The condo project at 20 Henry Street is at last hitting the marketplace after years of delays. Final polishes are taking place at the former Peaks Mason Mints building, known as the Candy Factory, with asking prices between $450,000 and $2.56 million for studios up to 4 bedrooms. The building includes 24 lofts (six of them penthouse units, at $2+ million), with an additional 14 units in an adjacent modern structure on Poplar Street scheduled to wrap by summer.

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal reminds us of the building’s history: The former industrial space was built in 1885 as the base of candy makers Mason Mints and Mason Dots. In the 1970s, it became housing for artists under the state’s Mitchell-Lama subsidized-housing program.

Artists lived in studios there until the program ended in 2004. Developers Urban Realty Partners bought the site in 2007, but weren’t able to finish a conversion to condos after the imminent financial crisis. Los Angeles-based Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund stepped in and took over the project in 2010, alongside plenty of legal drama.

When plans were first announced that the factory was slated to become a condo development, the Brooklyn Heights Assn. wanted 20 Henry’s garden to remain open space, the WSJ adds—which is now the site of the new 14-unit modern building. BHA executive director Judy Stanton says she still prefers the garden to the new building, but is glad the factory is finally ready for new homeowners: “I’m sure it will attract families.”

Brokerage firm Stribling & Associates is marketing the project, and says that 20 Henry St. already has an 800-applicant waiting list.

(Photos: Wall Street Journal)

Despite City Council approval February 1 of the Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District, which designated 21 buildings along Court Street as a new landmark district, the debate continues in an Op-Ed He Said/He Said piece in the Brooklyn Courier. Commentary is offered from supporter Philip Magnuson, chair of the Brooklyn Heights Assn. Landmark Preservation Committee; and opponent Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York.

Read both pieces in their entirety here, with edited highlights below…

Philip Magnuson
The Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District, with the splendid Greek Revival Borough Hall and North Plaza at its focus, is figuratively and functionally the urban center of Brooklyn, located at the civic, business, education and transportation hub of the borough. It is the interface of the vibrant neighborhoods of Metrotech, Fulton/Downtown, Court Street and Brooklyn Heights. They all share the new district as a historic core and a distinctly Brooklyn’s “Town Square.”

This historic district is on its way to cohesion and vitality. Also, like so many inner city districts now returning to robustness, it is rich with a varied, significant and potentially endangered architectural context. The assemblage of important, large-scale, early 20th century skyscrapers along Court Street, each with its own exuberant historical style, embrace a richness and scale befitting the official and commercial heart of Brooklyn. The skyscrapers play a significant role in defining the singular quality of this area.

The designation of the Court Street skyscrapers is a timely step in recollecting, acknowledging and preserving Brooklyn’s urban richness. We believe the Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District will safeguard and support the present and future renaissance of this unique neighborhood.

Steven Spinola
The creation of a Downtown Brooklyn Skyscraper Historic District is unwarranted and would add burdensome costs for local property owners and retail tenants. The Real Estate Board of New York believes there is no need to create a special historic district in this area of Downtown. In fact, the report of the Landmarks Preservation Commission notes that several of these buildings have no distinctive architectural style worth protecting and have undergone numerous renovations over the decades.

More troubling, creating a special historic district would impose millions of dollars of additional costs on existing property owners and retail tenants. Once an area is landmarked, significant added costs (are) attached to property improvements; one must acquire additional city approvals and it takes longer to secure such approvals, and all improvements are subject to review.

Many require further review by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which often requires plans to be redone and certain materials to be used, which adds time and cost to any renovation. These delays often result in massive losses for retailers and landlords because space sits empty while awaiting commission approval.

The commercial office market on Court Street is already suffering with a 17% vacancy rate. The landmark designation will impose an additional tax on such space, making it more difficult to rent and provide less incentive to upgrade. This proposal will harm rather than help the properties in this district.

