Have you noticed the stunning restored stained glass at The Greenpoint Palace (206 Nassau Ave.) or the beautiful light fixtures at Anella (222 Franklin St.)? They’re the creations of Friend of All Glass founder Flannery Cronin who helped to recently open FOA Collective, an artist-run home good collective at 89 Freeman St.
The new shop quietly opened last December, but the official grand opening is May 3rd to coincide with the completion of the custom-designed glass wall in the rear of the shop and the launch of a first Friday initiative where neaby business will extend their hours to 9 p.m. for the summer months.
The stained glass wall at FOA Collective
FOA Collective currently hosts 13 designers, artists, and creators who contribute a monthly membership fee along with a commitment to work two days per month at the shop.
Artist members in the collective receive 100% of the proceeds from sales helping customers to directly support the FOA Collective’s artists and designers:
With the growing retail and food scene at the northernmost stretch of Franklin St. a first Friday series for the summer will help to bring more foot traffic and customers to the area. “We’ll have events and feature specific artists eventually,” said FOA Collective founding artist Flannery Cronin. Continue reading →
Magazine (130 Franklin St.) opened last night with a packed house at the former home of Shayz Lounge. The new bar emphasizes a fun atmosphere and friendly, unpretentious service, co-founder Jermey Willis said.
Willis who lived above Shayz Lounge for 12 years, moved to Greenpoint from New Orleans in 2004 and is a co-founder of Greenpoint’s Real Estate Fine Art gallery and is also the vocalist/guitarist in the band The Listeners. “I’m from New Orleans and we kinda took some of the points of service from experiences in bars and restaurants there, and we want to have a jovial attitude,” Willis said. “The goal is to make a bar that feels like a party; we want it to feel very open and inviting and fun,” he said.
Magazine’s founding partners include Matt Wang (Candy Bar in Detroit), Julian Brizzi (Rucola, Grand Army, Celestine), and John Russell, a co-founder of Real Estate Fine Art. “Disco” David Discavage runs the bar program (formerly of Hotel Delmano, Mr. Fong’s, Primo’s), and will focus on mixed and frozen drinks. Continue reading →
Map of proposed school next to the NuHart Superfund site (via North Brooklyn Neighbors)
The future of the proposed k-8 school across from a toxic site is in question. The current plan is to build the school on a vacant lot across the street from the NuHart Plastics Superfund site, one of the most contaminated sites in New York state.
NuHart Plastics Superfund site
NYC Councilmember Stephen Levin is holding a public meeting on Feb. 7, at the Dupont Senior Housing Center (80 Dupont St.) at 7 p.m. regarding the school and has for the past three years cited efforts to seek an alternative site for a new k-8 school in the North Greenpoint area.
A petition from North Brooklyn Neighbors in opposition to the location of the future school at the corner of Franklin and Dupont streets has received over 6,600 signatures so far.
The NuHart Plastics building spewed toxic fumes into the neighborhood while producing vinyl sheeting from 1950 – 2004, during which time underground storage tanks of toxic chemicals leaked into the groundwater and soil. Today as much as 60,000 gallons of phthalates are underground at the site and the toxic plume has migrated west toward the Greenpoint Playground across the street.
The underground plume at the corner of Franklin and Dupont streets (via North Brooklyn Neighbors)
While local residents are not currently a risk for exposure at the moment while the toxins remain more than 10 feet underground, the cleanup process is supposed to start following the demolition of the building which could start later this year following approval of the proposal of the cleanup plan by the state. Continue reading →
A few months ago the city released its 1940s tax photo archive of over 700,000 black and white pictures and it’s a wonderful way for history nerds to waste hours dreaming of the Greenpoint days of yore. As part of the New Deal, the Works Progress Administration employed millions of Americans on public projects, and the NYC Dept. of Taxation hired a team of photographers under the program in 1939 – 1940 to snap pictures of every building in the city for property tax assessment. Greenpointers will be posting side-by-side photos to observe changes in the neighborhood; please note that the addresses are approximate and refer to the listings from the city’s tax archive. First up, Franklin Street:
Dupont and Franklin streets in 1940 (NYC tax archive)Dupont and Franklin streets in 2018 Google Maps)233 Franklin St. in 1940 (NYC tax archive)233 Franklin St. in 2018 (Google Maps)129 Franklin St. in 1940 (NYC tax archive)129 Franklin St. in 2018 (Google Maps)214-218 Franklin St 1940 (NYC tax archive)214-218 Franklin St 2018 (Google Maps)
Manhattan Avenue isn’t the only Greenpoint shopping corridor experiencing a rapid change in its businesses. The stretch of Franklin Street from N. 15 Street to Commercial Street has seen a shakeup in the past year with the closings and openings of longtime and new businesses. Here’s the latest:
Greenpoint Beer & Ale Co. (7 N. 15th St.) and Northern Territory (12 Franklin St.) share the same block that is soon-to-be-razed to make way for a new office building. Northern Territory is closed for the winter and will reopen for the final year at its current location this spring. Meanwhile, Greenpoint Beer celebrated its final night on New Year’s Eve at its current location and the owners are busy preparing their new 1150 Manhattan Ave. location for a tentative spring opening.
Just across the street from Northern Territory, the House of Vans (25 Franklin St.) concert venue and skate park opened in 2010 and closed last August with a goodbye set from NYC legends Interpol. The space is now on the market for $77,000 per month.
(Courtesy of House of Vans)Shayz Lounge
Shayz Lounge (130 Franklin St.) announced on Thursday that January 20th will be the neighborhood bar’s final night of operation after spending a decade in Greenpoint on Franklin Street. Continue reading →
Demolition is scheduled to start next year on the building which sits on highly toxic land at the corner of Franklin and Dupont Streets, where the groundwater and soil are contaminated with a host of human carcinogens, such as phthalates and TCE.
A letter with recommendations on the proposed cleanup plan addressed to the DEC from Environmental Stewardship Concepts, the technical advisor hired by the North Brooklyn Neighbors, addresses many issues including the need for pressurized tents during excavation to minimize the spread of harmful airborne volatile organic compounds.
Northern Territory (12 Franklin St.) is closing for the winter, and summer 2019 will be the popular bar’s last at the current Franklin Street location.
You can come to say goodbye in person to the Northern Territory crew at their Winter Hibernation Party on Saturday, Nov. 17, from 4 p.m. – close, where Greenpointers staff will be guest bartending with pumpkin spice hot mulled apple cider, a crowd favorite from our Samhain Fall Market.
Owner Jamie Toll says the cold winter months bring a large reduction of customers along with significantly less foot traffic near the once-barren waterfront region at the border of Williamsburg and Greenpoint.
After 20 years in Greenpoint, the final day of business at American Deli Market (97 Franklin St.) will be Wednesday, Nov. 7. “We wanted to renew in 2016, since then we’ve been on a month-to-month tenancy,” said Yvette Camacho, who has owned and operated the deli with her husband Dennis since its opening in 1998.
The Camachos have been in protracted negotiations for years with the landlord, offering on multiple occasions to purchase the building. “Some of our customers even offered to help us buy the building,” she said. Continue reading →
Friends of All Glass provided the pendant lamps in the front windows (courtesy of Alexis Thomas)
It’s official, after much anticipation Anella (222 Franklin St.) will finally re-open for dinner this evening (5:30 p.m. to be exact) following reconstruction due to extensive fire damage last summer.
Anella sent us some photos of the new interior and it looks promising, check it out: Continue reading →
