August – 2012 – Brooklyn Bugle

Acclaimed 40 Willow Place Mansion Sells for $7.35 Million

August 22, 2012

When it comes to lofty living in Brooklyn Heights, it’s tough to top the home at 40 Willow Place, which has sold for $7.35M—a mere shaving off of its October 2011 list price of $7.5M. The 7,400-square-foot, three-story, 45-foot-wide modernist home, built in the 1960s, entered into contract May 7 and closed August 3, with its deed recorded August 15, according to Brownstoner. Needless to say, it was the largest closing in all of Brooklyn last week. The property, which has been wholly renovated, has an assessed value of $6.14M and last sold for $3.1M in 2003.

According to Property Shark, among the 10 most valuable single-family mansions in the city—including Manhattan—this home ranked No. 1 last June. Meanwhile, the Corcoran listing describes 40 Willow Place, designed by Joe and Mary Merz, as “the perfect marriage of sleek minimalism and functional modernism,” with multiple outdoor spaces, a garage, five bedrooms, five baths, a 1,500sf great room with slate wood burning fireplace, library, family room and double-height rec room. Read more at Corcoran here.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46180

From the Web

Arts and Entertainment, Brooklyn Heights, Events

Movies With A View: ‘Unforgiven’ This Thursday

August 22, 2012

Brooklyn Bridge Park’s 13th-annual weekly summer series “Syfy’s Movies With A View” is sadly winding down, with just one more flick following this Thursday’s, which will be a viewer’s choice. On August 23, join the masses on the Pier 1 Harbor View Lawn for “Unforgiven,” which screens at sunset. Beginning at 6 p.m., DJ Emch Subatomic (of Subatomic Sound System) will be spinning; while the short film following the main event is “The Hunter” by Marieka Walsh. More info here.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46176

From the Web

Health

Winter Sun Farms Invites Cobble Hill & Park Slope Residents To Participate

August 22, 2012

Winter Sun Farms, which partners with local sustainable farms to supply a winter share of frozen and storage vegetables throughout the season, is available in Cobble Hill and Park Slope (as well as Bed Stuy, DUMBO, Prospect Park and Kensington). Their goal is to deliver a superior product at a fair price for consumers and the farmer, with a larger mission of creating a regional, fair and sustainable food system.

The initiative’s farmers “care for the land and the food they grow. They are part of our communities. We want you to know them, who they are and how they grow. We make it simple… the name of the farm goes right on the package,” Winter Sun Farms says.

For information on joining, see their website here.

Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7773

From the Web

Food

Cobble Hill’s Eastern European Eatery Karloff Reopens After Renovations

August 21, 2012

Welcome back to family-owned Eastern European restaurant Karloff in Cobble Hill, which has been closed for the past two months for some major whitewashing. Owners Olga and Artur tell Cobble Hill that the eatery is “back on track, introducing comfy ‘grandma cooking’ with a modern twist.”

Karloff serves lunch, dinner and brunch with all-time favorites like latkes, blintzes and varenikis, plus new additions like oxtail. “We still carry our delicious natural ice cream sourced from upstate New York, and currently feature six flavors that are neighborhood favorites,” they tell us.

Hours are: Monday-Friday, 5-10:30 p.m., and weekends, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. The address: 254 Court Street. Check out their website here.

Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7767

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, Real Estate

Worst 4BR Floorplan Ever at 20 Henry?

August 21, 2012

Curbed has taken a look at the floor plan of one of the fancier apartments planned for 20 Henry Street, and quotes a tipster as saying “it’s one of the worst 4BR floorplans she’s seen”. Take a look here, and let us know what you think.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46159

From the Web

Web Series Checks Out “Garden Room” on Joralemon Street

August 21, 2012

SpacesTV, a YouTube web series, checks out a unique “Garden Room” somewhere on Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights. Can you figure out where? Watch the video after the jump.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46155

From the Web

Arts and Entertainment, Events

8 Artists Making Sculpture to open at BRIC Gallery on September 12

August 20, 2012

BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn is proud to announce the first show of its 2012-13 contemporary art exhibition season, which focuses on artists chosen from BRIC’s online Contemporary Artist Registry, whose three-dimensional works transform and activate the physical space around them. The exhibition is guest curated by Jamie Sterns, and includes site-specific works by two of the exhibiting artists. More information on the exhibition is available at bricartsmedia.org. Artists include Arielle Falk, Jamie Felton, MaryKate Maher, Abraham McNally, Jong Oh, Carolyn Salas, Ian Umlauf, and Matthew C. Wilson.

