Brooklyn Eagle reports that Massey Knakal has been retained to sell a “warehouse/manufacturing/conversion/development site with additional air rights” at 51 Jay Street in Dumbo. The building is also known as 201 Water Street or “Jay Street Arts Building” per the sign on the building.

The Brooklyn Eagle writes:

Calling it a potential conversion or development site, Palmese, who has the listing, said the owner is asking $200 per square foot for the second and third floors and $150 per square foot for the development rights.

The existing through-block, three-story building, which is on the east side of Jay Street and has frontage on both Water and Plymouth streets, falls within the DUMBO Historic District and will have to go before the Landmarks Preservation Commission for approval of any changes, according to Palmese.

It contains approximately 80,000 square feet, with a partial basement and an annex building and sits on a lot that is approximately 200 feet by 155 feet.

The air rights total approximately 75,000 square feet.

With 80,000 square feet plus 75,000 square feet of air rights, the building can potentially be developed as a mixed-use development site and will be delivered vacant. The building size is 200′ x 155′, or 31,000 square feet per floor. If the owner is asking $200 per square feet for the 2nd and 3rd floors ($12.4MM), and $150 for the air rights ($11.25MM), that would bring the asking in the range of $23.65MM for the 2nd, 3rd, and air rights plus costs for 18,000 square feet on the ground level. Does this sound right?

The third floor is an open floor with a glass roof structure. The space can be made into a grand space for a business or residential. Spaces like this are becoming more scarce in Dumbo, so it seems like a good development opportunity for the right real estate developer.

Massey Knakal also have other warehouse/development properties in Dumbo, including 29 Jay Street, 60 John Street, and 109 Gold Street (Vinegar Hill).

Episode 8: Stefan Killen (stefankillendesign.com and pinholeny.com)
Directed by David Castillo
Produced by Blue Barn Pictures, Inc. for DumboNYC on vimeo

In this episode of Crossing Dumbo, Blue Barn Pictures interviews Dumbo based artist Stefan Killen, a graphic designer and pinhole photographer. Pinhole photography involves a handmade pinhole camera, a small cardboard box wrapped in black plastic and electrical tape without a lens. Light from a scene passes through this single point and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box. The smaller the hole, the sharper the image, but the dimmer the projected image. Mr. Killen says, “There’s a quality of chaos and messiness in pinhole photography that I really like.” Growing up in Zurich Switzerland, Mr. Killen says, “the Swiss half of me is a graphic designer, and has to have everything to the pixel. The other half of me is American, artistically inclined, and loves pinhole photography for the messiness in it.“

Crossing Dumbo, a web series of video portraits of artists, entrepreneurs and residents in Dumbo Brooklyn. This is a collaboration between DumboNYC and our talented friends over at Blue Barn Pictures. Different directors from Blue Barn Pictures, a creative content agency, bring their own approach to each interview to create a distinct profile of the person being interviewed and place them within the Dumbo community. Blue Barn Pictures truly love what they do and support the community in a positive way, and for that we’re grateful to have them be a part of Dumbo.

{DumboNYC.com/category/crossing-dumbo/}

On Thursday December 8 from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. ET, Etsy Labs in Dumbo Brooklyn will be open for you to bring friends, family, colleagues and comrades to get your photo taken and turned into a holiday card.

From Etsy:
Choose from one of three backdrops that we have hand-curated and decorated with merchandise direct from Etsy holiday shops and sellers, smile wide and bright, and leave with a digital file that you can customize and circulate near and far. Our long-time partners from the Magnolia Photo Booth Co. will be on hand to get those pictures print and sent.

We’ve also partnered with Moo for a 15 percent discount if you want to turn your digital file into a printed greeting card (discount codes will be distributed at the event). If you’d rather print at home, we’ll be leading small groups in workshops to make your own envelopes from paper ephemera (feel free to bring a favorite new or vintage paper to use). Every hour, we’ll be raffling off a chance to win one piece from the vignettes for use in your own holiday decor.

We’ll also be raffling off a few chances to take home an item from our hand-curated Etsy holiday goodness, offering some fun hands-on projects and making the season bright with festive food & drink.

Date: Thursday, December 8, 2011
Times: The event will be open between 6pm and 9pm, stop by anytime!
Location: Etsy Labs Brooklyn, 55 Washington Street, suite 712, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Registration link: makingsmilesbright.eventbrite.com
Cost: $5

More info: etsy.com/blog/en/2011/making-smiles-bright-a-holiday-photo-card-event

The DUMBO Improvement District is holding its 6th Annual Tree Lighting – Tuesday, 12/6 at 6pm under the Archway. Come have a Jacques Torres hot cocoa, sip Brooklyn Roasting coffee, and kick off the season with the whole neighborhood. Details and a full calendar of DUMBO happenings here.

