Washington Square President Paul Travis and a City Point rendering

Century 21 has agreed to open a store at the Fulton Mall in Downtown Brooklyn, the Wall Street Journal reported, expediting the groundbreaking of the long-awaited City Point development. The discount retailer is the first new traditional department store to open in Downtown Brooklyn since the 1970s and will serve as the anchor tenant for City Point, a planned development of 675,000 square feet of retail and commercial space and 690 housing units at Dekalb and Flatbush avenues. [more]

City Point rendering and Aaron Malinsky

Less than two weeks after being fired from the Brooklyn Navy Yard project, Aaron Malinsky was removed from the City Point project in Downtown Brooklyn that was to include the construction of the tallest building in Brooklyn, according to the New York Post.

Malinsky allegedly directed nearly $500,000 in bribes to Brooklyn State Senator Carl Kruger in exchange for his official help with real estate ventures throughout the borough. Yesterday, The Real Deal reported that Malinsky would “vigorously contest” the allegations. [more]

Admiral’s Row at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

The non-profit Brooklyn Navy Yard Development removed PA Associates as a designated developer on its high-profile Admiral’s Row project a day after one of the firm’s founders was charged in a $1 million federal bribery investigation.

The quasi-governmental entity today “terminated the designation of PA Admirals Row LLC as the developer of the Admiral’s Row site,” the corporation said in a statement to The Real Deal. PA Admirals Row LLC is an affiliate of Midtown-based PA Associates, which was approved as the developer to partner with grocery chain ShopRite on the $60 million project to build a grocery store.

Yesterday federal prosecutors charged Aaron Malinsky, a principal and founder of PA Associates, of funneling $472,500 in bribes to State Senator Carl Kruger. [more]

City Point, the multi-use complex that is slated to be built in
Downtown Brooklyn, will now be constructed in two phases. The
developers, a consortium of Acadia Realty Trust, MacFarlane Partners,
Rose Associates, P/A Associates and Washington Square Partners, will
start building the first phase at the east end of Fulton Mall, on the
site of the old Albee Square Mall. It will include affordable housing
and several big-box retailers such as Best Buy. The second phase will
include market-rate housing, office space and additional retail space.
The original plans for City Point, which have been changed due to the
credit crunch, called for a 1.5 million-square-foot development to be
completed by 2010. [more]