After a stop work order issued in January 2009, the 192 Water Street redevelopment project has started again, this time with new owners and developers, along with a release of a new website, 192water.com (created by Dumbo’s own Brooklyn Digital Foundry). The building has changed ownership to “192 Water Street LLC”, and Alloy Development with Hamlin Ventures are the developers. The architect is Dumbo based Della Valle Bernheimer, who are known for their quality and contextual design. They also worked on the 85 Water Street renovation in 2003 (the Almondine Bakery location.) Hamlin Ventures is the developer of projects such as the high profile 14 Townhouses on State Street in Boerum Hill.

The developers provided to DumboNYC the following description of 192 Water Street:

192 Water Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn, is the redevelopment of an authentic four-story loft building with the addition of a fifth story penthouse. Built in 1887, this historic tea warehouse is being converted into nine expansive residential lofts averaging 2,500 s.f. Targeted to DUMBO’s thriving family market, the lofts offer open living spaces that span more than fifty feet and is one of the few undeveloped genuine loft buildings remaining in DUMBO.

192 Water Street will appeal to the discriminating buyer looking for generous layouts, modern amenities and architectural character. Building details recalling the neighborhood’s industrial roots include high ceilings, exposed timbers, brick walls and oversized windows.
Design-driven developers, Jared Della Valle and Abby Hamlin, teamed up to realize a shared vision for 192 Water Street that respected the building’s heritage, while understanding the needs of modern Brooklyn families.

There are four floors plus a fifth floor penthouse for a total of 11 units. There will be 9 three bedroom units with an average size of 2,450 s.f. and 2 penthouse units; 2,747 and 2,472 s.f. There will be 1 ground floor commercial space with 381 s.f. and two parking spaces for purchase. The prior owner had plans for a theatre space but no longer part of the new design. The estimated completion date is Spring 2012.

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192 Water Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(NYC.gov BIS 192 Water St)

Previously:
{LPC on 192 Water, 24Apr2009}
{Stop Work Order Issued at 192 Water Street, 06Jan2009}
{192 Water Street Construction Moving Forward, 23Jul2008}
{Condo and Theatre Conversion at 192 Water Street, 02Jan2008}

Permit # C 177: On Wed, May 4 and Thu, May 5, 2011 (3am – 2am)

A commercial with the project name “Funky Pumpkin” will be filmed on Jay Street and Water Street on Wednesday, May 4 and Thursday, May 5, 2011. If you have further questions you can contact their Locations Department at 212-243-7706.

All filming posts are tagged here: DumboNYC.com/tag/filming

This photo of a dog with sunglasses looking out the sunroof of a car passing by Peas & Pickles was sent in by reader, Harris Damashek. I’ll leave it to the commenters for a caption…

Common Good, a new green household cleaning products company based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn has been selling their product in Dumbo since their launch at the end of 2010. We were curious about the product and the people behind it. The locally produced, bulk household cleaning products comes ready to use in plastic bottles but also at in-store bulk refill stations, such as the one at Foragers Market. People can bring in any clean bottle to refill or you can purchase a screen-printed empty glass bottle. We caught up with co-founder Sacha Dunn (who with Edmund Levine) started Common Good.

Great seeing your products in Dumbo (Foragers Market). Since your launch in November 2010, how have buyers reacted to your cleaning products?

We’re really happy with the way people have taken to Common Good – especially bulk refill. We knew when we started that we had a couple of barriers to break. we were a new brand no-one had heard of and we were asking people to make a major change in the way they bought cleaning products. It’s just great to have our suspicions confirmed – people are ready to make an extra effort to reduce waste and help the environment. And we hear they like our packaging too, so that’s nice.

How did the company get started? What were the major challenges in launching Common Good?

Common Good was started because we felt we were using too much plastic. We were already using green products and recycling but we were still blowing through so much plastic. It seemed like the right time and place to try to make a change.

We were both essentially prop stylists so we had ideas about how we wanted the brand to look. We were used to sourcing weird things for shoots and we used that styling background to pull together the packaging we wanted. One of the major challenges in launching Common Good was learning the chemistry. We knew we had to create products that worked or people wouldn’t come back to refill. We found a chemist who understands green cleaning products and worked together to create the best product we could.

We really felt that there was room for a new aesthetic in household cleaners. Nothing fancy but just good, simple and clean. That was the easy part. The chemists have the hard job!

What are the most common consumer misconceptions about household cleaning products?

The good news is I think people are becoming more aware of the chemicals they bring into their homes. I’d say the main problems in our market are:

• artificial fragrances, some of which can be quite harmful and are rarely disclosed but mostly because we don’t know enough about them.
• we use too much product to do the job – overdosing laundry detergent is a major problem and i think vinegar is a great substitute for window cleaner.
• the need for anti-bacterial products when soap and water does so nicely.

Overall, we’re moving in the right direction – last year, Senator Al Franken introduced the Household Product Labeling Act. People are reading websites and blogs about this stuff. We need to spread the word farther but even large supermarkets are buying into green now. We believe the next level of awareness is about packaging. Most high density plastics take over 1000 years to break down. We need to move beyond recycling to a greater emphasis on re-using.

Thank you Sacha and to Common Good for the awareness to reduce waste and keeping the environment safe. To buy Common Good products, go to Foragers Market at 56 Adams Street, Dumbo Brooklyn NY. Other locations are listed in the Common Good website.