City Point dumps scandal-tainted developer

The massive City Point development, which is getting $20,000,000 in tax-exempt federal stimulus, is dumping Aaron Malinsky, the developer associated with the Carl Kruger corruption scandal. Read the Brooklyn Paper article here.

Aloft Opening now scheduled 5/5/11

I put March 31, 2011 into Google Calendar as the opening date of aloft hotel on Duffield Street. What a surprise! It's been rescheduled to May 5, 2011, according to the Starwoods Hotel website.

Back on October 13, 2010, we reported the scheduled opening date to be January 20, 2011.

Kruger scandal touches City Point in Downtown Brooklyn

The bribery scandal implicating State Senator Carl Kruger touches on some Downtown Brooklyn issues. In Developer at Brooklyn Navy Yard charged in federal bribery case, the Real Deal reports this:

Prosecutors allege Aaron Malinsky, a principal with PA Associates, made the payments to an entity called Olympian Strategic Development, wand that money was used to improperly benefit Kruger (see complaint below). Kruger allegedly received at least $1 million in bribes from Malinsky and others between 2006 and 2011, investigators said.

The article continues:

PA Associates is developing a 50,000-square-foot retail building at City Point in Downtown Brooklyn.

Read more here.

BK Paper: Downtown BK population up 2,900%

The Brooklyn Paper writes about the dramatic population growth of Downtown Brooklyn due to the rezoning in Boom! Downtown population is exploding faster than the Sun Belt:

Twelve thousand people now live in Downtown, up from a mere 400 residents in 2000. That’s a 2,900-percent increase during the same time when the population of the city overall grew about five percent.

To read the article, click here.

The primary goal of the rezoning was the increase office space, but instead it mostly created office space, displacing small entrepreneurs.

BK Eagle: Tight, Family-Based Ownership Still Rules Fulton Mall

There an interesting article on the new Downtown Brooklyn. Here's a bit from Tight, Family-Based Ownership Still Rules Fulton Mall:

Michael Chera and his Allied Property Group, which owns 523 Fulton, told The Real Deal that he sees Fulton Mall as a “34th Street and Times Square hybrid,” where national chains within reach of the middle class can prosper.

Stanley and Isaac Chera of Crown Acquisitions, who in partnership with Eli Gindi own 490 Fulton and were responsible for bringing Syms/Filene’s Basement to the mall, still have 38,000 square feet of street-level retail to lease.

“In the last 60 to 90 days, interest in the property has intensified immensely,” Isaac told The Real Deal. “I’m on the street at least three times a week with different tenants. They’re doing their homework.”

Read more here.

Developer seeks approval to damage Underground Railroad Station

Here is news from the Hopper-Gibbons advocates. The building on West 29th Street in Manhattan was not only an important stop on the Underground Railroad, it is very important to New York City for its role in the Draft Riots of 1863:

OWNER WILL APPEAL DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING'S ORDER TO DEMOLISH 5TH STORY:

I understand that Mr. Mamounas is planning to appeal the Department of Building's order to demolish the illegal 5th story addition to the Hopper Gibbons house. He has 30 days to appeal this order to the Board of Standards and Appeals. At best, this could delay the demolition of this addition for months. At worst, the Board could well decide to let Mr. Mamounas keep the 5th story addition in place, as they have allowed other owners to do in past rulings. This would be not only a great blow to New York City and American history, particularly that pertaining to the lives of African-Americans and Quakers, but to the architectural integrity of this special oasis of 4 story row houses in Manhattan.

FIRE SAFETY ISSUE AND VIOLATION OF SLIVER LAW:

Besides, the Department of Buildings has repeatedly stated that they are concerned that the building must meet fire safety standards and that that's why they let Mr. Mamounas build corridor and apartment walls and doors on the 5th story even after they ordered him to tear it down. However, an 1847 inhabited building can never be brought up to fire safety codes. On that basis alone, apart from the historical importance of the Hopper Gibbons house, the Board of Standards and Appeals must not let Mr. Mamounas get away with retaining the 5th story. It wouldn't be safe. Not only that, but the sliver law only allows a height of only 52 feet.

Also bear in mind that when the building was landmarked in February 2010, Mr. Mamounas' building permit had already been revoked, as I was informed by the Department of Buildings. So, when Mr. Mamounas supposedly amended his plans to conform with the 4 story requirement in February 2010, am I not correct in my assumption that the application should have been under the purview of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, rather than the Department of Buildings?

At this point, I think we have to deluge Mayor Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Steven Goldsmith with the message that we need to preserve the original 4 story height of this row house for the above-mentioned historical, architectural, legal, and safety issues.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
PHONE 311 (or 212-NEW-YORK outside NYC)

FAX (212) 312-0700

E-MAIL:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html

Deputy Mayor Steven Goldsmith
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
(212) 788-3000
FAX (212) 788-2460
[ or perhaps MEDIA CONTACT:
Stu Loeser/Marc La Vorgna (212) 788-2958]

Developers of Underground Railroad Building Under Investigation

The Manhattan building at the center of the Draft Riots of 1863 and an important Underground Railroad station is being illegally modified. DNAinfo reports in Developers of Underground Railroad Building Under Investigation:

The Department of Buildings is investigating whether a developer is illegally continuing construction on a 150-year-old Chelsea row house that was once a stop on the Underground Railroad.

The probe follows complaints by neighbors about ongoing work on a fifth floor addition to 339 West 29th St., also known as the Hopper-Gibbons House, which makes it taller than the buildings next door. That's significant to preservationists because former residents fleeing Civil War riots used the level roofs to escape.

"It feels like they are slicing away a piece of history with a serrated knife," said neighbor Fern Luskin, a CUNY art and architecture historian who said she had in recent weeks she repeatedly witnessed construction on the partially-built fifth floor. "It's very angering that this owner has not the slightest care in the world."

