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Most Walkable Nabes In NYC: Brooklyn Heights & Cobble Hill

Most Walkable Nabes In NYC: Brooklyn Heights & Cobble Hill

No surprise to those of us in the know, but hipster pub The L Magazine notes that Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill are “the most walkable neighborhoods in Brooklyn,” according to a study by Walk Score published on website Slate.

The webbie bases its “walk scores” on the amount and accessibility of amenities, including restaurants, movie theater and schools. New York City is the most walkable out of 50 cities surveyed, with a score of 85.3 out of 100, which The L Word notes was knocked down by “unwalkable” Staten Island. Continue Reading →

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Phenomenal Photography Of Heights Resident Rick Elkins

Phenomenal Photography Of Heights Resident Rick Elkins

Brooklyn Heights’ resident Rick Elkins, who works as an art director and editorial/advertising photographer, shared with BHB a series of eight stunning photographs from his portfolio. To see his Flickr photostream, click here, and here for a set of 131 NYC-centric pics. (See large images below the jump.)

Elkins tells us, “Six of these were taken in Brooklyn Heights proper. The ballerina is in DUMBO, but it shows the Brooklyn Bridge, which is a really big part of our neighborhood. And the one of the harbor taken from up on the Bridge shows the area we see from our neighborhood, just from a different angle.” Continue Reading →

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Heights’ Packer Institute Grads To Open New Eatery In Fort Greene

Heights’ Packer Institute Grads To Open New Eatery In Fort Greene

Two 2001 graduates from Brooklyn Heights’ Packer Collegiate Institute are staying true to the borough by opening a restaurant in nearby Fort Greene. Pals Alan Cooper and Stephen Cohen plan to launch Prospect Restaurant at 773 Fulton Street in July, in the space of recently closed Mediterranean Aqualis Grill.

The pair was interviewed April 5 in the New York Times blog “The Local,” after the American eatery’s license was approved by the Community Board 2 Health Committee. The spot will offer 53 seats and a full bar, serving dinner seven days a week and brunch on weekends. Continue Reading →

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Quote Of The Day: Actress Ana Gasteyer Praises The Promenade

Quote Of The Day: Actress Ana Gasteyer Praises The Promenade

ABC comedy Suburgatory cast member and former Saturday Night Live regular Ana Gasteyer, who resides in DUMBO, is profiled in New York magazine’s Daily Intel.

Among the questions New York mag tossed at the actor, singer and comedienne: “Where do you go to be alone?” Her response: “The Brooklyn Heights Promenade and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. But I have small children, so I’m not really ever alone.” Continue Reading →

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Downtown’s Dekalb Market Opens 2012 Season April 7

Downtown’s Dekalb Market Opens 2012 Season April 7

You’ve got to see it to believe it. Situated over an entire square block, Dekalb Market in Downtown Brooklyn is constructed from recycled shipping containers converted into 60+ food & retail shops that frame a space for outdoor events and programs.

The 2012 season launches Saturday April 7, at 138 Willoughby Street and the Flatbush Avenue Extension, offering a cornucopia of art, music, food & film events, as well as the new Dekalb outdoor performance and event space, a permanent beer & wine garden, “The Dekalb Farm” and 60 stores & food shops and outdoor weekend vendors, all “set against the gritty-cool urban backdrop of downtown Brooklyn.” Continue Reading →

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Downtown BK Skyline Reaches For New Heights

Downtown BK Skyline Reaches For New Heights

The long-stalled Downtown City Point Towers retail and residential complex in Downtown Brooklyn is aiming for the clouds. The Brooklyn Paper got an exclusive look this week at new mock-ups presented to Community Board 2, showing two potential horizon-altering skyscrapers at the site of the former Albee Square Mall, on the Flatbush Avenue Extension between Willoughby Street and DeKalb Avenue.

One of the two towers could reach 65 stories or more, with a targeted completion of 2015, while the second would be wrapped in 2016, said Paul Travis of developer Washington Square Partners. That would make it Brooklyn’s tallest building, period. Continue Reading →

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Frozen Yogurt Shop iCrave Coming To Court

Frozen Yogurt Shop iCrave Coming To Court

A poster has lit up the window of a storefront at 115 Court Street between Schermerhorn and State streets on the border between Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn, promoting upcoming frozen yogurt shop iCrave, promising to be “swirling soon” with “21 fantastic flavors” and “savory smoothies.”

Brownstoner reports that the space has turned over numerous times in recent years, including a previous frozen yogurt joint, Yogo Monster. A few doors down there’s already competition, at Red Mango. Continue Reading →

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High Street iRobber Foiled

High Street iRobber Foiled

A tech-savvy police officer from the 84th Precinct helped catch a thief this afternoon. According to cops, a 32-year-old woman fell prey to an armed robber at the High Street station just before 1:20 P.M. The suspect fled with the victim’s pocketbook and iPhone. The victim quickly found an officer stationed on Pearl Street and reported the incident. Officer Benito Ocasio, honored as a Cop of the Month in 2009, suggested that he might be able to track the phone using the victim’s iTunes account. In doing so, they saw that the phone was then in the vicinity of 111 Bridge St. in the Farragut Houses. Responding there, police found the suspect exiting the building…with a ringing phone. He was stopped, positively identified by the victim, and taken into custody. The victim’s property, including credit cards and state ID, was recovered. Police have identified the suspect as Brian Mack, 55. He now faces charges of robbery, grand larceny, menacing, possession of a weapon, and criminal trespass.

