Here is a 1952 view of the incomplete Brooklyn Queens Expressway, with people on the newly opened Brooklyn Heights Promenade over the new highway. The BQE just comes to an end at the lower right corner, with the Brooklyn Bridge far in the distance.
See original full-size photo on Flickr here.
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41256
Film critic Aaron Hillis—editor of GreenCine Daily and programmer at indie cinema and gastropub reRun at reBar in DUMBO—is bringing a new spin to a retro business venture: He’s taking over a beloved video store in Cobble Hill.
According to Filmmaker Magazine (and first tipped by McBrooklyn), Hillis’ operation of decade-old “Video Free Brooklyn” at 244 Smith Street, will now be all artisanal and perhaps co-op. “I want to reinvent the video store experience and make it fun again,” he says. Hillis will be at the front counter as of June 1.
Filmmaker muses, “At a time when the independent film world is obsessed with VOD, downloads and streaming, Hillis is time-traveling back to the world of plastic cases, late fees and, on the more positive side, savvy clerks who know you, your tastes and are vocal in their recommendations.”
Hillis tells the magazine:
Video Free Brooklyn (has) been a real staple, an institution in my neighborhood of Cobble Hill for the last decade. The owner, Dan Wu, has lived in Kentucky for a few years and wants to pursue another endeavor. And the store has been sustainable. It’s in a well-trafficked area and caters to a media-savvy (clientele), a community that needs to be served with a well-curated video store.
I’m not scared of things like Netflix, because that’s so impersonal. I’ve got 200 movies in my instant streaming queue and I’m not watching any of them because I click on them and I feel that’s good enough. It’s like a Facebook friend: It doesn’t have the same perceived value. And I’ve had so much interest from people within the film industry—critics, filmmakers, programmers—that it may end up like a co-op, mainly staffed by film-minded people, many of whom will have full-time jobs already and will be working their required monthly shifts. I want to reinvent the video store experience and make it fun again.
Read the full Filmmaker interview with Hillis here.
Source: Cobble Hill Blog
http://cobblehillblog.com/archives/7269
Tomorrow, May 31, is the birthdate of Brooklyn’s hallowed poet & journalist Walt Whitman. He was born in 1819 in Long Island, but his family moved to Brooklyn when he was 4, and he spent much of his professional life in the Borough. In 1846, Whitman became editor of the Brooklyn Eagle, and contributed freelance fiction & poetry. He was fired in 1848, because his political views clashed with the newspaper’s owner’s.
Whitman’s major work, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855. He used his own money to print 795 copies. The widely distributed work was described as obscene for its overt sexuality. Grass was revised several more times until his death in 1892. The collection was hardly a cash cow, and Whitman returned to journalism in 1857, as editor of Brooklyn’s Daily Times. He oversaw the paper’s contents, contributed book reviews & wrote editorials.
Oh, and speaking of editorials… It’s Open Thread Wednesday. What’s on your mind? (Photo: Chuck Taylor)
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41356
Residents of 85 Livingston Street at the Brooklyn Heights/Downtown Brooklyn border are battling a $60 to $90 a month rent hike for 30 or so rent-stabilized units in the coop building, saying it will “devastate” the mostly elderly folks living in those apartments. While the majority of the building was converted to coops in 1989, developer Mark Teitelbaum—who owns the rental units—insists that improvements to the building warrant the increase.
The New York Daily News reported Tuesday May 29 that Teitelbaum insists the hike is justified because he financed work to caulk and waterproof bricks on the building’s facade that co-op owners in the building decided to do.
The issue in question: Those renovations began in 2004, while Teitelbaum filed with the state Department of Housing and Community Renewal for the rent increase two years after the work was finished. Initially, his application was denied, but he appealed and the agency reversed its decision. On Thursday, DHCR issued an order upholding the rent increase, saying work on the building continued long enough that the application met the deadline.
In addition to the monthly increase of $60-$90 a month, Teitelbaum is demanding $2,500 in retroactive rent from each tenant. He originally owned 75 rental apartments in the building, and has sold them at market value as tenants moved out. Note: The Daily News story evades what seems to be an important detail: What the current monthly rent is for any of those 23-year stabilized units.
