11/22/11 9:45am

46 Old Fulton Street

A commercial building with 3 loft units at 46 Old Fulton Street just came on the market on Friday. Brownstoner featured one of the 5,000 sqft lofts for rent last month for $12,000 per month, still listed by Awaye Realty. This 1925 built building is 41 x 98.58 sqft with 8 full baths and 16,000 sqft was sold for $2,900,000 in August 2010, according to Everyblock.

There are two commercial spaces on the ground level and 3 floor through lofts, one per floor. The Fillmore listing says that the “side wall has a billboard which can be rented for $15,000 per month.” For 20% down ($1.4MM) and loan amount of $5.6MM, that’s roughly $30k per month of mortgage (at 5%). If half that can be paid for by the billboard, leasing 3 lofts for $5k covers the mortgage.

Is there a hitch? Unless there isn’t an updated Certificate of Occupancy on the NYC.gov website, the listed C of O of the building states that it cannot be used by more than 2 families. Are we reading this wrong? Either way, it’s an attractive building (for investment potential) across the street from what will be Grimaldi’s new home at 1 Front Street, next to the Eagle Warehouse coop building, but with plenty of traffic passing it.

[Update: A reader pointed out, “If you look closer at the C of O pdf, you will see that there are actually 2 distinct properties included in the 4 pages. The latter half, with the 2 families notation, is not for this building.”]


(Photos from Awaye Realty)

{NYC.gov BIS: 46 Old Fulton St}
{Propertyshark.com listing for 46 Old Fulton St}

11/18/11 11:54am

Occupy the Brooklyn Bridge

6PM: I’m sitting in my office working hard to meet a deadline. I was already distracted during the day writing for the occupy movement I support of freelancers who aren’t represented in the labor market, so I was working late. As I’m singing to myself, I begin to hear screaming at one moment, then cheering. At first I figured my partner’s music was just loud, but the cheering continued. I then thought it was coming from a boxing match down at Gleason’s gym right under me but, they are ususlly louder that the cheering I was hearing.

Chanting

7:30PM: The screaming and cheering turns to chanting. With so much time haing passed and the noise becoming organized I realized I wasn’t hearing things and ran to the window. Sure enough right outside on the Brooklyn Bridge hoards or people were marching chanting "Outrage Outrage Outrage!" They bore flags and held up their cellphones as lighters singing "Change when do we want it, Now!"

Bridge Takeover

As the earthquake that rocked us here in Dumbo over the summer I go on Twitter (the people’s news network) to verify the march on Brooklyn Bridge. #OccupyBrooklynBridge. It was offical! I tweeted "#NYC is a big place filled with parks we’ll find another spot to #occupy."

After trying to record from the office window I realized that it wasn’t enough; I can’t tell my children I stood in a building snapping images. As an artist it is my duty to be in the mix and as a citizien my duty to participate in democracy. I ran out the office with my iPhone ready to join the movement.

Welcome to Occupy Brooklyn Occupy Dumbo

As I made it up Washington Street to join the march, the police shouted at those who weren’t on the Bridge to get away, get back & stay off the block. It seemed like Dumbo wasn’t allowed to join from the bridge walk exit. But, that didn’t stop us. Dumbo gathered on the other side of the street still under the bridge, shouting "Welcome to Occupy Brooklyn FINALLY." "Occupy Dumbo!"

It was a sight to see. Helicopters flew as low as the tenth floors near the Dumbo, Washington Street apartment buildings. News 12 plotted their plan of attack for coverage on the Brooklyn side. A man shared the view with a friend via Skype. Urban sound stage’s camera man tried to keep his camera steady and children from Dumbo waved at marchers offering them a warm welcome. Dumbo’s citizens weren’t going anywhere and the police left us alone as were cheered and chanted "Occupy".

Occupy Spirit

Some might think that Dumbo is hardly a neighborhood that needs an occupy spirit but the reality is Dumbo does need it. We have it all, in Dumbo we have small businesses about to be evicted, large global businesses taking over floors but not hiring freelance and job applicants, we have the ghetto, working class, middle class and the F’n lap of luxury all in 5-7 blocks.

