Monthly Archives

August 2012

Construction Ensues For BBP’s Squibb Park Bridge

August 25, 2012

Following Mr. Karl’s video progress report Thursday on the Squibb Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Facebook page featured its own pic Thursday sharing progress on the bridge, which will connect Brooklyn Heights to BBP: “Check out the first bridge pier being installed at the uplands of Pier 1. Looking forward to watching as Squibb Bridge is built!”

As Brownstoner reminds us, Squibb Bridge will connect Squibb Park, right off the neighborhood’s Columbia Heights, to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier One, where the upcoming mega-hotel and condo complex are scheduled to be built. Construction began on the bridge this spring.


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46265

From the Web

Arts and Entertainment, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn Nets, Events, Sports

Brooklyn Book Festival Line-Up

August 25, 2012

The Brooklyn Book Festival has announced its comprehensive lineup for the first-ever weeklong series of “Bookend Events” that will take place at venues throughout the borough from September 17 through September 23. The seventh-annual event is presented by Brooklyn Tourism and the Brooklyn Literary Council, initiatives of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, with support from AT&T.

It’s billed as the largest free literary event in New York City, with the full schedule here.

Markowitz commented, “Brooklyn has more writers per square inch than almost anywhere else in the country, all contributing to our growing reputation as the epicenter of the literary universe—where authors from across the globe gather each fall for the Brooklyn Book Festival, one of the world’s most prestigious free literary festivals. This year, the Festival expands from four days to an entire week of diverse literary offerings.”

Two events will take place in Brooklyn Heights…
Friday, September 21
“Poets & Passion: A Caribbean Literary Lime Presented by the Caribbean Cultural Theater”
A book party with a decidedly easy tropical flare. The Poets & Passion platform provides an inviting opportunity for audiences to engage Caribbean and Caribbean American fiction writers and poets and positions the writers’ work as part of a larger conversation on issues of identity, aspiration, heritage and the immigrant experience.
Location: St. Francis College, Maroney Theatre, 180 Remsen Street (between Clinton & Court Streets), 7:30 p.m., $5

Saturday, September 22
“American Eco-Poetry: Poetry of Ecological Sanity, Hosted by Daniela Gioseffi”
Join your favorite poets to celebrate the release of ECO-Poetry: American Verse of Ecological Sanity, an e-book published by the nonprofit website poetsUSA.com. Poets, including Myra Shapiro (“I’ll See You Thursday”), D. Nurkse (“The Rules of Paradise”), Colette Inez (“The Secret of M. Dulong”), Fran Castan (“The Widow’s Quilt”), Eliot Katz (“Unlocking the Exits”), Gil Fagiani (“Scarfing”), Juanita Torrence (“Breath-Life”), Maria Lisella (“Amore on Hope Street”), Rob Marchesani, George Held (“After Shakespeare: Selected Sonnets”), Nancy Mercado (“Going to Work”) and Stephen Massimilla (“Forty Floors from Yesterday”) will read selections of their own and others, highlighting issues of environmental sanity and racism, renewable safe energy and life-sustaining wonders of our planet home.
Location: Brooklyn Heights Public Library, 280 Cadman Plaza West at Tillary Street (between Pierrepont and Clark Streets). 2-4 p.m. Free. (poetsUSA.com)


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46258

From the Web

Karl on Squibb Park Bridge Progress

August 24, 2012

Mr. J. is a fan of all things Brooklyn Bridge Park. In the video (see after the jump) he’s given us some glimpses of progress in construction of the pedestrian bridge that will connect Squibb Park, just below Columbia Heights near the path that leads from Middagh Street, with Brooklyn Bridge Park. The poured concrete supports that will hold the wooden bridge aloft are being installed at the BBP level. He also shows work being done to improve the access ramp from the sidewalk at Columbia Heights down to Squibb Park. Sections of the wooden bridge are being fabricated offsite; we look forward to their arrival.


