercial stretches to foster affordable housing. The next community meeting on the initiative is to be held at 6:30 p.m. on December 12 at the Brooklyn College Student Center, 6th Floor, at East 27th Street and Campus Road.
Brian Lehrer Show 12/4/07 [WNYC]
Imagine Your Neighborhood 2030 [MAS]