The soon-to-be Le Pain Quotidien “bakery and communal table” at 121 Montague Street in the long-deserted former location of Jennifer Convertibles, is moving along faster than you can knead a loaf of bread. As of Tuesday, February 7, framing for new front windows was in the works.

To quote McBrooklyn, Le Pain Quotidien’s menu is filled with pastries (croissants and pain au chocolat); open-faced sandwiches (“Rustic Tuna, Hummus & White Bean with diced tomatoes and basil pesto”); sharing platters; and salads (“Grilled Chicken Cobb with organic mesclun, avocado, bacon and Fourme d’Ambert”).

Check out the chain’s full menu here.

It’s been rumored for a couple months, but confirmation is now at hand: Starbucks at 112 Montague Street is moving east… to 134 Montague Street, site of the former Nine West shoes, which closed in July 2010. While the current space will lose a lot of window vistas along the front, the folks at Heights Vision next door tell BHB that the new locale is deeper and actually offers more square footage.

Reasons for the move: Apparently, the one-story building at 112 Montague was a constant source of roof leaks and plumbing issues for Starbucks, while the building at 134 is being completely gutted, including the residential above. It looks like the Star was willing to sacrifice views for peace of mind. And knowing most ‘Bucks addicts, the extra block either way from Henry Street won’t make a hill of beans difference.

The beautifully historic but long-suffering Romanesque revival Offerman Building along Fulton Street Mall is at last getting the facelift it so deserves. As H&M continues its new-construction two-story glass modernist build-out next door, TJ Maxx will open a downtown Brooklyn store at 505 Fulton Street, according to signage that appeared within the last week.

Imagine Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani having presence on Fulton Street (albeit last season). This long-promised renaissance may well take hold, after all, as developer United American Land has its eye on fully developing the block at Fulton and Bridge Street, after demolishing the Offerman annex to build H&M.

Meanwhile, downtown Brooklyn’s City Point up the block continues to take shape, first comprising a four-story 50,000 sf retail building on Albee Square across from the landmarked Dime Savings Bank building. In all, that project intends to encompass 1.5 million square feet of retail and residential.

The Offerman Building’s upper floors are rumored to be going residential, so it appears a full reno is forthcoming. The handsome structure was built in 1890 by Henry Offerman, at the time one of the tallest buildings in Brooklyn. It is best known as the location of Martin’s department store, which ushered other major retailers to the area, including A.I. Namm & Son Department Store and Abraham & Straus (today, Macy’s).

Read a full history of the building on The Smoking Nun blog here.

The two narrow retail spaces at 214 and 216 Hicks Street—which housed the recently closed Overtures and Dara Ettinger—have been demolished inside to carve out a single larger space.

A manager at next door neighbor Heights Cafe at 84 Montague Street—which owns the retail building—tells BHB that no one has yet leased the space, but it is believed that the additional square footage will attract more potential vendors.

Dara Ettinger jewelry opened at the beginning of May 2011 and barely lasted eight months at 214 Hicks, while beloved stationery and gift boutique Overtures at 216 Hicks endured for 30 years. Still hanging on: high-end clothier J. McLaughlin at 218 Hicks.

Morton’s The Steakhouse at 339 Adams Street (next to the Brooklyn Marriott) has shuttered, due to “shifting demographics.” The national steakhouse chain was purchased by hospitality company Landry’s Feb. 1; hours later, the company closed down the high-end eatery and stripped off its signage.

The Real Deal reports that Landry’s is also closing the Morton’s in West Palm Beach, for similar reasons. Perhaps also explaining the Brooklyn eatery’s demise, Landry’s VP of marketing Kris Guthrie said, “Over time, demographics shift, and so do the areas in which businesses thrive. It’s because of this that we must close the Morton’s location in Palm Beach.”

Landry’s also owns steakhouse chain McCormick & Schmick’s. Perhaps they were intimidated by the new Shake Shack that opened steps away on Fulton Street?

Thanks to “Nancy,” who tipped BHB in last Wednesday’s Open Thread.