Dumbo is a picture frame of NYC. We see what the occupy movement is about every single day. It is great that occupy has visited our door steps. Are we going to unite in support, Dumbo?


Post written by Danii Oliver, Interactive designer and developer. CDO of DAMN Digital Studio, an Interactive Agency in Dumbo Brooklyn.

11/17/11 11:41am

Brooklyn Bridge Park (BBP) is celebrating the opening of its new administrative offices at 334 Furman Street, with an open house on Thursday, November 17 from 6:30 – 8:00pm. Join BBP to toast the beginning to a beautiful park.

Part of the celebration includes a screening of New York’s Next Great Park, a collaborative effort from BBP and BRIC’s Brooklyn Independent Television. New York’s Next Great Park is a documentary that chronicles the design and construction of the first phases of Brooklyn Bridge Park, offering insights on its sustainability features as well as featuring interviews with some of the key figures in the design, planning and programming of the park. After the open house, BIT will air New York’s Next Great Park on Friday, November 18 at 7pm. Tune in to Cablevision 69, Time Warner 56, Verizon 44, RCN 84 or watch online to see how BBP was built on the shores of Brooklyn.

The first webisode is shown above, titled, Brooklyn’s Next Great Park.

09/16/11 9:00am

Sunday, September, 18, 2011, 10am-2pm.

Explore Membership, Religious School, Community and Events, Women’s homeless shelter volunteer opportunities and Judaica Shop
and meet our Rabbis and current members!

Brooklyn Heights Synagogue- 131 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, NY
www.bhsbrooklyn.org
718-522-2070

SCHEDULE

10am: Study Session with the Rabbi
11:15-12:30pm: High Holy Day Workshops– fun for the whole family! Workshops include:
Shofar Blowing, Music, Challah Baking, Art and Reflecting– appropriate for kids and adults of all ages!

12:30pm: Lunch

(including delicacies from local Shelsky’s Smoked Fish)

08/24/11 9:30am

Brooklyn Bridge Park yesterday released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for “an operator to construct, operate, and maintain a seasonal indoor recreation structure on Pier 5. The structure will provide active recreation at the Park during the off-season and promote the use of Brooklyn Bridge Park during the winter months. The seasonal recreation structure will be approximately 200’ by 300’, containing one soccer field, situated in an east-west configuration. The structure will be open from December through March.”

Responses to the RFP must are due by 3 p.m. on Tuesday, September 27, 2011. BBP will spend up to $750,000 on construction costs, and will retain ownership of all capital improvements. The 5 acre Pier 5 is scheduled for completion in summer 2012, and will include 3 outdoor, artificial sports turf fields. In addition to the fields, Pier 5 will have a waterfront esplanade along its perimeter, as well as a “picnic peninsula” that will include banquet-length picnic tables, barbecues, a concession, and children’s play equipment. The pier is accessible from a pedestrian path at Joralemon Street, as well as the Park’s main greenway, and the concession structure will be prominently located and directly visible to visitors as they approach the Park from Pier 6 or from Joralemon Street.

RFP for Installation and Operations of a Seasonal Indoor Recreation Facility Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 5 (PDF, large 6.6MB file)

05/12/11 8:58am

Hillside dog park

A Dumbo resident sent us an email to warn others about her experience of being attacked by a dog while jogging up towards Hillside Park this morning:

“I want to alert you that I was running up the hill between Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights past the dog park this morning. A large black dog jumped over the fence and started attacking my leg viciously (pic). I was able to run on top of a car to avoid further attack. This is very scary because had I been a small child who knows…. There is a playground on top of the hill that all children in the neighborhood frequent. I was too traumatized to get the owners name. Please be careful especially if you have small children. Pleae alert the neighborhood!”

Pedestrians, please be mindful of dogs, and dog owners, please watch your pets.