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46240

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, Landmark Preservation, Real Estate

Brownstone At Hicks & Joralemon Undergoes Ooh-La-La Conversion

August 23, 2012

A four-story Brooklyn Heights townhouse at 265 Hicks Street (on the corner of Joralemon) is undergoing a renovation that will convert the eight-family property into two units. Brownstoner reports that the DOB permit calls for “exterior demolition and restoration of the existing brownstone,” which will include construction of a new front stoop, rear balcony, new roof and—ooh la la—a penthouse addition and new elevator.

The home was on the market in 2008—without interior photos—which would lead one to believe that the interior calls for a gut reno. Brownstoner : It was last asking $2.5 million, and sold in December 2011 (delivered vacant) for $2.2 million.

(Photo: Brownstoner)


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46234

From the Web

Arts and Entertainment, Brooklyn Heights, Events, Food

‘Summer Space’ Returns To Montague Street, September 9 & 23

August 23, 2012

Coming up Sunday, September 9th and September 23rd, the Montague Street BID presents its annual Summer Space, with a bevy of fun, free events. Closed to traffic and re-imagined as a pedestrian oasis from noon to 5 p.m. both Sundays, Montague Street restaurants will expand outdoor seating and hand out free samples, while other retailers will offer special promotions and services. Hundreds of tables and chairs will also line the street.

The fun includes opera by The Martha Cardona Theater; AfroBrazilian Samba Reggae by Batala New York City, an all women’s drumming band; Muzik by DJ Ricardo Campos; and dances by the Brooklyn Ballet’s Company and Youth Ensemble. The Brooklyn Heights Association will host the Third Annual Brooklyn Heights Dog Show September 23 from 1-3 p.m.; local dogs may be entered to win from a variety of categories. (For information about the dog show, visit www.thebha.org.)

In addition, there will be free outdoor yoga and Zumba classes, as well as chess tables, courtesy of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle; Etsy New York Team presenting craft-making demonstrations; and for the kids, a photo booth, scavenger hunt, hula-hoops and chalk drawing. For a full schedule of events & more details, click here.


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46220

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, Landmark Preservation, Real Estate

NY Observer’s Deep Dish On Willowtown Mansion Sale

August 22, 2012

The manse at 40 Willow Place that sold for $7.3M, as we reported Tuesday, gets a deeper look in a story published by the New York Observer. It begins: “The modern masterpiece may not be able to command a sales price like some of its Brooklyn Heights neighbors—to wit, Truman Capote’s old abode at 70 Willow Street set a borough record when it sold for $12 million in March—but in the eyes of the tax assessor’s office, it is the finest in the borough.”

The Observer reports that new owners Charles Brian and Elizabeth O’Kelley, who moved from a West Village penthouse, will pay a heap of taxes for the 45-foot, 6,500sf home, which has an assessed market value of $6.35M (compared to the Capote house, valued at $5.14M). Sellers William and Kathleen Reiland bought the house for $3.1M in 2005.

Further, the property was first listed by Corcoran broker Deborah Rieders last October, asking $7.5M. It briefly entered contract in late fall, but didn’t close and returned to the market in April. She notes it is one of only three other modern houses in the neighborhood, all built on empty lots in the 1960s. Designed by Mary and Joseph Merz (among BHB’s Top 10 Most Interesting People in 2011), the home was featured in a 1966 issue of Architectural Record and is landmarked, despite its more recent vintage.

Rieders says that typically, it’s the older “grand dames” of the Heights that tend to fetch the neighborhood’s highest prices, in the $10M to $12M range. The five-bedroom, five-bath home has double-height ceilings with skylights, a 1,500-square-foot great room with a slate burning fireplace, a glass penthouse with a Japanese soaking tub and a rear curtain on the living spaces and bedrooms “that brings light streaming into the house all day,” according to the listing.

See more photos in the sideshow at the Observer here. (Photo: New York Observer, via Corcoran)


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46202

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights

New York Observer’s Deep Dish On Willowtown Mansion Sale

August 22, 2012

The manse at 40 Willow Place that sold for $7.3M, as we reported Tuesday, gets a deeper look in a story published by the New York Observer. It begins: “The modern masterpiece may not be able to command a sales price like some of its Brooklyn Heights neighbors—to wit, Truman Capote’s old abode at 70 Willow Street set a borough record when it sold for $12 million in March—but in the eyes of the tax assessor’s office, it is the finest in the borough.”

