Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz

Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz has tech envy, the New York Daily News reported. The Brooklyn Beep feels his borough should host a competition not unlike the one Mayor Michael Bloomberg held for a tech campus on Roosevelt Island, but for technology companies to bring their manufacturing operations to the East New York or Brownsville area. Markowitz is expected to announce the competition in his State of the Borough speech tomorrow night.

“Just like the mayor… I’m suggesting [a] competition to create a high-tech manufacturing zone,” Markowitz said. “We desperately need manufacturing jobs.” [more]

From left: St. Mark's Bookshop, a Brooklyn bodega, Brooklyn BP Marty Markowitz, Stuy Town and Jimmy McMillan

Some of the most powerless New Yorkers are tenants of buildings in limbo because of a recent sale or foreclosure. Some work fruitlessly to disrupt the free market system real estate developers fancy. Either way, the Village Voice released its list of the “100 Most Powerless New Yorkers,” and considering the city’s relationship with the real estate industry, its little surprise that real estate-related stories have a significant presence on the list. [more]

From left: Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and a rendering of NYU’s plans for 370 Jay StreetWhile many New Yorkers were celebrating Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s selection of Cornell University to build a science school on Roosevelt Island, Brooklyn politicians were pinning their hopes on another phrase the mayor uttered during the press conference.

According to the New York Daily News, Bloomberg said he was still in talks with three other universities and could award grants for another graduate science school. Brooklynites hope that award goes to NYU so it can build a school at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s 370 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn. [more]

Clockwise from top left: Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Fourth Avenue corridor and City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will formally present his plan to significantly expand on a recent bid by the Department of City Planning to rezone Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn, the New York Post reported.

Markowitz wants to encourage retail development along a seven-mile stretch of Fourth Avenue from Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill to the Atlantic Ocean in Bay Ridge. City Planning’s proposal was to start at Atlantic Avenue and continue 56 blocks south to 24th Street in South Slope. Both rezoning would ban new apartments and parking lots on the ground-floor of new construction projects, and demand that half of ground-floor space be committed to retail. [more]

135 Coffey Street and interiors of the Red Hook Homes

A three-building mixed-income co-op known as Red Hook Homes officially opened today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

The project was developed by the not-for-profit Fifth Avenue Committee and contains 60 units across the four-story towers, 40 of which are affordable apartments with the remaining 20 reserved for middle-income New Yorkers.

Forty-two families have moved into the development, 40 of which where selected by lottery from 4,500 applicants vying for the affordable units. All of the affordable units have been sold. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

In establishing charities that compliment his goals as Brooklyn Borough president, Marty Markowitz has found a way to capitalize on his role as a power broker for development in the borough. According to the New York Times, real estate developers and other Brooklyn businessmen currying favor with Markowitz have donated somewhere between $20 million to $45 million to his four Brooklyn charities.

The charities all work to fund projects that improve the lives of Brooklyn residents and Markowitz claims there’s no wrong-doing involved. “I know the difference between right and wrong, and ethical and nonethical,” Markowitz said. “I am not pitching them to give me money, and me in turn give them anything.” Though he has little political say in many of the real estate projects, developers view his support as critical. [more]

Islanders star John Tavares and a rendering of the Barclays Center

Despite previous reports that the redesigned Barclays Center would be too small to house a professional hockey team, stadium officials are reversing course — just as the New York Islanders appear closer to skating away from Nassau County, Brooklyn Paper reported.

The forthcoming home for the Nets basketball team had originally intended to be built for hockey, too — as are most basketball stadiums in the country — but because of financing difficulties that limited the size of the structure, Forest City Ratner officials indicated that it would be too small to house a professional hockey team in April. Instead, the arena would host a handful of collegiate hockey games.

But now Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormack said he would be open to “explore hockey opportunities.” [more]

From left: Joe Chan of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, 210 Joralemon Street and 345 Adams Street (building credits: PropertyShark)

Downtown Brooklyn’s long-standing push to attract more national retailers is about to take a huge step forward, as the city’s Economic Development Corp. closes in on selecting a developer for the first-two floors of the Brooklyn Municipal Building. The Wall Street Journal said the city has been vacating its office spaces in the lower levels of prime Downtown Brooklyn buildings and moving to higher floors to free retail space and bolster local development. The EDC issued a request for proposals for the 37,000-square-foot space in the municipal building at 210 Joralemon Street in December, and also vacated nearby 345 Adams Street, which has already signed leases with Panera Bread and Morton’s Steakhouse.
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John Catsimatidis and a rendering of the Coney Island proposal

As the CEO of the Gristedes supermarket chain John Catsimatidis ushers his “Ocean Dreams” proposal for the west end of the Coney Island boardwalk through public review, it’s becoming increasingly likely that he’ll market the development to middle-aged adults and seniors. According to the New York Post, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said the development, which calls for three towers ranging from 14 to 22 stories, would be most successful if it attracted residents over the age of 55. [more]

Marty Markowitz’s summer Coney Island concert series will move to a West 21st Street lot once used by the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus this year after being ousted from its performance space of 20 years. According to the New York Times, the Brooklyn borough president, who had held the free concerts at Asser Levy/Seaside Park since 1991, announced a one-year relocation deal yesterday with site landlord Taconic Investment Partners. The concert series was kicked out of Asser Levy earlier this year, when the city’s corporation counsel ruled in favor of two synagogues across the street from the stage that had sued over noise violations. The synagogues and other locals had also opposed a new $64 million amphitheater being planned at the park because they said it would bring too much traffic to the area. [more]