Archives

Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Real Estate

Barclay’s Center is Just the Beginning

October 9, 2012

Ongoing concerns about Barclays Center’s overall impact on surrounding borough neighborhoods—including Brooklyn Heights—could rise from a low roar to a full-on battle cry, given the mammoth long-term plan that developer Bruce Ratner has in mind for the area. Located at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues, Barclays is merely the first part to be completed of a planned 16-building complex that would include 6 million square feet of residential, 247,000 of retail and 336,000 of office space.

In a lengthy story about the Atlantic Yards development, The Architects Newspaper reports that the as yet tallest modular construction building in the world—a 32-story residential tower—is slated to add to the Brooklyn skyline. An office building and possibly a hotel would round out the first phase of development, followed by eleven more residential buildings, eight acres of open space, and retail.

Related: Opening Night at the Barclays Center

Ironically, it was NYC planner Robert Moses who first pooh-poohed the idea of a stadium near the space now occupied by Barclays Center, back in 1955. Responding to Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley’s proposal to build a new home for the Dodgers on the site of what is now the Atlantic Center Mall, Moses said, “I don’t want to see a baseball field in downtown Brooklyn at all. The streets will never handle all the cars. (A) stadium would create a China Wall of traffic.” Much more, including more photos, here.

How did we get there from here? Read the Atlantic Yards Report’s definitive primer on the area’s development.


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49042

From the Web

Downtown Brooklyn

Armani Exchange Commits To Downtown Fulton Mall’s City Point

October 9, 2012

THe latest tenant to join Downtown Brooklyn’s gargantuan City Point mixed-use project along Fulton Street Mall is A/X Armani Exchange. Brownstoner reports that Acadia Realty Trust and developer Washington Square Partners brokered the deal for the designer clothing retailer. It will open in November at Fulton and Albee Square, followed by the previously announced Century 21 in 2015. (Photo: Chuck Taylor)


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49038

From the Web

Events, Landmark Preservation, Music

St. Ann’s & The Holy Trinity Hosts ‘Spirits Of Heights’ Restoration Gala

October 9, 2012

A celebration of “neighborhood greats” will take place Friday, October 19, 2012, from 6-9:30 p.m., at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, 157 Montague Street. Featured at the “Spirits of Brooklyn Heights” gala are composer/lyricist Robert Lopez (“The Book of Mormon,” “Avenue Q”) and Harry Chapin’s daughter, urban/folk/soul singer Jen Chapin, who will perform from her own songbook along with songs from her legendary Brooklyn Heights’ resident papa, Harry Chapin. Also performing: Broadway and Off-Broadway actor Michael Winther (“Songs from An Unmade Bed,” “Mamma Mia!”), who will sing from jazz great Fred Hersch’s song cycle of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass.”

The gala will benefit the landmark church’s tower and organ restoration project, while honoring legends of literature, art and music with roots in Brooklyn Heights who shaped the borough’s legacy as a cultural center.

Cocktails will swirl from 6-7, followed by performances in the St. Ann’s sanctuary. Afterward, dinner, entertainment and a silent auction will take place in the Parish Hall. Tickets are $75 and tables of eight are $500. Space is limited. You’re advised to purchase tix in advance.

The church, which opened its doors in 1847, rests at the heart of Brooklyn Heights, at Montague and Clinton streets. A cornerstone in the historic development of the community, it remains an active house of worship and a venue for numerous musical and cultural events. While there has been significant restoration of the building, structural improvements to the tower on Clinton Street and its organ are now a major focus for continuing restoration.

Information and tickets are available at 718-875-6960 or office@stannholytrinity.org.


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49011

From the Web

BHB Reader Claims: Car Vandals Hit Remsen Street

October 8, 2012

And we thought it was just us. A few weeks ago some thug stole our hubcaps from our car parked on Columbia Heights. Add that to the random cars we’ve seen on blocks around the area and this reader dispatch to what appears to be a War on Cars in Brooklyn Heights:

Remsen Street tires slashed! My girlfriend moved my car today, only to find it had a slashed tire. She then walked up and down the block (near the corner of Remsen and Hicks) and found that 4-5 other cars had slashed tires.

Unbelievable!


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/48987

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, Celebrity Residents

Italian Zombie Revival for BHB’s Claude Scales

October 8, 2012

BHB legend has it that our own Claude Scales once “starred” in a Zombie flick. Okay, it’s not really a secret, but now an Italian movie fan is giving the film a big thumbs up. Or maybe it’s really a big che diavolo è che. Watch the full clip after the jump.

Self Absorbed Boomer: In the second installment of my Dewey & LeBoeuf saga, I told how my late friend Charlie McCrann wrote a feature length horror movie script as an NYU class project, then later produced, directed, and starred in that film, in which I played a minor role. The movie has been released in various places and formats under various titles: Forest of Fear, Charlie’s working title, in Asia; Bloodeaters, by which it was known at movie houses and drive-ins coast-to-coast in 1980-81; Blood Butchers I’m not sure where; and Toxic Zombies, under which it was packaged as a VHS tape, later DVD, and played on the USA Cable network.

Now I’ve learned that it’s been revived in Italy under the title Il ritorno degli zombi (The Return of the Zombies). The video above is of a review by “Mr. Massy” who, I gather (my Italian doesn’t go much beyond ciao and O che sciagura d’essere senza coglioni!, my favorite quotation from Voltaire), does not think much of the film. Perhaps there’s a strong hint in the graphic at 0.33. There’s a snippet of my part, the very end of it, in which I die perhaps the least gory death in the movie, starting at 10:50.