Willoughby Square Garage Development Opportunity RFP

Want to build a parking lot on the site of an Underground Railroad station? Now's your chance! Here's the Request for Proposals by the NYC Economic Development Corporation at Willoughby Square:

New York City Economic Development Corporation (“NYCEDC”) is seeking proposals for the development and operation of an underground parking garage (“the Garage”) and the construction of an approximately 1.15-acre street-level public space on top (“Willoughby Square”). Through this RFP, NYCEDC expects to select a developer to successfully develop and operate a below-grade garage under a long-term ground lease with the City. Respondents can submit garage proposals that accommodate up to a maximum of 694 spaces.

NYCEDC is currently developing schematic designs for Willoughby Square. The selected developer is expected to complete this design process at its sole cost and expense. The selected developer will also be responsible for the construction of Willoughby Square on behalf the City, for which the City expects to make funds available.

Observer on Willoughby Sq: Mayor's Latest Libertarian Park

Remember that the Bloomberg administration wanted to confiscate 227 Duffield to build a micro-park and parking lot? 227 was saved, but the Observer rips into other aspects of the plan.

Here are some highlights from "Brooklyn's Willoughby Square: Mayor's Latest Libertarian Park" by Matt Chaban:

[New NYC parks] are being built by the public sector but maintained through private development on or near the parks—in the case of the former, through multi-use piers; the latter, residential development, though the Brooklyn Bridge Park plan has drawn considerable scorn and is currently under reconsideration.

Never mind that there may not even be enough money coming in through said development to keep the parks going.

With Willoughby Square, and the much larger Governors Island just across the harbor, the city has taken its plan a step further toward the Libertarian ideal of private-public space, which is what concerns so many critics: that eventually such spaces will cease to be public at all, more admission-only amusement parks than public amenities. (This is already common practice at many National Parks.)

Hotels coming slowly, but stores are changing

One of the hotels being built on Duffield Street has new delays. Hotel reports in Brooklyn Won't Get Aloft Until January :

Opening a hotel in New York City is a treacherous business--there are always delays. Which is what Starwood is finding as it tries to get the city's first two Aloft Hotels up and running.

Aloft Harlem has had a busy dance card of opening dates, with the latest not too far off on October 21. That was also meant to be the big day for Aloft Brooklyn, but HC reader AboutGirl was right when she said that she'd heard this opening had been pushed back as well. According to its website, Aloft Brooklyn is now scheduled to open on January 20, 2011.

Aloft's delays haven't prevented existing businesses from being pushed out. NBC New York, as well as the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, seem to think that certain shoppers are invisible. Fulton Street is bustling... unless you are blind to certain demographics, like the writer of Filene's Basement/Syms to Open in Brooklyn:

It seemed like only a matter of time before chain stores set their sights on the somewhat desolate strip of real estate at Brooklyn's Fulton Mall. Joining Aeropostale and H&M—both of which should be opening soon—Filene's Basement/Syms announced it will open its first Brooklyn store at the Fulton Mall in early 2012.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about Thomas Truesdale

Jim Driscoll, historian at the Queens Historical Society and a longtime advocate of the historical importance of 227 Duffield, pointed out that Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about Thomas Truesdale, previous owner of 227 Duffield. Here is a quote from Emerson's journal from 1847 (pages 332-333):

Emerson was one of the most prominent American intellectuals of the time. He was one of the greatest spokesmen against slavery, and Mr. Driscoll thinks this passage might possibly indicate the attendees of an Underground Railroad meeting.

Brownstoner: V3 Hotel Rising

Brownstoner posted about the developments of the V3 hotel at 229-231 Duffield Street:

When we checked in on the V3 hotel in January, the foundation was just going in. Now, six stories (out of an eventual 19) are up. There's a small rendering of the what the finished product is supposed to look like here.

Brownstoner: EDC wants your help with Willoughby Square Park

Brownstoner posted this:

Help Design Willoughby Square Park

Calling all aspiring landscape designers and concerned residents of Downtown Brooklyn! Willoughby Square Park is getting a move on and the EDC wants your input. There will be a Community Design Charette held on Wednesday night at the Zeckendorf Health Science Lecture Hall of Long Island University. The park's designer, Hargreaves Associates will be on hand to steer the workshop participants through a serious of questions and considerations that will help inform the ultimate make-up of the 46,000-square-foot public space. Anyone interested in attending should RSVP to Josh Nachowitz at NYCEDC at jnachowitz@nycedc.com.

City Point Phase 1 Revealed

The NY Times blog and Brownstoner report on the latest iteration of the proposed City Point project, which is just behind Duffild Street. See

• CB2 Endorses New Fulton St. Shopping Center and
  
  
• City Point Phase 1 Revealed

40 hotels in Brooklyn... some imaginary

While the Brooklyn Eagle reported about all the upcoming hotel projects coming up in Brooklyn, they said this about the existing hotels:

They join The Marriott on Adams Street (656 rooms with its new addition); the conjoined Aloft/Sheraton on Duffield Street (500 rooms); Hotel Indigo, also on Duffield Street (164 rooms);

And Brownstoner dutifully republished the information here. These article follow up an Eagle article from December 2009 talking about the ongoing construction of Hotel Indigo.

The Duffield Street Blog now has exclusive photos from inside the hotel! It is the most cutting edge hotel, neo-post-modernist design, as you can see from this photo taken January 29, 2010:



Somehow, everyone missed the grand opening of this exciting new hotel.

....Maybe because the opening didn't happen. Brownstoner already reported on the BS of statements touting the opening of Hotel Indigo by the end of 2009. So I guess the folks at Brownstoner have stopped reading Brownstoner, and few bother to fact-check press releases.