Residents insist the DHCR decree to increase rent isn’t valid, since Teitelbaum didn’t file for the hike until 2008. They also claim it will displace the elderly, including 94-year-old Margaret Cafiero, who has lived at 85 Livingston Street for 30+ years: “It’s putting a burden on people to raise the rent so much at one time,” she told the Daily News. “It’s like fighting City Hall; you never win.”
However, Deputy Commissioner Woody Pascal wrote about the Thursday decision, “At their core, the tenants’ primary objections are based on the impact of the increase rather than its supporting factual basis. DHCR must administer the increase in accordance with law.”
Zaida Concepcion, 62, another resident who has lived in the building 35 years, said, “He wants us out. He wants the apartments. He’s licking his chops, waiting for them.”
City Councilman Steve Levin (D-Brooklyn Heights), is siding with residents: “Almost every one of the renters are senior citizens, and many on fixed incomes. If these rent increases go through, some of these seniors may be out on the street.”
Read the Daily News story here.
(Photo: New York Daily News)
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41427
Mount Sinai Brooklyn Heights Medical Group has signed a lease for 75,060 square feet at One Pierrepont Plaza. The private medical practice will take the 17th and 18th floors in the 19-story tower on Clinton Street (300 Cadman Plaza) in Brooklyn Heights. After renovations, the tenant is scheduled to move in January 2013.
The space was previously used as a data center by investment bank Goldman Sachs, according to The New York Observer. The medical group will use the space for an ambulatory care office, urgent care, cardiology, general surgery, neurology and plastic surgery, among other medical practices.
FOR MASSIVE COMMENTARY ON THIS ISSUE, SEE OPEN THREAD WEDNESDAY, 5/30. IT HAS BEEN CO-OPTED AS THE DAY’S HOT TOPIC THERE.
The two partners—Mount Sinai Medical Center and WESTMED Practice Partners (a Westchester-based physician-owned private medical practice)—have been looking to move into the Brooklyn market.
Read more here.
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41438
Brooklyn’s handsome Borough Hall is all decked out for the Memorial Day holiday, with flags unfurled and flowers surrounding the fountain in full bloom. Ooh, la la!
(Photos: Chuck Taylor/iPhone)
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41409
As the BHB has been regularly following, the former Brooklyn Eagle building at 30 Henry Street & Middagh—purchased for $3.5 million in November 2011 by DUMBO-based developer Fortis Manor—was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in December for a five-story, six-unit condo building to take its place.
On May 17, the new owner filed a permit for building demolition, and they’re wasting no time getting down to business: The block is now surrounded by plywood fencing along the front and north side, as the Eagle prepares to take flight and, uh, tumble to the ground.
Plans for the replacement red brick structure include underground parking and a courtyard with waterfall. See rendering below.
The Brooklyn Eagle building was constructed in 1963 and although landmarked, the Preservation Commission was easily convinced that the historic value of the one-story structure was of little value. And so it goes…
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41325
What a world: A nighttime view of the Manhattan Bridge, Empire State Building and City skyline from Fulton’s Landing, next to Brooklyn Bridge Park (Photo: QuietStorm)
See the original in high-res here.
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41279
Sunny, 84 degrees and teeming with residents, New Yorkers and tourists from all over the world. Memorial Day couldn’t be more of a pleasure in Brooklyn Heights today. Enjoy! (Photos: Chuck Taylor)
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41268
A five-story, 5,500-square-foot townhouse at 94 Hicks Street in North Brooklyn Heights (between Orange and Pineapple streets) has just been listed by Corcoran for a luxe $8.5 million. The building is currently configured as five free-market apartments.
Corcoran suggests: “Combine the units to create a single family masterpiece or maintain one or more of the units for guests, family or income.” The whole kit and kaboodle is 21-feet wide on a 25′X100′ lot, with a side yard entrance leading to a landscaped backyard. (See interior photos below.)
The home was built in 1868 in the “Second Empire” style, with original detail, high ceilings and elegant proportions throughout, the listing says, while the garden and parlor floors have large windows on three sides. A grand staircase leads to the roof, where there are views of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.
See more photos and the property’s floorplan here.
Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41241