Apparently hookah pipes don’t pay the rent; a new middle eastern bakery is promised on Atlantic Avenue in a basement store under MOCHA, the hookah lounge / cafe / ice cream parlor in the former FOUNTAIN CAFE space.

Last night, February 7th, at about 9 pm my dog Lili slipped out of her collar while being walked by her walker on Court street and Livingston. She was last seen moving toward Smith street. Once I was informed of the situation l joined the search and walked the streets until 8 am this morning. I am exhausted but hopeful that Lili will turn up. Lili does have a chip but she isn’t wearing a collar so I would greatly appreciate any help spreading the word that there is a lost dog out there and two parents who miss her very much. Lili is a year and a half year old Shiba Inu who is about 23 lbs. with a golden brown coat and white face. Any help in finding her will be greatly appreciated and there is a reward for her safe return.

The photo is not Lili but a representative photo of the Shiba Inu breed. Ramen Cromwell can be reached at blackwaterfilms@gmail.com

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.

This Thursday at 12:30 PM, the Promenade Gardeners are hosting the first of our winter gatherings: Plant Trivia from Brooklyn and Beyond. We’d love to invite interested members of the public to join us for this first class and snacks. We sit, chat, look at photos of plants, and Koren and I ask some tough and not-so-tough questions about plants we interact with in daily life in literature, medicine, popular culture, and our walks on the Promenade. Half of the 90 minute meeting is devoted to plants of the Promenade, with a special emphasis on what was bought and planted last year using funds raised by the Promenade Gardens Conservancy and through our bake sales. Joining the group will give one an early taste of spring and a little extra appreciation for plants in our day to day life. Those who’d like to come should RSVP to the hostess, Koren Volk, at volkkoren@hotmail.com and she will provide location details.

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)

Stepping outside the borders of Brooklyn Heights in search of a wickedly delicious heap of Sliders & fries—and most important, free soda refills—has led me more than once to the dirty, decadent, painfully slow-moving White Castle at 29 Willoughby Street (between Pearl and Jay streets just off Fulton Mall). Well, no more: Sadly, the joint has shuttered.

Within a block, construction continues on the oddball Willoughby urban park, to the left of the new Shake Shack, which may explain why the Castle has been dethroned. And yet the check-cashing biz remains next door. Oh, sigh.

It may not be as swanky as the annual BHA House Tour, but hundreds of locals attended an open house Saturday at the Brooklyn Detention Center, located within a whisper of Brooklyn Heights at 275 Atlantic Avenue off Smith Street in Boerum Hill.

The event, where carrot cake and coffee were served, is part of a city PR campaign to stave off fears about the jail’s reopening this week, after being shuttered in 2003 because of budget cuts. It is destined to replace older jail buildings at Rikers Island that may be phased out. In all, the facility will house 759 inmates for an average of 57 days before standing trial in Brooklyn and Staten Island. No convicted felons are based at the Detention Center.

Over the last six years, six high-rise apartment buildings, such upscale stores as Barney’s Co-op and Trader Joe’s and a boutique hotel have opened in the vicinity, but the city assures local residents that neighbors won’t interact with inmates, thanks to an underground tunnel that connects the jailhouse to the courts. Then again, BDC sounds like a pretty lovely destination: The 10-story building offers a rooftop with a view where prisoners can play tennis and handball during their one hour of outside recreation each day.

Some local associations have formed an advisory board if problems do arise. Read more in The Wall Street Journal here and The New York Times here.

(Photo: Gothamist)

Another factor which makes this case noteworthy is that some of the plaintiffs are represented by attorney Jesse Strauss, former candidate for the Male District Leader of the 52nd Assembly District.  Further intriguing is that Mr. Strauss is also a graduate of Brooklyn Law School.

On a personal note, as a fellow graduate of Brooklyn Law School, there is something unfortunate about this whole scenario.  I am happy with my education and did not expect guaranteed success.  There are too many intangibles to the practice of law to think that these statistics ever actually mean anything.  Who doesn’t know that…?

