Gothamist reports that Dumbo Kitchen is open with a soft launch of the new concept take out and dine-in at 108 Jay Street. The former Gallery Cafe has been redesigned to be a take out place for commuters and workers in the neighborhood.

The made to order sandwiches are named after building numbers in Dumbo (“The 45″ for 45 Main Street, “The 70″ for 70 Washington Street, etc). Clever. We’ve tried The 70 and The 111, and were tasty. What do you think?

(Photos courtesy of Kate Schaefer / Gothamist)

Dumbo Kitchen
108 Jay Street, Brooklyn NY 11201 (corner of York Street)

Brooklyn Roasting Company is expanding, tripling in size, according to an announcement on their blog. For coffee lovers in Dumbo, this is great news. They’ve taken over the space next door at 25 Jay Street and working on adding more production equipment as well as more craftsman furniture:

“…an antique Merle and Heaney working roulette wheel and table. Together with our rialto theatre row seating (customer comfort zone), wood-spooled pie-cooling racks (for t-shirts and sweatshirts and soon b-ball caps) and haberdasher’s cabinet (now green coffee sample storage and organization), our uber-cool casino antique underlines our respect for craftsmanship and commitment to authenticity. We also think it would make an incredibly cool cupping table.”

Considered by many to be the best espresso in Dumbo and Brooklyn, BRC is putting their bets in their Dumbo roasting plant. Congrats to the Brooklyn Roasting Co team and looking forward to the expansion!

Brooklyn Roasting Company (brooklynroasting.com)
25 Jay Street, Brooklyn, New York 11201

Previously:
{Brooklyn Roasting Company Opens in Dumbo, 01Aug2011}
{New Coffee Bars Coming to Dumbo, 10Jun2011}
{Best Coffee in Dumbo?, 11Nov2010}

[UPDATE: Turns out it's temporary staging for a promotional piece being filmed by the Jehovah's Witnesses.]

We’ve seen some activity on the 85 Jay Street parking lot in the past, though nothing came out of it. An email tip came in with the above photo of the parking lot at 85 Jay Street owned by the Watchtower Society in Dumbo. The email says:

There’s some construction that started today in the huge parking lot owned by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. See the attached photo (above). It looks like they’re doing something in the Northeast corner of the lot that’s bounded by Front, York, Bridge and Jay Streets. Any ideas on what this might be?

As noted before, this 3 acre plot of land is the largest plot of undeveloped land in the city. There are no jobs/filings for 85 Jay on the NYC Department of Buildings website. Does anyone have any information here?

Previously:
{‘Mysterious’ 85 Jay Street Activity?, 30Jan2008}
{No Truth to Rumor that Witnesses Will Not Develop 85 Jay, 03May2007, Brooklyn Daily Eagle}
{Jehovah’s Abandon Dumbo, 24Apr2007, Curbed}
{85 Jay Watchtower Complex, skyscraperpage.com}
{Jehovah’s Witnesses On Track to Colonize Dumbo, 04Dec2004, Curbed}

iNsYnc Photography, a photo studio has taken up lease at 67 Jay Street, the former location for Jay East, the Asian antique store.

iNsYnc Photography (insyncny.com)
67 Jay Street, Brooklyn NY 11201
Phone: 718.852.6140
Email: studio@insyncny.com

DUMBO Startup Lab (not to be confused with the Dumbo Incubator) launched for business last month. DUMBO Startup Lab is a an affordable, flexible and convenient communal work space for entrepreneurs, freelancers and startup companies. Similar to other co-working spaces such as Loosecubes, the goal is to create a synergetic atmosphere for innovative thinkers and developers. As Dumbo becomes the base for more and more startups, the DUMBO Startup Lab fosters the entrepreneur, freelancer, and designer collaboration. They also host community meetups, networking events, panel discussions and creative workshops.

DUMBO Startup Lab’s rates are lower than similar co-working spaces found throughout New York City. Portable desk rates start at $200/month and stationary desks start at $300/month. There’s no deposit or binding time commitment. Another great option for co-working space in Dumbo.

