Homer Fink – Brooklyn Bugle

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.

From the Web

Brooklyn Heights, Real Estate

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

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

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)