Have you noticed the new bright blue building on Dobbin Street? It used to be an auto garage, but that former identity is now completely unrecognizable at the newly renovated 64 Dobbin Street. After 18 months of intense demolition and reconstruction – not to mention a new coat of paint – the 8,500 sq. wedding venue and events space Dobbin St. will open this summer.
Dobbin St. is co-founded by Terry Walshe, a British filmmaker, restaurateur and impresario who first came to New York 15 years ago to attend a two-month stint at the New York Film Academy. His feature length documentary, Good Times (2002), follows British DJ Norman Jay around New York and London exploring the Sound System culture of the 1980s that spawned the London warehouse parties and acid house movement.
In the 2000s, continuing to work as a filmmaker, doing commercial video work and directing music videos in London, Walshe yearned for something new and decided to move to Buenos Ares, Argentina where he opened a hip, clandestine restaurant in a vacant warehouse in a seedy part of town. The restaurant, Club 647, had a 1940s Shanghai lounge theme and “worked out for a few years,” says Walshe. But operating “left of field” and only slightly profitable, he and his partners decided to close the destination eatery and open up the entire warehouse as an events rental space for weddings, birthdays, celebrations and dance parties. Building on his experiences in the warehouse party culture of London and transitioning the kitchen staff into a catering business for the events space, Walshe and his team were able to experiment and develop more creative dinning options for their events clients ” that were far more adventurous than the restaurant could be,” says Walshe.
While running the events space for nearly eight years, Walshe was back and forth between Buenos Ares and New York and dating a girl in the city when one of his old NYC friends called him up to say, “My uncle has a space that would be perfect for events, do you want to move to Brooklyn?”
That space was, of course, 64 Dobbin Street.
“Just because we are an events space it doesn’t mean we can’t take risks,” says Walshe. Featuring a minimalist Scandinavian design, Dobbin St. has clean and classy feel with a blank slate potential to transform into a custom atmosphere for a variety of events with room for 275 guests. The main space has 22 ft. ceilings and wonderful light from oversized French doors and skylights, and guests are welcome to the entire space when booking an event: the Sprout-appointed courtyard in the back, the customizable kitchen space, and certainly the 2,500 sq.ft. rooftop garden with views of Manhattan.
“Greenpoint is an original mix of the industrial and quant,” says Walshe. “From the quirky cool of Franklin Avenue through the industrial zone stretching from Kent to Nassau and ending in picturesque McCarren Park, there is a mix that’s hard to beat. Add on the stunning views of the Manhattan skyline and it’s a great location for any event.”
While weekend weddings will certainly be Dobbin St.’s bread and butter – rates begin at $6,000 and differ according to the day and season – Walshe and his team are more than open to hosting creative and artistic events of all shapes and sizes. “Film screenings, dinner parties, photo shoots,” says Walshe, overlooking the soon-to-be polished space. “We already have some events booked, including a birthday party.
RSVP for the first open house at Dobbin St. on Tuesday, June 7th, 6:30pm-8:30pm by writing [email protected]