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Say ‘How Do’ To Your New DUMBO Neighbor: Anne Hathaway

Say ‘How Do’ To Your New DUMBO Neighbor: Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway seems to have a penchant for Brooklyn. The Oscar-nominated doe-eyed actress—who is starring next as Catwoman in this summer’s “The Dark Knight Rises”—has just moved from her BK Prospect Heights home to… DUMBO.

Both Curbed and Gothamist are reporting a goodie bag of details: She and fiancé Adam Shulman have moved into a rental unit in the Clocktower building at 1 Main Street, setting up house in a 1BR with home office going for $6,400 a month. Continue Reading →

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Is Sephora Coming To Brooklyn Heights?

Is Sephora Coming To Brooklyn Heights?

The New York Post story that revealed Whole Foods is coming to Williamsburg also had a buried item claiming that make-up and fragrance superstore Sephora is reportedly “close to signing a lease” in the Brooklyn Municipal Building—the first we’ve heard of this.

The location of Brooklyn’s first Sephora: Joralemon and Court Street, right at the border between Brooklyn Heights and Downtown’s Fulton Street Mall. Racked reveals that the space would be a 6,500-square-foot corner spot on the first floor of the Municipal Building, where 37,000 sf are being developed as the Brooklyn Heights Plaza. Continue Reading →

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P.S. 8 Spring Gala Friday, March 23.

P.S. 8 Spring Gala Friday, March 23.

P.S. 8, our local public elementary (and soon to be middle as well) school will hold its Spring Gala on Friday, March 23, from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m, at the Powerhouse Arena in DUMBO, at 37 Main Street (corner of Water). There will be cocktails, hors d’ouevres, and both live and silent auctions. Amy Klein, the P.S. 8 parent in charge of the auctions, says:

We have over 200 items, really great stuff this year, including sporting tickets, jewelry, restaurants, summer camps, and some great unique experiences. Of course all the funds will go toward paying for teachers’ aides, enrichment, things that other schools might take for granted. Continue Reading →

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The Bread Line: Adams Street Panera Opens For Business

The Bread Line: Adams Street Panera Opens For Business

The Panera Bread sandwich chain opened for business today, March 12, in its new Downtown Brooklyn location at 345 Adams Street, steps from the Brooklyn Marriott.

Two more restaurants are destined to join Panera on Adams Street in what is being deemed a mini “Restaurant Row”: Sugar and Plumm, a combination restaurant, ice cream parlor and chocolate retailer; and American BBQ and Beer Co. Construction on both restaurants, located side by side, began this month. Continue Reading →

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DUMBO Getting “Surf and Snow” Shop

DUMBO Getting “Surf and Snow” Shop

A surfing website picks up, verbatim, Two Trees’ press release about three new lease deals in DUMBO: one for a “locally sourced restaurant from the team behind Colonie in Brooklyn Heights” to be located at 15 Main Street; another for an outlet for bakery One Girl Cookies at 33 Main; and a third for Aegir Boardworks, a “surf and snow” shop that will occupy what “was formerly a barren loading dock” at 99 Water Street. Video after the jump. Continue Reading →

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Quote Of The Day: ‘People Choose Brooklyn For Its Lifestyle’

Quote Of The Day: ‘People Choose Brooklyn For Its Lifestyle’

This may not come as a surprise to those who live in Brooklyn, but collegiate blog The Brooklyn Ink published a piece Friday March 9, asking “Is Brooklyn Still A Bargain?” looking at real estate trends in the borough’s trendiest neighborhoods versus Manhattan.

The overall conclusion: The notion that Brooklyn living is only for bargain hunters is gone. More people are choosing Brooklyn for its lifestyle than its rents. “You see people going there because they want to actually live there,” says Andrew Barrocas, CEO of real estate company MNS, “and they are willing to pay a premium in order to do it.” Continue Reading →

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A Sentimental Stroll Through Downtown Brooklyn

A Sentimental Stroll Through Downtown Brooklyn

It wasn’t until I worked for the U.S. Census Bureau between February and August 2010 that I truly discovered Brooklyn. While I had lived in Brooklyn Heights for a decade, my compass always seemed to point toward Manhattan, where I worked and played. [See Photo gallery below the jump]

But with the Census gig, I had the opportunity to discover on a block-by-block (if not door-to-door) basis more than I ever realized was just east of the Heights: Sunset Park, Fort Greene, Park Slope, Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and—my favorite—Downtown Brooklyn.

Strolling through Fulton Mall every day on the way to the Census office on Flatbush Avenue as it was just beginning mass renewal, the sidewalks were widened, new bus stands and street lights installed, streets were repaved and repositioned for bus traffic only. The age-old Fulton Mall sign came down… Something big was happening here. Continue Reading →

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