(Photo: The Real Deal)

In the BHB post a week ago about the new 80-unit building at 75 Clinton Street & Montague (on right) going rental, a healthy debate blossomed here between the architectural charms of its facade versus the new 40-unit residential building one block down at 101 Clinton Street & Joralemon (left). You guys took each building to task, with typical opinionated passion.

So let’s put up your dukes, BHB followers. We invite a full-on discussion about the merits—or not—of each property. The Corcoran link for 75 Clinton is here. 101 Clinton doesn’t appear to have a dedicated site yet, since it’s still under construction. You are welcome to add whatever you’ve seen, heard or linked to.

Please keep it clean, friends.

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,” and notes that the Starbucks there is scouting for a new location.

In addition, the article says: “The Le Pain Quotidien deal comes as Brooklyn Heights retailers are enjoying a surge of new business from new hotels and apartment buildings that have opened in the past few years. More foot traffic is expected in the area from the planned Squibb Park Bridge that will make it easier to reach Brooklyn Bridge Park from the Heights, scheduled to open this fall.” Markman says it will be “a game changer.”

Good luck: Prices range from $2,800 to $7,000 a month. Marketing Directors VP of Sales Angela Ferrara, the building’s marketing firm, says Invesco decided to take advantage of the “booming” rental market.

Before plans were approved in 2007 to go residential, 75 Clinton Street was a bankruptcy court. Is there a waft of irony there, perhaps?

And that makes three. Baluchi’s Indian restaurant is preparing to open its 10th NYC location, in Brooklyn Heights, at the north end of Henry Street near Cranberry Street.

McBrooklyn shares that it joins Gandhi Palace on Montague (which replaced Amin) and Curry Heights on Remsen.

There are nine Baluchi’s throughout New York City, including Soho, the Financial District, East Village and Park Avenue. This is its second Brooklyn location, joining 310 Fifth Avenue in Park Slope.

The discussion is already hopping on today’s Open Thread Wednesday here. (Photo: McBrooklyn)

Key endorsements for the landmark designation—which runs along Court Street, from Montague four blocks south to Livingston—were voiced by the council’s Subcommittee on Planning, along with Councilman Stephen Levin, who represents the area.

In a joint statement with Councilman Brad Lander, who heads the subcommittee, Levin said, “After close consideration, we believe this new historic district will strengthen the character of Downtown Brooklyn, allowing for new development and growth like the new retail space planned for the Municipal Building [next to Borough Hall] while preserving the graceful, historic, early-generation skyscrapers that make it Brooklyn’s civic center.”

Lander and Levin added that they intend to ask the city to ease rules for storefronts and work with Livingston Street residents “without imposing hardships on co-operators.”

The district was first proposed to the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2010 by the Brooklyn Heights Assn. and other preservation groups and since, has fostered snarky opposition from the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Brooklyn Law School, Court-Livingston-Schermerhorn Business Improvement District and similar groups.

Once again, REBNY president Steven Spinola tore the initiative to pieces in a New York Post article today: “Not only is this an inappropriate use of landmark designation, but it will end up costing the city much-needed tax revenue and jobs. This is another case of the city landmarking away its economic future.” As well, in a direct mail campaign blanketing the neighborhood, REBNY claimed, “In these economic times, when every dollar counts, landmarking threatens to send Court Street back to the ‘bad old days’ of empty storefronts and dirty streets.”

City officials refute that the designation only sets guidelines overseen by Landmarks to ensure that construction blends with the neighborhood.

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 can’t be saved. “It makes it easier to move forward knowing we have all this support.”

The story also quotes landowner Tom Caruana’s architect (not named) as saying “plans for the site are not yet ready to be shared.” Architectural historian Francis Morrone, author of An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn, who the article says “is working with the [Brooklyn] Heights Association on an in-depth history of the building”, is quoted thus: “It’s an intact piece of history, …A major part of what makes Brooklyn Heights what it is is this historical physical fabric.”

