A short piece in today’s Wall Street Journal “What’s The Deal” column, offers a few morsels about retail in Brooklyn Heights. Focusing on Le Pain Quotidien coming to 121 Montague Street, the story notes that this is the cafe’s first Brooklyn store, with 10+ already in Manhattan.
Glenn Markman, an executive VP at Cushman Wakefield, shares that rents currently run as high as $250 per square foot along Montague’s “high-rent retail strip,” Continue Reading →
The issue of safety for pedestrians going to Pier 6 of Brooklyn Bridge Park with its popular playgrounds and volleyball courts has been a priority for the Brooklyn Heights Association for the past year and a half. The BHA now sends us this news:
Ever since the playgrounds opened on Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, the BHA has been appealing to the NYC DOT to make it safe for pedestrians to cross the BQE’s northbound entrance on Atlantic Avenue.
We asked for four things: (1) elimination of the right turn on red signal on Atlantic Avenue at the BQE northbound entrance; (2) a pedestrian only crossing light phase; (3) a dedicated left turn onto the BQE ramp for eastbound vehicles; (4) installation of a red light camera for better enforcement.
The good news is that the DOT plans will make three of these changes, starting this spring! Continue Reading →
We’ve just received word from State Senator Daniel Squadron’s office that he, Assemblywoman Joan Millman, and City Council Member Steve Levin have together asked the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation to issue a new request for proposals to operate a facility that would allow use of the athletic field on Pier 5 during the colder months. They note that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under which the City agreed to fund Park construction includes an appropriation of $750,000 for such a facility, and that the community still wants it. More of their statement follows the jump: Continue Reading →
Brooklyn Bridge Park President Regina Myer is featured on a website called Groovy Careers:
What makes Regina’s job Groovy? She gets to build a cool waterfront park and transform unused land and abandoned piers into much-needed recreational space. How can I do that? Lots of hard work, obtaining a Masters Degree in Urban Planning and getting city planning experience under your belt.
Mr. J. has been a consistent fan of Brooklyn Bridge Park, but on his latest visit he saw something jarring. After a little research, he found something interesting about its provenance. Here’s the Park’s take on it. Video after the jump. Continue Reading →
As reported by Kate Briquelet in The Brooklyn Paper, several local private schools–St. Francis College, Brooklyn Friends School, and Packer Collegiate Institute, along with unidentified others–have expressed their desire to see a regulation sized soccer field with a year-round bubble enclosure and accompanying facilities, built on Pier 5, Brooklyn Bridge Park. Ms. Briquelet quotes Doreen Gallo, president of the DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance, who has worked to get the schools to support the project, as saying the schools are willing to operate the facility, but that they will make it available to the community. The plans for Pier 5 included a field, though not a regulation sized one, enclosed by a bubble, but the plan was scrapped when the Park’s request for proposals got no takers. Park spokesperson Ellen Ryan is quoted in the Brooklyn Paper article as saying Pier 5 is too small to accommodate a regulation sized field.
While the attempted turnover of the Tobacco Warehouse for use as a new home for St. Ann’s Warehouse Theater was effectively stopped by a federal court’s decision in July (and St. Ann’s has found a new, if temporary, home in DUMBO), a New York State court ruled in a parallel action brought by the same plaintiffs as the federal one–the Brooklyn Heights Association, the Fulton Ferry Landing Association, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, and the Preservation League of New York State–that the actions of both the city and state governments in transferring the historic structure were a “nullity because [they] violated New York’s public trust doctrine.” Continue Reading →
Mr. J. and his cam went to Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park, to see the crowd assemble for SANTACON, then joined them on their march over the Brooklyn Bridge. Watch after the jump. Continue Reading →
Giving in to demands by local residents and elected officials, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation has disclosed the names of the people who will decide which of the seven proposed hotel and residential complexes will be built next to Pier 1.
The Brooklyn Paper: On Monday, park staff revealed the four members on the heretofore mysterious selection committee: Regina Myer and David Lowin of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation; Joshua Laird of the Parks Department; and Joshua Gelfman of the Economic Development Corporation. Continue Reading →
Ben Bankson, President of the Willowtown Association, attended this afternoon’s meeting of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, and gives us this report:
Construction of two more sections of Brooklyn Bridge Park on the East River waterfront–a bridge from Squibb Park on Columbia Heights over Furman Street to the park and three playing fields and an adjoining picnic peninsula on Pier 5–is expected to commence in January following authorization of construction contracts for the sections at a meeting of the board of directors of the BBP corporation at noon on Tuesday, December 5, at the park’s newly opened offices on Furman at Joralemon Street. Continue Reading →
This brief announcement just received from the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation: Continue Reading →
The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy is looking for volunteers to serve on a committee to choose movies to be shown in next summer’s Syfy Movies With a View series of free outdoor screenings on Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park. You will need to attend three meetings–one each in December, January, and February–and participate in volunteer commitments during the summer. The deadline for applications is next Wednesday, November 30. If you’re interested, please e-mail Alison Hughes, ahughes@bbpc.net
Last night at Borough Hall, Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation (BBPDC) representatives publicly revealed seven responses to the previously announced Request for Proposals (RFP) for a developer to build and operate a hotel and market priced residential housing on two reserved development parcels in Brooklyn Bridge Park near Pier 1. Representatives presented slide visuals to the general public, the BBP Citizens Advisory Council, and Community Board 2 Parks Committee members. Following the presentation there was a question and comments period.
The BBPDC slide presentation provides renderings of each developer’s proposal. Click to view the presentation (PDF/40mg).
The selection process now enters a month-long public comment period. What do you think about the proposals? Applause, criticism, favorite designs? The public is welcome to submit comments. And of course let’s also hear what everyone thinks through BHB comments below.
The Brooklyn Paper also has an article about last night’s meeting and development presentation.
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A year ago last June the intrepid Karl Junkersfeld toook a stroll around Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park and made the acquaintance of Rosa rugosa. Yesterday morning your correspondent took a similar stroll and found some of the flowers still in bloom, along with the rose hips that look like small tomatoes.
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Brooklyn Bugle
Open Thread Wednesday, February 8, 2012
UPDATE: Shiba Inu “Lili” Is Home!
The Brooklyn Bugle’s Knishes Preview at Brooklyn Heights Cinema a Success
Montague Street, Meet Your New Starbucks
Le Pain Quotidien Taking Shape
I Want Candy? 20 Henry Condos At Last Hit The Market
Damascus Bakery getting some competition
The Brooklyn Bugle’s Knishes Preview at Brooklyn Heights Cinema a Success
UPDATE: Shiba Inu “Lili” Is Home!
TONIGHT! Preview of Heather Quinlan’s “If These Kniches Could Talk”
I Want Candy? 20 Henry Condos At Last Hit The Market
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