A Peek Inside Montague Street’s New Starbucks

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A Peek Inside Montague Street’s New Starbucks

By Chuck Taylor on May 22, 2012 9:27 pm in Commercial Real Estate

The new Starbucks location at 134 Montague Street, which opened May 12, was a concern for some residents because the new space was apparently so narrow that the mommy crowd was going to have difficulty pushing strollers to the back counter (opposing viewpoint: moms were going to be ramming strollers into customers on either side).

We took a peek inside the store earlier this week and while it is indeed deep and narrow—with limited light coming in—the new joint seems to have a wide enough public throughway to accommodate all. In fact, you’ll note a stroller parked to the right side. Continue Reading →

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Roof Cornice Breaks Off At 7 Old Fulton Street

By Chuck Taylor on May 21, 2012 2:15 pm in brooklyn bridge park, Brooklyn Heights, Commercial Real Estate, DUMBO, Landmark Preservation, Video

Our faithful videographer & correspondent Karl Junkersfeld was on the scene on the Brooklyn Heights/DUMBO border as a piece of the roof cornice at 7 Old Fulton Street—which houses a restaurant by the same name and has apartments above—collapsed onto the street, at 12:45 Monday afternoon. Fortunately, no one was injured. Karl notes that a similar incident recently took place at Grimaldi’s Pizza up the street. See his 1:21-minute report below. Continue Reading →

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Heights’ Dahn Yoga Named Chain’s Center Of The Month

By Chuck Taylor on May 21, 2012 12:35 pm in Commercial Real Estate, Health

Controversial wellness chain Dahn Yoga & Health Centers has deemed its Brooklyn Heights studio the May Center of the Month, out of more than 115 locations nationwide and nearly two dozen in the New York metro.

The Heights Dahn center at 130 Clinton Street, between Joralemon and Livingston, was awarded kudos, according to its corporate press release, because it “features a number of creative, high-energy participants,” including Center manager Amy Long Continue Reading →

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Heights’ Downtown Neighbor Reclaims Residential Rights

By Chuck Taylor on May 18, 2012 7:16 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn History, Downtown Brooklyn, Real Estate

In recent times, the 15,000 folks that reside across the half-square mile of Brooklyn designated as “Downtown”—unfolding at the ends of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges—have again earned the right to call their locale a “neighborhood.” With a massive influx of new residential projects, it is no longer merely “near Brooklyn Heights” or “on the edge of Boerum Hill,” says Nora McCauley, who has lived in the destination for six years. “I’ve started to say just that I live Downtown.”

That’s the calling card of a Thursday New York Times story titled “To the Heights and the Slope, Add ‘Downtown’.” Continue Reading →

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Brooklyn Heights Rallies For Montague Street Retail Corridor

By Chuck Taylor on May 18, 2012 12:09 am in Brooklyn Heights, Commercial Real Estate, Food, Shopping, Streets

Call it what you will… resurrection, revitalization, renaissance or even recovery. The Montague Street retail corridor is healthier than it has been since the economic collapse of 2009… Over the past year or so, a dozen or so new businesses have gained traction, including restaurants, spas, bodegas, bakeries and clothiers. Let’s take a walk up Montague, shall we?

* Around the corner from 84 Montague Street’s Heights Cafe, at 214 & 216 Hicks Street, Della Rocco’s of Brooklyn is coming in June, a brick-oven pizzeria and bar, operated by Brooklyn-bred brothers Greg and Glenn Markman and Joseph Secondino.

* Across the street, the three narrow retail spaces are all filled for the first time in years: At 89 Montague is bodega Continue Reading →

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Montague Street Revitalization Continues With Launch Of Ruby And Jenna

By Chuck Taylor on May 18, 2012 12:07 am in Brooklyn Heights, Commercial Real Estate, Shopping

As we reported a month ago, women’s apparel boutique Ruby and Jenna has opened at 130 Montague Street, above beauty salon Dashing Diva. The store made its soft opening Thursday. Both owners were present, offering an amiable, “Come back and see us, darling.” Two fun chicks.

According to the store’s website, it offers “trendy, contemporary clothing reasonably priced, without sacrificing style.” Other locations are in Manhattan (a pop-up at 1282 Broadway & 33rd) and in Brooklyn at 1308 Kings Highway, as well as Plainview, N.Y., Greenwich, Conn., Hoboken and Westfield, N.J., with another opening this summer in Southampton. Continue Reading →

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Brooklyn Heights Cinema At 70 Henry Street To Be Razed, After All

By Chuck Taylor on May 17, 2012 3:16 pm in Architecture, Brooklyn Heights, Commercial Real Estate, Landmark Preservation, movies

After a push & pull tug of war throughout 2012, it appears the beloved Brooklyn Heights Cinema building at 70 Henry Street is about to meet the wrecking all, after all. But there’s hope: Plans call for a movie theater on the ground level.

BHB Top 10 2011 honoree and Cinema owner Ken Lowy—who wrote this guest post in January—said then that his lease runs until June 30. According to a Brownstoner post today, a new five-story rental will indeed replace the current building, which will result in shuttering of the theater in August.