DUMBO Startup Lab (dumbostartuplab.com)
68 Jay st. #415 Brooklyn, NY 11201

Wednesday, December 21, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and State Senator Daniel Squadron joined Brooklyn elected officials and community and business leaders to rally in support of the New York University and Polytechnic Institute proposal for an applied sciences campus at 370 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn. Creating a hub for science and technology that connects the budding tech community in Dumbo and the surrounding neighborhoods with NYU-Poly’s proposed Center for Urban Science and Progress, as well as City Tech and Poly’s existing campuses would be a major step for Brooklyn and Dumbo’s NY Digital District and Digital Dumbo.

NYC is aiming to build a world class applied sciences and engineering campus, called Applied Sciences NYC at Roosevelt Island to be competitive with other tech centers such as Silicon Valley. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Cornell University, and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology announced an historic partnership to build a two-million-square-foot applied science and engineering campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City. (also on NYTimes).

In addition to the Applied Sciences NYC, building on Dumbo’s tech community will attract and retain the creative entrepreneurs that will drive innovation for NYC. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said in a statement, “With today’s announcement behind us, let’s now look ahead to the new year and make the case that New York deserves more than one first-rate applied sciences school and that serious consideration be given to New York University’s partnership with Polytech proposed for 370 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn—home to more college students than Cambridge, Massachusetts—as well as Carnegie Mellon’s plans for the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which along with DUMBO, is part of our borough’s emerging new Silicon Valley. Both locations offer a unique opportunity to create a job-creating epicenter of learning, research and innovation. I normally don’t celebrate Brooklyn being a runner-up in anything, but considering the importance of this center to the future of Brooklyn and New York City, in this case I would happily make an exception.”

Dumbo Improvement District Executive Director Alexandria Sica added, “DUMBO is home to more than one hundred technology firms, digital and creative start-ups that are growing—some at a faster pace than there is talent available. NYU-Poly’s proposal for 370 Jay Street would provide these companies with a highly skilled workforce in their backyard. Furthermore, having an applied sciences school at 370 Jay Street will help DUMBO and the greater Downtown Brooklyn area to continue to grow as a location for tech-based companies that choose to be here around like-minded companies and innovators.”

The Wall Street Journal published an article on Dumbo’s tech yesterday. The article mentions “Tech startups and digital advertising companies have flocked to Dumbo throughout the past decade, drawn to the neighborhood’s industrial lofts that eschew Midtown’s buttoned-down culture. Now Dumbo’s tech scene is about to get bigger.” Polytechnic Institute of New York University will open a new incubator in Dumbo that could house as many as 20 small companies at 20 Jay Street. With innovation fueld by the intersection of creativity, media, and technology in Brooklyn, the community should be looking forward to more private and public partnerships.

(Photo by Kathryn Kirk)

(Photo by Blake Zidell for NYTimes)

The New York Times ArtsBeat reports that St. Ann’s Warehouse signed a new three year lease at 29 Jay Street in Dumbo. After getting the approval by The National Park Service to house St. Ann’s Warehouse to the Tobacco Warehouse in February 2011, the Federal District Court ruling stated that the National Park Service violated federal law by removing two historic landmarks from federally protected parkland, and therefore prevented St. Ann’s move to the Tobacco Warehouse. The availability of the 29 Jay Street space will keep St. Ann’s in Dumbo, at least for the next three years.

The highly acclaimed performances at St. Ann’s Warehouse will open in the fall of 2012 after leaving their current home of 11 years at 38 Water Street. Dumbo is fortunate to have St. Ann’s in its neighborhood and today, we find out that they will stay in Dumbo.

Sotheby’s has listed today this 3 bedroom (currently used as a 2 bedroom), 2.5 bath, 1,592 sqft condo at 100 Jay Street #28H for $1,799,000 ($1,130 per sqft). The condo looks to be in perfect condition and has some great views of Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. We’re told by a tipster that it’s owned by married celebrities who “may or may not be splitting.”

Price: $1,799,000
tax (monthly): $30
cc: $1,115

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).

A sign at the new cafe called Punto Bianco (means white spot in Italian) on 14 Jay Street (at John Street) has gone up. The coming soon sign says there will be paninis, salads, pastries, and an espresso bar. No word yet on opening day, but looks like the build out of the cafe is coming along.

Punto Bianco
14 Jay Street, Brooklyn NY 11201

Previously:
{New Coffee Bars Coming to Dumbo, 10Jun2011}