Skip directly to Claude’s star turn here.


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/48968

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, Landmark Preservation

Columbia Heights Horror Show Adds Graffiti to List of Transgressions

October 8, 2012

While the neglected brownstone at 194 Columbia Heights hasn’t proven the “Broken Windows Theory“, it sure is trying hard to do so. We noticed some graffiti on its front door today. This is another incident in the decline of the worst building on the best block in Brooklyn Heights.

Photo: Qfwfq

In 2009, owner Dr. Austin Moore told the Brooklyn Eagle that he’d “surprise everybody” by doing some improvements in “the spring”. While the roof was patched and a falling debris issue was resolved, continued neglect could end with its demolition.

In the same Eagle story, BHA Executive Director Judy Stanton noted that 194 Columbia Heights “may not yet have reached the threshold required to request a Demolition by Neglect action.”

Indeed. However the continued decay of this building would have warranted a “Kick Me” sign in lieu of the name of a faceless and forgettable tagger.


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/48958

From the Web

Events

Sunday Night’s Explosions Courtesy of…

October 8, 2012

The annual Deepavali celebration at the South Street Seaport was the source of tonights spectacular(ly loud) fireworks display. This is an annual event and we’ve mentioned it before.

Our pals at DUMBONYC point out that you can always find out what’s going on with such things at NYC.gov.

Instagram photo via Jen Carlson


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/48954

From the Web

Music

Brooklyn’s Solange Knowles and Dev Hynes Unleash the Song of the Year

October 6, 2012

While her brother in law Jay-Z was grabbing headlines this week opening the Barclay’s Center, Solange Knowles dropped what is arguably the song of the year on Tuesday.

The Carroll Gardens resident’s catchy new single “Losing You”, produced by Williamsburg’s (by way of Essex, England) Dev Hynes is already garnering critical acclaim. And if that’s not enough Brooklyn for you, it’s been released on Terrible Records, the label run by Grizzly Bear bassist Chris Taylor.

Photo: solangemusic.com

Solangemusic.com

You need look no further than Spin’s Phillip Sherburne, who bestows the song with the distinction of being a game changer to know that it’s one of the most remarkable tunes of 2012:

“Losing You,” produced by Blood Orange’s Devonté Hynes, isn’t without its precedents, though; in fact, it fits in nicely with the retro-leaning, R&B-inflected house that’s all over the so-called underground right now. There’s not really a name for this stuff, despite Seth Troxler’s best efforts to make the term “underground pop” stick — thankfully, it hasn’t — but you can hear it running through a loose network of dance-music DJs who have jettisoned cold, Teutonic techno in favor of Latin freestyle, vintage vocal house, and other sounds that make sense at the Miami and Los Angeles rooftop parties where they hold court. Jamie Jones, Lee Foss, Soul Clap, the Wolf + Lamb extended family, and Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels crew have been caning the hell out of this aesthetic for a while now, and it’s clearly been taking hold, making its way into the Beatport sales charts alongside much more obviously overground electro-house fare. For Solange and Hynes to have picked up on the trend and brought it back into the R&B fold suggests that, whatever you’re going to call it, the sound has well and truly arrived. About damn time: Anything to save us from the deluge of over-compressed trance stabs and moombah-trap silliness that currently defines the overlap between “urban” and “electronic” music. There’s plenty of mediocrity in the wannabe-Balearic house scene too, but in the hands of Solange and Hynes, it feels like a breath of fresh air.

The video, filmed in South Africa by Melina Matsoukas, is a beautiful mosaic of fashion, color and style. While her older sister may be a better dancer by normal standards, Solange’s stomp will make you instantly fall in love with her.

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights

Filming For ABC’s ‘Zero Hour’ Friday: Vehicles Should Be Outta The Way!

October 5, 2012

Just in: Today, Friday, October 5, from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m., filming is taking place for ABC’s “Zero Hour. Cars should already have been moved from the following streets: East & West side of Clinton Street, between State and Atlantic Avenue; North & South side of State Street, between Sidney Place and Court Street; and the East & West side of Atlantic Avenue, between Henry and Court. The posted notice says that vehicles left on the street past 10 p.m. last night “may be relocated to a block nearby.”


Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/48884

From the Web

Arts and Entertainment, Events, Food

Carroll Gardens Greenmarket Hosts Apple Pie Bake Off On Sunday, October 21

October 4, 2012

Fall is in the air at Carroll Gardens Greenmarket. It’s time for the annual Apple Pie Bake Off, on Sunday October 21 at 11 a.m. at the corner of Carroll and Smith Streets. The winning pie-maker will receive a bag of Greenmarket groceries.

Greenmarket Manager Kelly Faust tells Cobble Heights Blog: “If anyone would like to either be on the panel of judges or participate by bringing a pie, please let me know. I would like to invite any and all of you to do so. I’m hoping to have a full table of pies to taste. Please let me know soon if you’d like to judge or bake!” Email Faust here.

For more than 30 years, GrowNYC’s Greenmarket staff, volunteers and farmers have worked to promote regional agriculture, preserve farmland, and to ensure a continuing supply of fresh, local produce for all New Yorkers. More info here.


Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7871

From the Web