SEE KEN LOWY’S COMMENT ON THIS POST AFTER THE JUMP…
Continue Reading →

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30 Henry Street Reaps $500K Above Asking Price

By Chuck Taylor on May 15, 2012 2:37 pm in Commercial Real Estate, Development, Landmark Preservation

DUMBO-based developer Fortis Manor, which purchased the homely one-story Brooklyn Eagle Building at 30 Henry Street & Middagh in November 2011, paid $3.5 million for the property, according to a post today on Brownstoner. Broker Massey Knakal confirmed the figure, which is $500K over its asking price of $3 million.

That comes out to a cost of $209 per buildable square foot. Brownstoner notes that the site allows for a total of 16,740SF on the site. As previously reported, a six-story red brick building is slated to take its place. Continue Reading →

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‘Real Deal’ Profiles Heights’ Resident & Highbrow Broker Elizabeth Stribling

By Chuck Taylor on May 15, 2012 10:31 am in Brooklyn Heights, Commercial Real Estate, Profiles

Elizabeth Stribling, founder of Stribling & Associates real-estate brokerage, made headlines in 2008 when she relocated from the Upper East Side’s East 84th Street to Brooklyn Heights, in a record-setting $6.6 million 12th-floor 3,442SF pad at One Brooklyn Bridge Park. This month, she is profiled in The Real Deal in a story titled “Stribling: The Next Generation,” which focuses on her company’s “branding overhaul aimed at modernizing the 32-year-old firm’s somewhat stuffy” persona.

In the piece, Stribling reflects, “No one could believe I was moving to Brooklyn,” although she has certainly developed an affinity for the borough. Continue Reading →

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What Say You? Montague Street Biz Improvement District Survey

By Chuck Taylor on May 15, 2012 9:02 am in Brooklyn Heights, Commercial Real Estate, Parking, Shopping, Streets, Traffic

The Montague Street Business Improvement District is calling on all Brooklyn Heights Blog readers and area residents to participate in a survey to collect info on what folks think about programs & services in the nabe’s primary retail destination, as it strategizes future goals.

Four survey respondents will be randomly selected by BID to receive a $50 gift certificate at the Montague Street business of their choice. Housing Works, here I come! What are you waiting for? Access the questionnaire here. Continue Reading →

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Century 21 Department Store Commits To Fulton Mall: Opening In 2015

By Chuck Taylor on May 12, 2012 12:14 am in Brooklyn Heights, Development, Downtown Brooklyn, Shopping

Following Downtown Brooklyn’s gentrification with the recent arrival or soon-to-open Shake Shack, Gap, Panera Bread, H&M and T.J. Maxx along Fulton Mall, the latest retailer committing to the rapidly expanding shopping destination is Century 21 Department Store.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the high-end label discount retailer has signed a deal to open a 125,000 SF store in the City Point development: the first new department store in Downtown BK since the 1970s. Continue Reading →

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Starbucks’ New Montague Street Locale Opens Saturday

By Chuck Taylor on May 11, 2012 11:11 pm in Commercial Real Estate, Food

The new Starbucks location at 134 Montague Street opens for business Saturday May 12, as the windows at the previous store at 112 Montague were covered in brown paper Friday night, with an arrow pointing up the street.

As previously reported, the new space at the former Nine West shoe store will sacrifice major window vistas along the front, although the folks at Heights Vision next door told BHB that it is deeper and offers more square footage. Continue Reading →

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Is The Bossert Being Converted Back To The ‘Waldorf Astoria of Brooklyn’?

By Chuck Taylor on May 8, 2012 11:13 am in Architecture, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn History, Government, Real Estate, Watchtower

Consider this a potential game-changer for Brooklyn Heights: The magnificent Bossert at 98 Montague Street, owned & maintained by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, is apparently returning to its original domain as a hotel. Brownstoner reported Tuesday that according to a Public Hearing notice sent out by Community Board Two, a variance application has been filed to allow “reconversion of the existing community facility hotel back to its original, transient hotel use.”

What remains unclear is whether the flip is a maneuver on the part of Jehovah’s Witnesses to find an interested buyer for the building. Continue Reading →

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75 Clinton Street Open For Biz: Rentals Up To $11K A Month

By Chuck Taylor on May 6, 2012 11:51 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Development

The new nine-story 75 Clinton Street at the corner of Montague, which posted a short promotional video April 4, has begun leasing its 74 units. Nearly a dozen studio, 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments are listed on Streeteasy. Monthly rent: from $2,362 to $11,000(!). See interior shots here. Continue Reading →

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2012 Brooklyn Heights House Tour: A Preview Of Its Five Historic Townhouses

By Chuck Taylor on May 3, 2012 4:42 pm in Architecture, Brooklyn History, Events, Real Estate

The 2012 Brooklyn Heights Assn. Landmark House & Garden Tour, which takes place Saturday May 12, has announced the five privately owned historic townhouses that comprise the annual event.

Highlights of the five homes include: Continue Reading →

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