Open Thread Wednesday

By on February 1, 2023 7:35 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

Photo: Martha Foley

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  • RW

    Last night I noticed that we can now finally see the building on the corner of Clark and Monroe! It’s far from finished but it’s so nice to have that section of sidewalk finally open. How many years has it been?

  • RW
  • Mike Suko

    “far from finished” doesn’t begin to describe a project – I pass it every day going to/from the Clark St. subway – that was hit with a stop-work order c. 2020-21. NYC’s DOB has this entry and nothing more “positive” since then:
    THE CONSTRUCTION SITE IS UNSAFE. THE WORK BEING DONE IS NOT BEING MAINTAINED PROPERLY. THE CONSTRUCTION WORK IS NOT UP TO CODE. THEY HAVE DAMAGED THE BUILDINGS NEXT DOOR. THEY ARE PUTTING PASSER BYS AT RISK.

    Of course, the change you observed may indicate some recent progress, but my best guess is that the shed on Clark will go back up before very long. Maybe, the owner is about to pivot from “gut rehab” to teardown/rebuild.

  • Andrew Porter

    Silly remark. Landmarks and DOB would not allow “teardown/rebuild.”

    Here’s one of my photos of what necessitated all the reconstruction work (click to enlarge):
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d011c2e9fb545b9ae20321b6bd222363ba710ccb84b9e2f3b284207475fa6308.jpg

  • Andrew Porter

    Photo of 76 Montague Street on Nov. 22, 1915, back when it was a ship chandler, and store to the left, a tailor. See Cat Café photo from Google Streetview in reply:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a0f8fa91acdaee9633953c246b4bf8372bd01beb622a52de78ff32f06452e51e.jpg

  • Andrew Porter
  • darbypow

    I’ve never seen the front of the building next door to the cat cafe – it looks beautiful. Any chance that scaffolding will EVER come down?

  • Jorale-man

    I was just thinking the same thing. That scaffolding is really a blight on that stretch of Montague.

  • Jorale-man

    I noticed some plants in the window of the former Le Pain Quotidien space on Montague yesterday. Is the Georgian restaurant finally getting its act together there? I think Claude had a post about it last summer.

  • Dan Coe

    I actually saw a guy scrapping off the old Le Pain logos/stickers from the windows just yesterday.

  • Banet

    Once again, a reminder that this Saturday morning is the big rummage sale at Grace Church. They are woefully behind on donations of children’s items… toys, books, and especially clothes. As it is extremely difficult to donate children’s toys or clothing. Otherwise, I strongly encourage everyone to dig deep in their closets, and do a bit of a hurry to clean out to get some donations over there by the end of the day, Thursday.

    Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good enough! Don’t worry about clearing out every last object. Just grab a bag full of stuff you are ready to get rid of and get it all over there!

  • Cranberry Beret

    Ozu on Clark Street has been closed by the Dep’t of Health since Jan. 25. “Evidence of mice or live mice in establishment’s food or non-food areas.”

  • MaggieO

    they got a violation in November for unsafe sidewalk shed, so i’m going to guess that this change is just to correct that violation.

  • RW

    This is so disappointing. I’ve always liked it there. The people who run it are very nice and the cocktails aren’t overpriced. I hope they’ll clean up and bounce back from this and not just shut down. We don’t need another empty storefront on that block.

  • clarknt67

    Anyone know what’s going on at the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage around the Old Fulton, York and Prospect st triangle, north and south of the approach ramp. It seems like there has been a lot of clean up and clearing out there behind all the fencing.

    I know XYZ’s Brooklyn Strand street proposal called for this area to be activated as a public market. But I haven’t heard anything about the Strand proceeding beyond study and plan phase.

    I guess it’s more likely related to BQE repairs.

  • karateca2000

    I saw the plants a few weeks ago. I don’t think anyone is watering them because they look yellow.

  • karateca2000

    That’s unfortunate. I order from Ozu a lot. Maybe it is time to switch to Saketumi, which is also good.

  • Mike Suko

    Nah – probably. I did some digging and gave it a close look. They really HAVE completed the facade on the Clark St. side. It’s ugly red brick, but who can recollect what it looked like as it became thoroughly derilict by 2010? … Still, I’ve seen some (Cranberry St. near Inga’s comes to mind) designs that were less ugly that Landmarks nixed. TERRACES on Clark less than 15 feet above the sidewalk?? Either Landmarks was bought off or the developer – seemingly a sleazy operator based in Queens – got one thing approved and then built something a little different.

    “For extra credit,” how many terraces face the streets in the landmarked part of the Hts? (I’m having trouble coming up with ONE such.)

  • RW

    I love Saketumi. Jenny is an incredibly kind and gracious host, and you can’t beat their back garden when the weather’s nice.

  • rdgesq

    I remember several years ago when the city ordered McSorley’s old Ale House to get rid of their cats. Soon after that, they were closed for a while because of evidence of mice. Go figure

  • FatFreddy’sCatheter

    This week’s photo–the sky is amazing!

  • Andrew Porter
  • Red Leader

    I hope so! It would be such a great addition to Montague Street.

  • Effective Presenter

    Freddy,

    We agree.

    Another GREAT Brooklyn Heights Blog picture by Claude.

    Kevin

  • Derval Whelan

    I live cross the street from that building. The scaffolding has been up more than 6 years and no one there can tell me anything about it coming down. the permit has long expired.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    Thanks: it’s actually by my wife, Martha Foley.

  • Effective Presenter

    Thank you Martha Foley, another brilliant talent in Brooklyn Heights.

  • MaggieO

    the sidewalk shed has a current permit. facade repairs also have a current permit, just renewed in January. so there’s a lot of problems, but expired permits isn’t one of them…

  • robertnill

    Whatever happened to the anchor that used to be in front? And wasn’t this once a Chase branch?

  • Jorale-man

    Anyone ever have success in filing a 311 trash complaint? I’ve placed yet another for the abandoned building at the corner of Clinton & Aiken Pl., which is surrounded by litter and rats and now is home to a pair of large, overflowing trash bags on its front step (that were clearly dumped there illegally). It’s a total blight on the neighborhood and neighbors seem to have no recourse in dealing with it.

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