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.

According to the developer, as quoted by C.B.2:

Application is to extend the existing fourth floor, construct a new fifth floor addition, set back the rear wall by five feet to achieve legal light and air requirements, construct new rear façade, install new accessible ramp at Poplar Street entrance, create new window and door openings at east and west facades, and construct a one-story rooftop addition on adjacent garage.

If one were to traipse through the 11201 Zip Code to get their nails done, it would be easy enough to visit a different salon for every digit on both hands and feet. That includes the fringes of Cobble Hill, DUMBO and downtown Brooklyn. In the Heights proper, you’re not exactly suffering: Yelp and the Yellow Pages bring up some 14 choices.

There must be an endless demand for such a service, because Montague Street is about to get its seventh nail salon at 93 Montague, the previous sales office for Love Lane Mews, which shuttered in the fall. A sign in the window Friday, January 20, announced “Nail & Spa Opening Soon,” with an approved building permit posted.

A walk down Montague already offers shiny cuticles at: Plaza Nails at 151 Montague, Simoa Nail at 141, Hair Profile at 137, The Heights Salon at 136, Dashing Diva at 130 and Irene Dinvol at 119. Perplexing, huh? Pretty soon the entire neighborhood will waft of nothing but nitrocellulose (we had to look that one up).

See below for a full list of nail salons in the 11201 code… and wonder… why?

No assurance on 110% accuracy here: based on most recent Yelp and Yellow Pages searches for “Nail Salons” in 11201… Please don’t bite my nails… uh, head off, if there’s a venue or two off. This is not meant as a shoppers’ guide… only to execute a point. While some are hairdressing salons, manicures and/or pedicures were listed among additional services in the above searches. Please be kind.

Choi’s Art Nails, 149 Atlantic Avenue
The Heights Salon, 136 Montague Street
Nail House, 163 Remsen Street
Park Nails & Spa, 210 State Street
Dashing Diva, 130 Montague Street
Studios Fryzura, 78 Clark Street
Plaza Nails, 151 Montague Street
Uimage Unisex Salon Spa, 163 Joralemon Street
Height Nail Corp., 80 Cranberry Street
Tatyana’s Nails, 85 Livingston Street
Nail House, 157 Remsen Street
Samoa Nail, 141 Montague Street
Irene Dinov, 119 Montague Street
Image Unisex Salon-Spa, 91 Pineapple Street
Pretty Nails, 191 Court Street
Hair Profile, 137 Montague Street
Long Nail Salon/Pretty Nails, 142 Lawrence Street
J&A Nail, 154 Lawrence Street
Dashing Diva, 129 Smith Street
Suhjk Mic, 80 Cranberry Street

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 Council Speaker Christine Quinn urging the Council to rethink the decision.

All landmarked districts require final approval from the City Council and mayor within 120 days. The Council vote is slated for Feb. 1, with two hearings scheduled next week.

Preservationists had claimed victory last September when the Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously approved the “Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District,” a cluster of highrises built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries along Court Street and the corners of Joralemon, Remsen and Montague Streets around the already landmarked Borough Hall. Commission Chairman Robert B. Tierney noted then that “the buildings had a central role in Brooklyn’s development and illustrate an important chapter of New York City’s history.”

But a number of property owners, local landlords and developers were vehemently opposed, claiming it would drive up costs and impede retail redevelopment. Mike Slattery, SVP of the Real Estate Board of New York, sneered in September that the buildings “have little architectural and historic significance and distinction.”

In an article published in Crain’s Business New York January 18, Steve Spinola, president of REBNY, further belittled the district: “The city continues to landmark away its economic future. We want the people in the area to know landmarking will cause a lack of investment in buildings.”

Detractors argue that the designation puts a financial burden on landlords, who have to obtain additional permits and pay extra fees for any changes or upgrades on their properties. REBNY surveyed owners of roughly 750,000 square feet of space within the proposed historic district, and predicted property owners and retail tenants will incur $4.7 million in additional costs over the next several years as a result of landmark regulations and rules, according to the letter obtained by Crain’s.