NY Daily News

New York Daily News: Sometimes less is more, and such is the case at Teresa’s in Brooklyn Heights. The eatery has become famous in its own right, mostly for its well-executed, simple breakfast meals, like eggs any style ($4.95) or their steak and eggs with a side of Polish kielbasa for $7.95. The ambience is diner-like, the service, very friendly, and the prices — just right.

To the hair and nail salons that have opened on Remsen St btwn Court and Clinton, add a new Massage Parlor. Massage Envy is a national chain offering 1-2 hour massage packages (including “Swedish”, Sports, reflexology, and special prenatal and geriatric services) along with facials and other spa treatments. Introductory pricing appears very reasonable, with $39 charged for a one-hour service.

Brooklyn Heights resident Björk has launched a combination concert & performance art event in support of her new album “Biophilia,” at the New York Hall of Science in Queens. If you missed her opening set Friday, she will encore Monday 2/6, Thursday 2/9, Sunday 2/12 and Wednesday 2/15.

The performance offers Björk accompanied by novel musical instruments, including four 10-foot pendulum-harps and a MIDI-controlled pipe organ, as well as a 24-piece Icelandic female choir and visuals from Biophilia Apps. The new album is a multi-media experience, available in collaboration with Apple here.

Björk will also collaborate with the New York Hall of Science in an upcoming three-week “Biophilia” education series, featuring interactive science and music workshops for middle-school children. Topics include the scientific concepts at the core of “Biophilia’s” songs, including crystalline structures, lunar phases, viruses and more.

The New York Hall of Science is located at 47-01 111th Street, Queens: 718-699-0005. Tickets for the concert, which range from $75 to $150, are available here.

Admission is $20 for a family of four ($5 each additional); and $10 for CAFF or Brooklyn Historical Society members. The meeting point is BHS at 128 Pierrepont Street.

Pre-registration is required. For tix, click here.

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.

Warbling Icelandic recording artist and Brooklyn Heights neighbor Björk, who bought a pad on Henry Street with filmmaker hubby Matthew Barney in 2009, has released new album “Brooklynphilia.” No, wait, that’s not right: It’s “Biophilia.” She appeared on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” January 31 to rap about the project and perform tracks.

According to USA Today, the recording is—historically—the “first app album,” in collaboration with Apple. Its iTunes link explains that “Biophilia” comprises “a suite of original music and interactive, educational artworks and musical artifacts,” and is released as 10 in-app experiences accessed “as you fly through a three-dimensional galaxy that accompanies the album’s theme song ‘Cosmogony.’” Say what?

Perhaps you can figure out what that means as Björk attempts to explain it to Colbert via clips at USA Today’s Pop Candy blog here.

In Our Hands Rescue, with the North Shore Animal League, is sponsoring four pet adoption events over the next three weekends in the Heights. They’ll have dozens of small pooches, mixed breed pups, rescued cats and kittens looking for homes.

Look for the big van, from noon to 6 p.m.: Friday February 3: in front of TD Bank at 205 Montague Street (and Court Street); and Sunday February 5, Sunday February 12 and Saturday February 18: in front of the Regal Movie Theater, 108 Court Street (and State Street).

Application, references, ID and donation are required. You can apply online for pre-approval at inourhandsrescue.org, and take your new friend home the same day.

In Our Hands is a 501c3 not-for-profit and donations are tax-deductible. (Your BHB reporter also stands by these guys; I adopted my beloved mini schnauzers Abby & Spencer from IOHR in 2010. Yes, that’s them in the pic.)

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 Judy Stanton, executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, the powerful community group that helped push for the district. “The opposition exaggerated the negatives. This is going to be good for Brooklyn as a whole and very good for Downtown and Court Street.”

According to the Brooklyn Paper story, Council Members Steve Levin and Brad Lander, both of whom voted for the designation, received assurances that proposed changes to buildings within the district would be given expedited consideration by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and that the LPC will “be flexible” with requests from residents of 75 Livingston.

More likely, it was the effort of Bobby Cruz, who is hoping to open a tapas and wine bar beneath Heights Vision this spring, who took it upon himself to bag a good deal of the garbage of his own accord in January. He told the Brooklyn Paper—which led with the story about the garbage dump—that he intended to tidy the space until it was clean.

