Residents decry proposed Gowanus music venue

280 Bond Street (Credit: PropertyShark)
280 Bond Street (Credit: PropertyShark)

UPDATED, 9:10 p.m. May 20: A group of Carroll Gardens and Gowanus, Brooklyn residents are up in arms over the proposed renovation of 280 Bond Street, a warehouse, into the Rock & Roll Playhouse, Pardon Me For Asking reported. The group issued a petition to Community Board 6 to halt the development.

Peter Shapiro, who’s also behind music venue Brooklyn Bowl, seeks to renovate the warehouse into the facility. The proposed venue, at Degraw Street, will abut several residential properties.

Rock & Roll Playhouse would host music classes for children during the day, but transform into seated venue for jazz music and educational programming later in the evening, according to a statement from the development tram. There will be capacity for 96 people.

“The [Rock & Roll Playhouse] was created on the premise that all people are musical and that families should have a space where they can enjoy music together,” the statement reads.

The neighborhood group, called We Are Gowanus, claims Shapiro disguised his plans, and playing up the children’s school angle and concealing the fact that the Playhouse will host live music at night.

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“A late-night music venue serving drinks until 1:30 a.m. … and including a large outdoor space is deleterious to the neighborhood and the community at large,” the group said in a statement.

“The [DOB] appears to have swung quite wide of the mark here in determining that this change of use is compatible with a residential district,” the blog said, noting that for a non-conforming use such as this, approval from the city department was required.

“The walls of several homes bank the stage where Shapiro envisions late-night musical acts will perform seven nights a week,” the residents’ statement reads.

But Shapiro’s team insists that they will not distrurb the peace.

“We are eager to be good neighbors an work with the Carroll Gardens/Gowanus communities to ensure that the [playhouse] is a unique and valued asset to the families in the neighborhood,” their statement says. “We have … dialogued with members of the community to understand their concerns, paid careful attention to the layout and structure of the space to ensure that it addresses those concerns, including considerable effort with professionals regarding noise reduction and attenuation construction and materials.” [Pardon Me For Asking]Zachary Kussin