In a post this past September I speculated about the future of 186 Remsen Street (photo, by C. Scales), which I have long liked as an example of Victorian Romanesque architecture. In the post I noted that the building had been acquired by Up Ventures LLC, who had filed plans for a fourteen story hotel […]
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Local News Round-Up: Kushner Gives Refunds; Changes At Brooklyn Bridge Park
One need only look the towers rising all around us to know that the little guy doesn’t often survive a battle with Big Real Estate…but at 89 Hicks Street, that’s what happened. Crain’s reports that after a class-action lawuit by five tenants, Kushner Cos. re-paid $100,000 that it had overcharged them in “skirting” rent regulation laws. […]
Goodbye, Chip Shop, and Other Neighborhood Changes
Your correspondent was deeply saddened, on arriving for his and his wife’s (this time joined by some neighbors) usual Friday night dinner at the Chip Shop, to find at the top of the extensive beers, ales, and ciders menu a note that the place would close at the end of this weekend, having lost its […]
Shop Small? Find Out What Can Be Done To Fight “Mallification” At BHS Thursday Evening
This Thursday evening, November 29 starting at 6:30 the Brooklyn Historical Society will present “Malls vs. Bodegas: Resisting the Suburbanization of the City.” This panel discussion will be moderated by Paul Goldberger, contributing editor of Vanity Fair. Admission is $5, or free for BHS members. Make reservations and more information here.
BHA to Meet With DOT Commissioner on BQE – Promenade Issue
The Brooklyn Heights Association has announced that they have scheduled a meeting with City Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and DOT engineers on Monday, November 19 at which BHA “will press DOT to abandon the 6-lane highway on the Promenade in favor of a better approach to rebuilding the BQE.” The BHA has retained […]
Is 186 Remsen Doomed to the Wrecking Ball?
I wish I could have gotten a better photo of what I consider to be a magnificent building, but the lighting and shadows were against me, as was a bit of sidewalk shed protecting pedestrians from falling debris generated by renovation work on the building at the corner of Court and Remsen. “Magnificent?” I know […]
Alice’s Tea Cup Coming to Hicks and Middagh
We’ve been alerted by reader Andrew Porter that [t]he whimsical teahouse, bakery and restaurant Alice’s Tea Cup will open this year at the corner of Hicks Street and Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights, across from PS 8. The photo is from their present location at 102 West 73rd Street, in Manhattan.
The “Martians” Are Coming! Matt Damon Touches Down in Brooklyn Heights
Last summer Brownstoner reported Actor/Producer, Matt Damon was in contract at The Standish on Columbia Heights for over $16.6 million. The deal has been widely-reported as the largest residential sale in Brooklyn to date. Now, it appears the Oscar and Golden Globe winning “Martian,” his wife, Luciana Barroso and their children have finally landed at the 6,218 […]
Is a Bistricer/Chetrit Feud Behind Lack of Progress on the Bossert?
In early July the Eagle reported, in a story we linked to here, that one of the hotel’s owners, either David Bistricer or Joseph Chetrit, had said that “a major announcement” about the hotel would be made soon. It was presumed that this would be of a firm opening date for the hotel, which has […]
Grand Canyon to Return to Montague Street
Those of you who, like me, miss Grand Canyon’s superb burgers are in for a treat. While the “Restaurant For Lease” sign remains above the former Armando’s site at 143 Montague (see photo by your correspondent taken this evening), the Commercial Observer reports that the restaurant’s owner, who kept open another Grand Canyon in Park […]
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