When we inspected the grounds January 20, located across from Corcoran real estate on Henry, it was easily accessible through an open iron gate—and remained so January 31. For years, residents have complained to landlords and business owners, to no avail, as it continued to accumulate garbage strewn & stacked at liberty. But as of Tuesday, it was largely free of garbage and clutter, albeit with a few remaining broken bottles here and there.

Cruz says his intention is to open an outdoor space behind his potential tapas bar. Now, the roomy, open courtyard that backs up to Our Lady Lebanon Cathedral on Remsen Street, looks like it could truly become a sweet spot.

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

BHB Photo Club pic by BrooklynBill via Flickr

In anticipation of the Indian chain Baluchi’s opening today in the former Seasons spot on Henry between Cranberry and Middagh, Karl took his cam to the store on Warren Street in lower Manhattan. Was it DEE-licious? Give it a look.

This Valentine’s Day enjoy Tumbador chocolates and Brooklyn Brewery and Bronx Brewery beer in BHS’s stunning Othmer Library while storytellers, poets, and baseball historians from Brooklyn and the Bronx explore the legendary rivalry and share their borough love stories. Featuring Brooklyn Dodgers historian Joe Dorinson, Brooklyn storyteller Michele Carlo, Brooklyn poet Knickie D, former Yankees batboy Frank Prudenti, Bronx storyteller Bobby Gonzalez, and Bronx poet Skye Cabrera.

Tickets are $15, or $10 for BHS or Bronx Museum of the Arts members, and may be purchased here.

Plymouth Church is hosting The Bandana Splits, “a concert for kids and their grown-ups,” on Saturday, February 11 at 11 a.m. The female trio’s signature is reminiscent of classic girl groups, a la the Ronettes, Caravelles and Andrews Sisters.

The concert is described on the Plymouth Church website, as: “Three young women meet in Brooklyn, discover their love for singing and girl group harmonies and wow NYC audiences with their charm and talent. Now they’re ready to take it to the next level: a concert for Brooklyn kids.”

Tickets for the event are $10, with a $30 max per family. Plymouth Church is located at 75 Hicks Street between Hicks and Henry streets.

Check out more about the Bandana’s at their website here.

The average high temperature for Brooklyn Heights in January is a chilly 39 degrees. With Tuesday’s sunny afternoon high of 57, day-timers embraced the unusually pleasant temps to traipse through Cadman Plaza Park en masse. Wednesday’s forecast: 60 degrees!

Verizon’s fiber-optic network providing higher speed internet and TV service has been slowly making its way to New York City, but has shown no sign of arriving in Brooklyn Heights — until now. Yesterday, selected houses were left with notices requesting backyard access for Verizon crews to install new telephone polls and replace the existing copper wires with new fiber optic lines and house terminals (previous discussions with repair technicians elicited information that the street lines are already in place, but limited access to the backyard poles has delayed a service rollout). Hopefuly some healthy competition with Time Warner Cable will be available in the near future.

A five-floor, 7,000sf townhouse at 212 Columbia Heights & Pierrepont Street has scored a lofty superlative as the most expensive home sale in Brooklyn Heights’ history. The closing price, according to Brownstoner: $11 million ($1,928/square foot). The owners, who paid $8.5 million in 2006, re The New York Times, listed it only three months ago for $13.5 million.

Here’s what you get for such a pretty penny: The Corcoran listing shares that the 25-foot-wide home was built in 1855 and renovated in 2005 to add a new kitchen and five gas fireplaces, along with its seven bedrooms, six baths and 17 rooms total. The parlor floor offers 14 foot ceilings and a garden facing the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, with full-width terraces on the parlor floor, master bedroom and fourth-floor family room. Add to that library, media and family rooms.

The previous record in Brooklyn Heights, Curbed says, was 88 Remsen Street, which sold for $10.8 million in 2008. 212 Columbia Heights also ties the highest sale in Brooklyn overall for a house in Gravesend that sold in 2003.

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.”