Mirabelle Marden and the exterior and interior of 17 Dikeman Street
Photographer Mirabelle Marden, the former owner of the Lower East Side’s Rivington Arms gallery and the daughter of minimalist artist and downtown “quasi-aristocrat” Brice Marden, is trading her native West Village for the still-undeveloped waterfront in the Red Hook area of Brooklyn. [more]
A rendering of the Whole Foods slated to rise in Gowanus, Brooklyn
Next week, the fate of Whole Foods Market’s first Brooklyn outpost will be largely decided, when two City Council panels vote on whether to grant the variances needed for the project to move forward, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The vacant Coignet building, at the corner of Third Avenue and 3rd Street in the Gowanus neighborhood, is the landmarked building at the center of the debate. The proposed store would wrap around the historic building, and its lot size would need to be decreased in order for construction to begin. [more]
Rendering of Gowanus Whole Foods (credit: Brownstoner)
The city’s Board of Standards and Appeals unanimously approved a variance for Whole Foods Market to build its long-awaited store in Gowanus, the first Whole Foods for the borough. Both the company and local supporters say they hope the market will provide economic growth for the Brooklyn neighborhood — an underdeveloped neighborhood not far from a Superfund site. [more]
The prospective Whole Foods site in Gowanus (credit: Brownstoner.com)
A coalition of Gowanus-based artists and factory owners is urging the city to reject a plan by Whole Foods to open a 58,000-square-foot store in the neighborhood, on a site at 3rd Street and Third Avenue that’s currently zoned for only 10,000 square feet of commercial space, the Brooklyn Paper reported.
The project, which is set to go before the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals in February for final approval, has been attracting criticism from locals, who argue that the retailer’s presence in the neighborhood would not only bring a greater degree of traffic, but also set off a high-end development boom and increase rental rates for the area. [more]
Dustin Yellin and 149 Pioneer Street (credit: PropertyShark)
The artist who bought the 24,000-square-foot former Time Moving and Storage warehouse in Red Hook for $3.7 million has ambitious plans to transform it into an arts center, the New York Times reported.
Even for Dustin Yellin, whose sculptures typically sells to collectors and celebrities for $25,000 to $100,000 and sometimes garners as much as $250,000, the venture is a risky one. [more]
Residents of a housing project in Red Hook say that their buildings still suffer unrepaired damage from the earthquake this August, the New York Daily News reported.
Damage includes cracked walls and slanted floors, according to the residents of Red Hook West Houses. When the earthquake struck on Aug. 23, bricks from a rooftop wall fell down and the floor in Thekla Giles’ apartment shifted. Giles has lived in Brooklyn’s largest housing project since 1974. “I break into a sweat when I get here,” she said, pointing out a crooked bathroom sink and uneven kitchen countertops. “I get nervous. Everything is just off.” [more]
A Manhattan private school, Xavier High School, located at 30 West 16th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, is planning on spending $2.5 million to revamp a worn-out public playing field at Columbia and Bay streets in Red Hook, angering coaches of a local Red Hook football team, the Red Hook Raiders. By upgrading the pitch with footlights and new bleachers, Xavier will be guaranteed certain practice times from 3p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, messing up the schedule for the Red Hook club, according to the Brooklyn Paper. “My kids live here,” said coach Daniel Clay. “They should be the first priority.” [more]
Pave Academy, a charter school in Red Hook, is closer to getting a building of its own, after crowding at nearby P.S. 15 for the last four years. Brownstoner reported that demolition has begun at the corner of Mill and Henry streets, where the 350-seat charter school expects to move sometime in 2013. Pave Academy’s current location in the P.S. 15 building at 71 Sullivan Street has upset parents and teachers at the public school who claim its hindering their students’ educations, the New York Post previously reported. [Brownstoner] [more]
The Red Hook warehouse building that once housed the 2008 cast of “The Real World” has been transformed into a wedding and banquet hall. The location, now known as Liberty Warehouse, offers views of the New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty. The owner Buzzy O’Keeffe, who also runs the popular waterfront restaurant the River Cafe in Dumbo, has just applied for a liquor license, although it’s not immediately clear when the spot will begin welcoming parties and nuptials. [NYDN via Curbed] [more]
Gowanus, the Brooklyn neighborhood long-derided for its toxically polluted Gowanus Canal, could sustain an extra 1,500 to 2,000 residential units, industry experts say, once the Environmental Protection Agency-mandated canal cleanup goes through, according to the Brooklyn Paper. Of course, this residential rebirth could take years and millions of dollars, with conservative estimates pegging the canal cleanup cost at $400 million. Insiders say the cleanup effort could take a decade or longer. [more]
