Open Thread Wednesday

By on February 21, 2024 12:01 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Banet

    Unmentioned here is the closing of the Italian Ice place on Columbia Place. I’ll admit, I’m not surprised.

    Somehow Cloudy Doughnut persists, despite only being open 3 days a week. I can’t imagine how they make the rent work that way – you’d think they could be open all week producing product for restaurants or something. Or even renting out their kitchen for others to use. Bizarre.

  • bheightschad

    Does anyone know what the sidewalk construction is about at Clark and Columbia Heights?

  • Cranberry Beret

    Last week a truck sheared off the entire 20 foot, street-facing side of the Joe Coffee outdoor dining area. (Hicks & Pineapple) All their plantings tumbled out though it looks like they salvaged some.

    This was on Wednesday, when parking is normally supposed to switch to the east side of Hicks. But alternate-side parking was suspended for Ash Wednesday. On Heights streets with pseudo-alternate-side, 1-day-a-week-switch, that translates to parking allowed on both sides. It makes passage really tight.

    I’ve never understood the city’s logic that goes like this: “Some Brooklyn Heights streets are so narrow that we should only allow parking on one side. Except when a holiday falls on the alternate-side day — then parking on both sides is no problem.”

  • Hotel Bossert is in play

    Anyone know the results of the Bossert Hotel auction yesterday?

  • karateca2000

    Donuts are ~5 each, so it must be very profitable.

  • Jorale-man

    In that same category belongs Joralemon Street between Clinton & Henry. “No parking on the right side of the street. Except if you’re city employee and then you get to flout the law and make the street a narrow canyon to squeeze through.”

  • Andrew Porter

    You forgot Middagh Street, where the fire fighters park anywhere they want.

  • Andrew Porter

    Here’s a photo of the Bossert in 1910. Note that back then, the building didn’t go all the way to Remsen Street:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d5a494f8c85b6edf2a55e662414a8889f37021f8736aeed58afaba62ea48f392.png

  • Andrew Porter

    A 1905 Colorized postcard of City Hall, aka Borough Hall, with the Fulton Street elevated train tracks at left:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/48f7f88a5697eb8e64f1adebe73c8406eb9cd650566f4d1c4168d88dd855d9c0.png

  • Andrew Porter
  • robertnill

    Very cool. You can also see the two town houses at Remsen and Hicks replaced by my building, 60 Remsen Street. We have the 1940 tax photo and the one on the left was already boarded up.

  • Banet

    I once saw the tax photo of the carriage house on the corner of Hicks and Grace Court Alley – the one directly behind the brownstone on the corner of Hicks and Remsen… you’ve never seen a more baroque, over-the-top, ornate building in your life. It’s like Richardson himself threw everything on his toolbox at that tiny little building. Such a shame it was torn down for something as generic-looking as 60 Remsen (no offense to those who enjoy living there).

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    They are leveling corner sidewalks in the area to make them safer for wheelchair access (so that wheelchairs do not slide into the street).

  • Andrew Porter

    You can see the easternmost building in this real estate brochure image of 70 Remsen Street:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6232dce8f99d27ed7861f085f90ed69c6e221eeb024aea1ac409435a45d821a8.png

  • clarknt67

    No rooftop bar and supper club either.

  • Remsenster

    Or how about on Remsen Street if you have a placard that you are Attending Liturgy at the church at the corner of Henry Street

  • Bossert

    Poking around for an update, I came across an article from the BK Eagle from January that speculated that the Bossert might become a shelter due to the high debt and low valuation of the property.

    Read it here:

    http://web.archive.org/web/20240124153517/https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2024/01/23/hotel-bossert-in-foreclosure-speculation-of-its-future-runs-rampant/

    Very curious what the outcome of the auction was now.

  • Banet

    A shelter seems unlikely as the city would have to out I’d everyone else, which I imagine would cost $10s of millions of dollars.

    Here’s hoping the BHA finds out and shares the news.

  • Bossert

    There have been more unlikely shelters and given the community blinders that the city puts on when placing shelters, I have no faith they would make a rationale decision.

    What’s super concerning to me is that there has been no statement from Lincoln Restler, Jo Anne Simon, the BHA, the Montague BID on such a seminal issue for the area.

    Seriously, what are my BHA dues for?

  • A Neighbor

    Why not try an email yourself? I emailed the BHA and they haven’t heard anything and think it may have been cancelled or postponed.