The Observer reports that new owners Charles Brian and Elizabeth O’Kelley, who moved from a West Village penthouse, will pay a heap of taxes for the 45-foot, 6,500sf home, which has an assessed market value of $6.35M (compared to the Capote house, valued at $5.14M). Sellers William and Kathleen Reiland bought the house for $3.1M in 2005.

Further, the property was first listed by Corcoran broker Deborah Rieders last October, asking $7.5M. It briefly entered contract in late fall, but didn’t close and returned to the market in April. She notes it is one of only three other modern houses in the neighborhood, all built on empty lots in the 1960s. Designed by Mary and Joseph Merz (who assisted in a recent renovation directed by architect Gerry Smith), the home was featured in a 1966 issue of Architectural Record and is landmarked, despite its more recent vintage.

Rieders says that typically, it’s the older “grand dames” of the Heights that tend to fetch the neighborhood’s highest prices, in the $10M to $12M range. The five-bedroom, five-bath home has double-height ceilings with skylights, a 1,500-square-foot great room with a slate burning fireplace, a glass penthouse with a Japanese soaking tub and a rear curtain on the living spaces and bedrooms “that brings light streaming into the house all day,” according to the listing.

See more photos in the sideshow at the Observer here. (Photo: New York Observer, via Corcoran)


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46202

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, History

The First Notion Of Brooklyn Bridge Park… In 1988

August 22, 2012

Ever wondered how the notion of building a park along the Brooklyn Heights waterfront came to pass? Henrik Korgius, Editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and BHB hero, offers details of its will to launch, beginning in 1988.

He writes, “Brooklyn Bridge Park is a very different place since the first ‘American Landscape’ plan in the form of a Harbor Park, sponsored by the Brooklyn Heights Association and designed by Terry Schnadelbach, was presented in 1988. Protracted struggle with the Port Authority, which wanted to replace the piers that closed in 1983 with housing along the stretch below the Promenade, lasted beyond 1992, (when) then Borough President Howard Golden pushed a separate Brooklyn Harbor plan calling for food stalls and other concessions on a mainly paved area.”

Read the full piece here. Interesting goodies.

(Photo: Brooklyn Daily Eagle)


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46190

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights

Open Thread Wednesday: August 22, 2012

August 22, 2012

As the Summer of 2012 sadly edges toward its peak, the BHB Open Thread Wednesday remains as hot as ever. Drink in the joy of companionship with your fellow posters and share what’s on your mind today.

(Photo: Montague Street entrance to Brooklyn Heights Promenade/Chuck Taylor)


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46109

From the Web

News, Real Estate

Atlantic Avenue BID Hopes To Make BQE Underpass Inviting To BBP Visitors

August 22, 2012

The Atlantic Avenue BID is applying for a city grant with the intention to make the underpass beneath the Brooklyn Queens Expressway more inviting to pedestrians—and to drive more foot traffic between the businesses along Atlantic Avenue and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

According to DNAInfo.com,
the BQE currently creates a divide between Brooklyn Bridge Park and the shopping strip on Atlantic Avenue. Josef Szende, executive director of the Atlantic Avenue BID believes that because of a lack of signage, pedestrians at either location have little knowledge “that there are opportunities on either side of the tunnel.”

Szende adds, “The underside of the BQE is an unpleasant place to be or to walk through. We want pedestrians to feel there’s something interesting or interactive all the way down Atlantic Avenue to Brooklyn Bridge Park.”

To gain funding and support, the Atlantic Avenue BID is applying for an NYC Department of Small Business Services BID Challenge Grant, which would provide $75,000 toward the project. Earlier this month, the BID met with urban designers of Planning Corps, a volunteer group helping non-profits plan and resolve design issues, and to brainstorm ways to make the tunnel under the BQE more interactive, appealing and useful to pedestrians passing through.

Read more here.


Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7777

From the Web