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City Council Approves Skyscraper Historic District

Today the City Council approved the Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District by a vote of 46-1, with two abstentions. The Brooklyn Paper: Preservationists hailed the city for protecting a slew of Romanesque Revival and Beaux-Arts structures, including the tiered co-op 75 Livingston St., which housed some of the designation’s most vocal opponents. “We’re thrilled,” said […]

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NY Daily News Weighs In On Downtown Landmarking: “No Good Reason”

The New York Daily News published a to-the-point Opinion piece titled “The Battle Of Brooklyn” condemning the proposed Brooklyn Downtown Skyscraper District, which is heading for a full City Council vote February 1. The five-paragraph story calls the bid to protect the 21 buildings “transparently nonsense.”

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Downtown Brooklyn “Skyscraper District” On Track For Approval

Despite vehement opposition from segments of the local real estate community, the downtown Brooklyn “Borough Hall Skyscraper District” is on track for approval by the New York City Council. On Tuesday, January 24, the plan offering landmark protection to 21 buildings that abut Brooklyn Heights, was given a go by the Council’s landmarks subcommittee, all […]

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Will Someone Buy the Heights Cinema Building to Preserve It?

Kate Briquelet’s Brooklyn Paper story quotes Brooklyn Heights Cinema owner Kenn Lowy as saying he has “received e-mails from people interested in buying the building.” The Brooklyn Paper: “There are a lot of people who want to keep it around,” said Lowy, who hopes to find a new home for the theater if the building […]

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BHS Exhibit Praised on Times Opinion Page

Brooklyn native and New York Times writer Francis X. Clines, in a short essay at the bottom of today’s opinion page, observes: Just as Americans visit the Old World in search of family roots, tourists are showing up at the Brooklyn Historical Society, in hopes of tracking down their grandparents’ neighborhood ties and old houses […]

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Modifications to 72 Poplar on CB2 Executive Committee Agenda Tomorrow Evening

The plans of the development company that bought 72 Poplar Street, the former NYPD building (see photo), will be considered at the meeting of the Executive Committee of Community Board 2 tomorrow (Monday, January 23) evening, starting at 6:00, at the Library Learning Center, room 515, of Long Island University, at DeKalb and Hudson Avenues.

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REBNY Amps Efforts To Quash “Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District” Landmarking

The Real Estate Board of New York is amping its drive to derail the still-tentative landmarking of 21 buildings in downtown Brooklyn, by sending out a mailing to thousands of area residents urging them to bend City Council’s ear against the newly proposed historic district. In addition, on Friday, REBNY sent a letter to City […]

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…Meanwhile, New Design for 30 Henry Approved

According to Brownstoner, the Landmarks Preservation Commission has approved a new design for the five story residential building to replace the Eagle at 30 Henry Street, at the corner of Middagh. NOTE: the picture on the linked Brownstoner post is of a bank building in Williamsburg, not a rendering of the new 30 Henry design. […]

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Source: Plans for 70 Henry Street Withdrawn from LPC Hearing

According to a BHB source the landlord of 70 Henry Street, Tom Caruana, has withdrawn his  proposal for a new structure at 70 Henry St. to Community Board 2’s Landmarks Committee.  The building currently is the home of the Brooklyn Heights Cinema, which would be displaced if the plan were to move forward. No word yet on […]

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BHS Opens Year’s Programming with Author of Literary Brooklyn Tomorrow Evening; Building Tour Saturday

The Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street (corner of Clinton) will open its 2012 series of events tomorrow evening, Wednesday, January 18, starting at 7:00, with a discussion on literature in Brooklyn, giving special emphasis to the Borough’s (then City’s) first literary great, Walt Whitman. Evan Hughes will discuss his recently published book Literary Brooklyn, […]

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