“Some owners were prepared to make an investment in their buildings, but now they have a noose around their neck because it will cost them more money,” added Spinola.

Brooklyn Heights Assn. president Judy Stanton has stated that the landmark designation “is necessary to protect those buildings from being torn down—it does not prevent redevelopment. It has been a longstanding regret we did not get a district sooner.”

Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Following what one person described as “an exhilarating” discussion on the value of contextual vs. contemporary architecture in a historic district, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) yesterday asked the design team of a proposed new five-story, five-unit building at 30 Henry St. in Brooklyn Heights to consider making some additional changes.

The story notes that Brooklyn Heights preservationist Otis Pratt Pearsall and Brooklyn Heights Association President Jane McGroarty and Executive Director Judy Stanton all urged the Commission to reject the proposed design and require something contemporary and distinctive. BHA member and architect Jonathan Marvel is quoted as saying, ““We implore you to inspire, to delight, to raise the bar on originality.” But Park Slope resident and preservationist Clem Labine said the site doesn’t need a “starchitect” building that would be “dissonant and disruptive.”

The Commission’s legal counsel said it didn’t have the power to require “a particular style.”

Brooklyn Paper: Next Wednesday, building owner Tom Caruana will present plans for a new structure at 70 Henry St. at Community Board 2’s Landmarks Committee — an early step in gaining city permission to demolish an edifice in the landmarked neighborhood, according to District Manager Rob Perris.

The article quotes Caruana as unwilling to reveal details of his plans, but saying he will “move forward” as soon as possible. Lowy is quoted as saying he will do whatever is necessary to keep the Cinema going, even if he has to move it to DUMBO.

Table with some tools, a bottle of coke and a set of architectural drawings in the westmost vitrine. Title block legible enough to make out Le Pain Quotidien.

The popular French Belgian style boulangerie offers, along with bread and pastries: breakfasts featuring fruit and granola; lunch and snack items including soups, tartines (open faced sandwiches), quiches, cheeses, and salads; a variety of desserts; and beverages.

Glass on the addition, under construction, to 20 Henry Street, reflects the facade of the building at the northwest corner of Henry and Poplar streets, as seen from the Brooklyn Bridge on January 7.

Beginning on Boxing Day, December 26, Overtures will begin a “Goodbye Sale,” with markdowns on its fine selection of gifts, candles, home fragrances, bath and body, paper and party goods and jewelry. The store is open most days from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

New York magazine recently offered a tasty write-up about the destination, saying, “Since 1981, this chic stationery and gift shop exudes the same history-steeped elegance as its picturesque Brooklyn Heights neighborhood. Even typical souvenir items retain a degree of understated sophistication.”

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.

Both contracts were awarded to Kelco Landscaping and Construction of Commack, N.Y. The firm previously did the landscaping and built the playgrounds on Piers 1 and 6. Among its other projects is the 9/11 World Trade Center Memorial. The contract for the Squibb Park bridge is $6,223,864 and for the work on Pier 5, $19,245,180.

In her report to the board, BBP President Regina Myer discussed the future construction of a hotel and residential building at Pier 1. The proposals of five developers were unveiled at a meeting of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Community Advisory Council on November 22. The deadline for feedback on the proposals is December 22. Under the leadership of teams of architects, CAC members are giving their feedback at workshops at the park offices at 6:30 the evenings of December 5 and 6 and at 9 the morning of December 7. The feedback will go into a report to be submitted to those who select the winning proposal. The workshops are open to the public.

But what new info did we learn from today’s report? THERE’LL BE A WATERFALL.

Brooklyn Eagle: According to Perris, BKSK architect Stephen Burns made the presentation to the Land Use Committee. Citing the committee minutes, he said there will be accessible underground parking with the parking entrance slightly sloping down.