Plus, get your tree/wreath/garland straight from Vermont this year at the Archway Tree Sale. Delivery and pick-up services available. Read more here.

Plymouth School in Brooklyn Heights
Entrance through Beecher Garden
Orange Street between Hicks and Henry Streets
Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 5th and 6th, 2011
8:30a-3:30p

Vendors include:

• One Girl Cookies
• Joe’s coffee
• Tata Harper Skincare (will be giving mini facials)
• Anais&i (girls clothing)
• Local designers like Odette Williams (makes amazingly cute silkscreened aprons with little mitts)
• Handblocked baby quilts from Muny design
• Discounts to PinholePress.com
• Beautiful things from Erica Tanov
• Two Organic Tees
• plush baby blankets and khadi covered Love India guide books (twonewyork.com).
• Hand dyed silk lavender sachets & makeup bags from Gift Shop Brooklyn
• Lotta Jansdotter will have totes and home linens in her original designed fabrics.

A percentage of proceeds go towards the scholarship fund at Plymouth School.

(Photo by Barry Yanowitz)

The following are selected links from this past week on blogs and websites with discussion about Dumbo (and its neighboring areas):

• Most Expensive NYC Neighborhoods: Dumbo Climbs to #3, 30Nov11, PropertyShark
• The rise of Dumbo’s gentrification, 01Dec11, CityJournal
• Scarano Brings Bad Permit Practice to Grimaldi’s v. Grimaldi, 29Nov11, Curbed
• It is beginning to look a lot like…Vermont, under the Archway, 02Dec11, Dumbo BID
• Brooklyn Roasting Geishka mystery solved, 30Nov11, Dumbo BID
• Sizing Up the Sidewalk on Front/York Street, 29Nov11, Brownstoner
• The Big Reveal at Dumbo’s 220 Water Street, 02Dec11, Brownstoner
• 109 Gold Developers Throw in the Towel, 01Dec11, Brownstoner
• Dumbo florist Emily Thompson’s White House Call, 03Dec11, NYDN
• Floorplans, Pricing Unveiled at Dumbo Rental 220 Water, 02Dec11, Curbed
• A Dash of Drama in the Pizza World, 29Nov11, NYT
• DUMBO joins most expensive list, 30Nov11, BK Downtown Star
• DUMBO Gallery Bose Pacia Closing at the End of the Month, 02Dec11, LMag
• Discovering DUMBO, 01Dec11, Nicolette Mason

According to a Wall Street Journal article, “Chumbo” is the newest ‘remote’ and ‘cool’ neighborhood. Notwithstanding that the area is already called Two Bridges, Chumbo is the “Dumbo of Chinatown”, near the base of the Manhattan Bridge on the Manhattan side. Of course it’s not real (and probably a tongue and cheek article), but it’s sad/funny to see how people are using name of Dumbo to convey another creative, gritty, and cool area. Of course the name Dumbo was meant to be a hideous name (as told by the artists who coined the neighborhood name) to keep gentrifiers from moving in.

From the WSJ article:
“Some now call the neighborhood Chumbo, combining the names of Chinatown and its high-brow Brooklyn neighbor across the Manhattan Bridge, Dumbo.”

“The rent is cheap—about $2,900 a month for the average three-bedroom, said Sofia Song, a senior researcher at StreetEasy.com, compared to almost $7,000 a month for a comparable unit in Dumbo. And the area is reclaiming some of the edgy cool that Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Williamsburg and Bushwick have stolen from Manhattan over the past two decades.”

{Cool Arrives in a Slice of Chinatown, 01Dec2011, WSJ}
{Behold New York’s Coolest Neighborhood: ‘Chumbo’, 01Dec2011, the Atlantic}

To mark the launch of their new art gallery space, United Photo Industries is doing seven shows in seven days. Their founding exhibition, titled 7 over 7: Seven Shows in Seven Days exhibits 7 talented photographers, each lasting for a single evening (6pm).

• December 1 | Bruno Pulici – “Domestico”
• December 2 | Alexis Courtney – “An Intimate Nature”
• December 5 | Bob Miller – “Pamoja: Youth Reform in Kenya”
• December 6 | Howard Heyman – “Toy Soldier Portraits”
• December 7 | Irina Firsova – “People of the Soviet Time”
• December 8 | Miguel Torena – “The Periodic Table”
• December 9 | Josep Echaburu – “Life Center”

United Photo Industries
111 Front Street, Suite 204, Brooklyn NY 11201

The First Thursday Dumbo Gallery Walk is tonight, Thursday, December 1, 2011, between 6-9pm. The gallery walk is free.