Broken clouds, 78.8 °F
76th Precinct Community Council
08/03/2010 - 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Greenwood Cemetery Tour
08/08/2010 - 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Greenwood Cemetery Tour
09/05/2010 - 1:00pm - 3:00pm
76th Precinct Community Council
09/07/2010 - 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Greenwood Cemetery Tour
10/03/2010 - 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Featured Top Story
News Of The Day
via @mopostal 's Tumblr
Don’t know if the recently demolished National Cold Storage building on Furman Street is worthy of the preservationist fervor represented by the quote from Elvis Costello’s Hoover Factory in our headline, but nevertheless it’s gone. Rejoice in its rebirth as benches and pavement stones in the outstanding new Brooklyn Bridge Park.
As for inspiring artists, as London’s art deco wonder Hoover Factory did, the Cold Storage building’s literary legacy was written by Harvey Shapiro in response to JFK’s assassination. Since Mr. Junkersfeld’s agent wouldn’t allow him to deliver the poem on video, you’ll have to settle for this guy:
CRUMBS Co-Founder Jason Bauer answers our questions about the cupcake empire… especially when their Brooklyn Heights location at 109 Montague Street will open:
When is the Montague Street store scheduled to open?
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
What attracted you to Brooklyn Heights?
Great family neighborhood
What will the setup of the store be? Will there be tables or is it more grab and go?
We will carry about 50 varieties of cupcakes each day in additional to our full line of baked goods, including cookies, brownies, cakes, scones, muffins and lots of other great sweets. We have seating for about 15 people in the shop.
Where was the first Crumbs store and why do you think it was successful?
We opened our first store in March 2003 on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. We believe our customers keep coming back because of our signature cupcakes and great customer service.
Crumbs is known for its “celebrity” cupcakes (ie Artie Lange) … any plans for a local celeb cupcake? The Paul Giamatti for instance?
That’s a good idea…you never know!!
BHB photo by C. Scales
These placards are on both sides of the street on Remsen between Hicks and Montague Terrace. The time frame for the shoot is from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, July 30. “White Label” may mean this shoot is being done by aWhiteLabelproduct, a production company.
Photo courtesy Dumbonyc.comIf you’re thinking about parking on York St. you might want to circle the block a couple more times, as Dumbonyc.com reports that there have been “at least 6 or 7 reports of car windows smashed or items stolen from cars” in the past week. Stay tuned to see if this makes it into next week’s blotter.
I’d been wondering what was going on with the new café in the old Chess Café spot, and this afternoon I was lucky enough to meet the owner and find out. Maria Dobrovolskiy may only be 23, but she’s got a head for the biz, having staked her claim to the spot after finding it on Craigslist. Now, several weeks after cleaning and upgrading, Maria hopes to open next week. “But I want to have a grand opening in late August, once the students come back,” she told me. Fresh Cafe Bar is indeed geared more for the Gen Z crowd than the Chess Café was, as Maria will be showing off her French culinary training with a selection of crêpes, as well as a salad bar and frozen yogurt. So stop by and welcome her to the neighborhood, and see how she’ll make all the pieces fit in that spot!
Brooklyn Heights resident and real estate broker Donald Brennan files this guest post:
After reading the ‘Real Deal on Watchtower Properties’ post here last week I got to thinking – a billion dollars, for 25 properties, where did that number come from? While I am aware of the impeccable condition of these properties, inside and out, my initial reaction was – that’s crazy! Isn’t it? Maybe not.
In order to get a feel for what the estimated billion dollar price tag relates to in a more tangible metric I set out to determine the price per square foot for the portfolio. I broke the properties down into three general categories – non-residential, residential and residential development – determined the approximate size of each property and derived a dollar per square foot value for each category based on recent comparable market transactions and the Watchtower’s own transaction record of previously owned properties. The blended per square foot price works out to $260, which sounds low, doesn’t it? So while we are in the middle of one of the biggest deleveraging cycles ever, the $1 Billion estimate may be understated.
So if market conditions do improve the portfolio may be worth more than a billion dollars. And if there isn’t any improvement, well then they are still sitting on $1,000,000,000 of prime Brooklyn real estate. Not the worst thing.
Brooklyn Heights resident and broker Donald Brennan hosts informal real estate discussions at his home on the third Tuesday of each month. The next session is August17. Visit his website to RSVP and for more information.
Daily Crosshatch photo
Rocketship the 5 year old comic book store at 208 Smith Street closed for good today. Owner Alex Cox made a simple business decision according to The Daily Crosshatch:
“Our lease came up,” Cox tells me, “and we realized that we were either going to do this another five to 10 years, at which point it becomes a CAREER, in big letters, or not sign on again and do something different. That’s basically it. Of course, there are a thousand variables in there, all of which would be very boring and involved. In the end, the store was great to do for five years, but not something we wanted to be doing until we retired. So it was time to move on.”
Were you a regular at Rocketship? Are comics still relevant?
(via NYP and Brownstoner)
Brooklyn Bugle Media Kingpin John “Homer Fink” Loscalzo’s Hidden Brooklyn Heights Walking Tour is featured in the latest installment of Brooklyn Independent Television’s Neighborhood Beat focusing on the Heights.
Also featured: recording artist Monet, Yoga People and Jack the Horse Tavern. Full episode after the jump.