The layout of the building will consist of floors two to four with one layout — some units containing 10-inch balconies for flower boxes and casement windows — and a separate layout for the top floor penthouse.

Burns also told committee members that the entranceway into the building will be through a covered passageway that leads directly to a courtyard. The courtyard will have a waterfall that is visible from the entrance, according to the Land Use Committee minutes.

Last evening’s Community Meeting got off to an interesting start when Brooklyn Heights resident and long time Brooklyn Bridge Park advocate Tony Manheim asked State Senator Daniel Squadron if, now that in a deal brokered in part by Squadron and Assemblywoman Joan Millman, the State has given control of the Park to the City, he and Millman would consider yielding their nominees’ position on the Park’s board to representatives appointed by the Mayor. He also asked if Squadron thought it now appropriate to have the Park’s management “collapsed into” the City’s Parks and Recreation Department. Squadron said he was “not excited” about giving up his slot on the board, but that Manheim’s ideas were “conceptually interesting.” Another person suggested that, instead of mayoral nominees, the board slots go to community representatives.

Things later took a heated turn when Marsha Rimler, after first saying she was “very disappointed” with Squadron’s handling of the housing-in-the-Park issue, asked Squadron if he would refer to the “board of ethics” (by which she presumably meant the New York State Commission on Public Integrity) the question whether his wife’s job in the Mayor’s office constituted a conflict of interest when he dealt with the City on this issue. Squadron said he considered this question “out of bounds,” and went on to say that he had negotiated zealously with the City and got it to agree to allow tax payments on the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ properties to be used for Park maintenance and operations, which the City had strongly resisted, and to defer any residential construction at Pier 6 until the next mayoral administation. Squadron also said that in his negotiations with the City he had helped to secure many amenities for the Park, including a skating rink, a floating swimming pool, and the Pier 5 “bubble” which, he said, he thought would become a reality despite the lack of responses to what he said was obviously a “flawed” initial Request for Proposals.

David Manning, who moved to the Heights from Manhattan hoping for peace and quiet, raised the issue of helicopter noise. Squadron said he had “worked in good faith” with the operators of the Downtown Heliport to try to find a workable solution, but that “good faith didn’t work.” He has now concluded that only a complete ban on tourist helicopter flights will work and, to groans from the audience, urged everyone to “keep chopping away.” A former Federal Aviation Administration official and Lower Manhattan resident said that this was the first time he had ever advocated curtailing aviation, but he believed that the tourist flights should be ended because they are “unsafe” and do not, contrary to what some City officials have said, contribute anything to the City’s economy because the operators are based in New Jersey and do all maintenance, repairs, refueling and the like there. Squadron added that the assertion that some people come to New York just to take a helicopter ride “doesn’t pass the laugh test.” Judy Stanton, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, said a request for the City’s economic data on the helicopter flights had been made under the Freedom of Information Act. She also said the State Department of Environmental Conservation should monitor both air quality and noise at the heliport. Squadron said this was a good idea.

Squadron noted that the residential parking permits proposal faced a long and tortuous path before it could become reality. First the City Council, following this morning’s (Wednesday) hearing, would have to pass a “home rule message” asking the State for authority to issue the permits. The State Assembly and Senate would then have to pass enabling legislation, which would then go to the Governor for signature. If the legislation was enacted, the City Council would then have to pass an ordinance putting the scheme into effect. He said he viewed this as a quality of life issue, because “people driving around looking for parking spaces” has negative effects on congestion, safety, and air quality. He said Mayor Bloomberg had supported the idea when it was coupled with congestion pricing, but that the failure of congestion pricing to pass meant he no longer favored resdential permits. A story in today’s New York Post says that Brooklyn GOP State Senator Marty Golden opposes residential parking permits on the grounds that they constitute a “tax,”and that anyone should be allowed to park where they wish (Update: Could this also be because his rather convoluted district has more people who park their cars in Brooklyn Heights to get to the subway than has people from out of the area parking on their streets?) He said that the proposal would never pass the GOP controlled Senate. The same article quotes Bloomberg as now being undecided on the issue, noting that some residents favor the permits while some merchants oppose them. Update: The “home rule message” passed the City Council’s Committee on State and Federal Legislation today.