Opening reception: September 12, 2012, 7-9 pm
Exhibition on view September 13 – October 27, 2012
Please note that the gallery will be closed Tuesday, October 23, 2012 for our annual fundraising Gala.

The BRIC Rotunda Gallery is located at 33 Clinton St., Brooklyn, NY 11210. Hours are Tues – Sat, Noon – 6 pm. Admission is free.

From the Web

Downtown Brooklyn

Fulton Mall Welcomes Another Major Retailer: Say Hello To Express

August 20, 2012

A shiny new Express store at 490 Fulton Street along Fulton Mall has opened in the rapidly gentrifying Downtown Brooklyn shopping destination. Michael Weiss, CEO of the men’s and women’s clothier and a Brooklyn native, was present for the festive “block party” opening last Wednesday. He tells the New York Observer that he began his career as a management trainee and associate buyer right along the corridor, at former Fulton Mall department store Abraham & Strauss, now the home of Macy’s.

Express occupies 10,000 square feet in a building that was originally also going to house a 40,000-square-foot Filene’s Basement/Syms hybrid, before the chain went bust. Still planned: dorms on the upper floors for Long Island University students.

Express joins the recent coming of Starbucks, Brooklyn Industries, Gap Factory Outlet on Fulton Mall, and future retailers H&M and Century 21, with new tenants being announced seemingly every month.

The Observer reports that Weiss grew up in Fort Greene. He recalls Fulton Mall in the late 1960s and early 1970s: “It was just the greatest place to be. So much activity. So much action. Brooklyn was it,” that is, before Brooklyn, along with the rest of the city, began its precipitous decline into bankruptcy and decay. “It was very different than it is today. It was very optimistic. Brooklyn was quite a place in those years. It was a place of expectation and aspiration. It was solidly middle class, everyone sort of felt like they had a shot if they worked hard,” he adds.

Weiss says he always believed Fulton Mall would gentrify: “I knew that street had to be rejuvenated at some point. The big question was when a company could afford to get into the place and make it work. You don’t want to be too early, and you don’t want to be late. I really think now is the time.”

The new Downtown Express store unveils a new interiors concept, designed by Japanese architect Masamichi Katayama of the firm Wonderwall: “We want to elevate the retail experience for national stores, really take it somewhere new,” Weiss tells the Observer. “The whole art, bohemian community, has added to the fashion profile, the creative fashion profile of the borough. They’re not high-fashion dressers, they’re creative dressers.”

(Photo: Chuck Taylor)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46142

From the Web

Food

Cobble Hill’s Five Guys In A Pickle: Closes Down After A Year

August 20, 2012

After opening in Cobble Hill at 266 Court Street near Butler just last year, burger chain Five Guys has closed its doors, according to Brownstoner. The joint has nearby locations in Brooklyn Heights on Montague Street and in Downtown Brooklyn at the end of Fulton Mall at the Flatbush Extension. Pretty curious… This place has been expanding like mad and most locations seem to pack ‘em in.

Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7764

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Food, Real Estate

Potbelly Joins Adams Street’s Burgeoning ‘Restaurant Row’; Two More Coming

August 20, 2012

Chicago-based Potbelly Sandwich Shop is opening its first Brooklyn location and tenth New York locale at 345 Adams, next to Panera Bread, along the corridor’s new “Restaurant Row.” A sign in the window promises, “A warm new neighbor, coming soonish,” Brownstoner reports. The eatery, which serves breakfast, sandwiches, soups and baked goods, will occupy 2,500sf. Word is that Chipotle is also coming to Downtown Brooklyn, at the corner of Willoughby and Jay.

Crain’s New York Business reported in December that two other restaurants will be joining the Adams Street collective this fall: Sugar and Plumm, a combination restaurant, ice cream parlor & chocolate retailer; and American BBQ and Beer Co., both developed by Sugar and Plumm Co., from Mark Advent, creator of Las Vegas’ New York, New York hotel and casino.

All are located around the corner from Fulton Mall, adjoining the burgeoning Willoughby Street Pedestrian Plaza. The building at 345 Adams is almost fully leased now, with only 1,000sf of retail still remaining available, according to the New York Observer.

Also new in the building is the 15,000sf Bright Horizons, a childcare facility.

(Photos: Potbelly: Brownstoner; 345 Adams Street: New York Observer)