Transportation related issues dominated the rest of the discussion. Among the issues raised were: restoration of bus service over the Brooklyn Manhattan Bridge, improvement of security at the High Street subway station, better sevice on the G train, which Squadron said was the next line he would press the MTA to improve, and safety at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Court Street, where one person present said a cupcake vending truck creates a hazardous condition for pedestrians crossing.

Squadron also said he supports the campaign to establish a public middle school to serve students from Brooklyn Heights and nearby neighborhoods. He concluded by urging everyone to attend his next Community Convention, to be held early next year.

Over three years ago, we noted that the proposal by landlord Pinnacle Group to build a parking garage in the courtyard between the A.T. White Riverside Apartments and the BQE, which would entail destruction of a grove of mature trees (see photo) as well as disruption of tenants’ lives, was “proving harder to kill than Rasputin.” Just over a year ago, the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal denied Pinnacle’s request to re-open its previously denied application for permission to construct the garage. Earlier this year, a court upheld the DHCR’s decision. Now, it seems, Pinnacle’s ba-a-a-ack.

Ben Bankson, President of the Willowtown Association, has received a message from Bill Ringler, President of the Riverside Tenants’ Association, reporting that Pinnacle’s attorney, Ken Fisher, has persuaded the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to allow a modification to the permit for the garage which would relocate the entrance to the garage, and that the modification was allowed without any public hearing (though Pinnacle asserts that ther was one), and Pinnacle is now reapplying to the DHCR, seeking a third bite at the apple. The Riverside tenants have until Wednesday, October 26 (two weeks from yesterday) to respond to Pinnacle’s petition to the DHCR, and they are considering how to proceed and exploring options as to legal representation.

Bankson contacted Judy Stanton, Executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, who said she was not notified of the application to the LPC for modification of the permit. She is looking into the matter further.

Update: I’ve amended the text above, based on Bill Ringler’s comment below.

New York Observer: Now it appears that labor unions are alleging that Leviathan is not even a legitimate company. In a suit filed in Westchester County Bankruptcy Court, the Mason Tenders District Council and Metallic Lathers Local 46 are claiming that Leviathan is dummy corporation set up by a company called HRH Construction that allowed HRH to avoid using union labor and assuming the costs of union fees and benefits. In an ironic twist, they are pursuing the company under RICO laws, the same sort that weakened the mob-connected unions in the 1980s and ’90s.

Whether this results in any delay in work on 20 Henry remains to be seen.

The following item is on the agenda of the Community Board 2 Land Use Committee’s meeting beginning at 6:00 p.m. this coming Wednesday, September 21, at room 2400 of the Dibner Building, NYU Polytechnic, 5 MetroTech Center:

Stefanie Marazzi, Esq., with the Law Office of Slater & Beckerman LLP, will present Board of Standards and Appeals Application #105-11, for a special permit to operate the Massage Envy Spa, a “physical culture establishment” as defined in the Zoning Resolution (PDF), at 147 Remsen Street.

Also on the agenda is a discussion of the business terms of the partial sale of the Municipal Building, at Court and Joralemon streets, for use as a retail space. Representatives of the City’s Economic Development Corporation will be present to address this issue. On August 15, Mayor Bloomberg announced that United American Land had bee selected to develop the property.

Finally, the Committee will consider the following applications for modification of properties within the Brooklyn Heights Historic District:

156 Hicks Street — Application is to modify a bay window and install a deck.
265 Hicks Street — Application is to construct a rooftop addition, install a balcony and alter openings.
46 Willow Street — Application is to match the existing dormer on one side of the house, replace the existing windows, enlarge the top floor space and re-siding the existing addition.

Image: C. Scales for BHB.