Another skyscraper is rising along the Greenpoint waterfront, slated for completion in 2018. The area is quickly being transformed into a cordon of gleaming skyscrapers. Some people have jokingly started calling our area “Dubai” in reference to North Brooklyn’s huge skyscrapers.
Developer Andru Coren’s application to build a 12 story 60-unit residential tower at 29 Clay Street was approved by the city. The building will contain 48,000 square feet and an underground garage for parking. The tower will have a single apartment on the first floor, seven on the second and eight each on the third and fourth floors. There will be five apartments each of the second through tenth floors with two on the 11th and a single penthouse apartment on the 12th floor. Continue reading →
A rendering of a high-rise coming to Greenpoint Landing (via Brookfield Property Partners and Park Tower Group)
If the trucks, dust, and noise of recent months haven’t been self-evident enough, the Northwest corner of Greenpoint is now bracing itself for more of the above.
In a meeting held Tuesday between developers, city officials, and community representatives, Council Member Stephen Levin attested to the notion that we’re more or less exiting the warmup phase of the current development cycle and heading for the main event.
“The reality is that the pace of development has sped up over the last six months to a year,” he said. “Even since we first start meeting, the pace of development has really accelerated. That’s because the economy’s doing well, banks are lending, developers are getting in the ground, and things are moving.”
Organized by Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG), the meeting gave residents an opportunity to ask some tough questions and hear a slightly more unscripted perspective from developers.
Hot topics included Greenpoint Landing, the West Street project (what’s the deal with all those missing trees?), environmental remediation at NuHart, and the not-so-promising future of Greenpoint’s parking situation. The aftermath of the infamous Halloween rave also received some airtime (for those curious, fines will be levied, but the amount is still undetermined).
That construction is inevitable (and that it’s inevitably a nuisance) is hardly breaking news, but it seems as though residents still have a window of opportunity to air their concerns and perhaps influence the direction some of this taking. The public comment period for the Nuhart State Superfund remediation, for example, is still coming up.
In the meantime, here are a few of the latest updates from the land of jackhammers drilling into toxic soil. Continue reading →
Tango Chile Sauce founders Dan Frieber and Chris Tart. Photo via Community News Group / Allegra Hobbs
Brooklyn Night Bazaar is hoping to move back to familiar stomping grounds after its brief respite at the beach last summer. The owner is currently looking to secure a liquor license at 144 Greenpoint Ave, otherwise known as the shiny black catering hall of former Polonaise Terrace fame.
It’s not just humans that are about to get priced out of the neighborhood. The feral cat colonies near the Greenpoint Landing site are also looking at a very likely displacement in the near future.
A Greenpoint hot sauce company is taking Ben & Jerry’s lead with the creation of a Bernie Sanders-themed food product. As far as hot sauce royalties go, 10% of their profits will go toward the Sanders campaign.
Greenpointer and holder of many other titles Rev. Ann Kansfield. Photo: Kirsten Luce via The New York Times
Two Greenpoint Landing buildings have reached a construction milestone — a vertical one. Both 33 Eagle and 21 Commercial Street have topped out.
Greenpoint is on the map for hot sauce in New York City. Though the resident expert at The Heatonist cautioned that there’s “no face-melting sauce coming out of New York City right now,” Paulie Gees favorite Mike’s Hot Honey represents some of the best of the Big Apple’s Big Pepper Ambitions.
Applications are now being taken for affordable units at 21 Commercial Street, one of the three affordable buildings within the imminent Greenpoint Landing complex. Studios start at $494/mo for applicants making less than $18,309 per year.
On the complete opposite end of that spectrum, here’s what a $1.2 million apartment looks like in our dear heartland.
If the MTA is a petri dish, the G Train is an itty bitty hot bed of salmonella.
Just because we’re up shit creek without a paddle doesn’t mean our waterways don’t have basic rights. Riverkeeper is the one to thank for keeping an eye on Newtown Creek.
A 40-year-old man is being treated at Bellevue after the G Train clipped him in the head early on Tuesday morning. He was reportedly leaning too far over the edge when the train pulled into the station.
Old London Plane Trees hang over GPL Property Photo Credit: Darren Lipman
In recent weeks, some of you may have spotted the mutilation of 5 trees bordering the northern edge of Barge Park. These trees, identified as 75 yr old London Plane Trees, have been around longer than most of us and recently met their untimely death at the hands of our new neighbor Greenpoint Landing, and the Parks Department.
How they were chopped down and how much money Greenpoint will be getting out of the deal is rather murky indeed.
Let’s just say, in NYC money really does grow on trees. Continue reading →
What does gourmet ice cream and shovels have in common? Nothing really. But throw in some sand and a couple of key photo-ops with politicians and you’d be at a party thrown by none other than our new neighbor, Greenpoint Landing.
For those of you unfamiliar with the mega development Greenpoint Landing and how our former Borough President and current City Councilman Steve Levin sold Greenpoint up a polluted river two years ago for a towering gilded waterfront cage, I suggest you read here, here and here for more details.
For the rest of us who cringe each time another pile is driven into the ground for what will eventually be a long string of 40 story towers, then I beg you to read on and seethe in disgust as Greenpoint Landing held a “Ground Breaking Ceremony” complete with Van Leeuwen Ice Cream trucks and yet failed to invite the community. Continue reading →
Since last Thursday’s meeting, many of you have written me personally expressing concerns about Nuhart’s status and what it means for the hood when a Superfund cleans up its act and turns into an “affordable luxury condo building”. Sadly, what is happening at Nuhart is not an April Fool’s joke.
Well, I have good and bad news to report about our darling little Superfund. I suggest we bust out our hazmat suits and get suited up. I’m going to take us into the trenches and talk about toxic plumes.
Yes, you read that correctly. There are TWO plumes at Nuhart, not one.
Got your suit zipped and your mask on tight? Alright Greenpointers, let’s get dirty and talk toxins. Continue reading →
A few months ago, Greenpointers were alarmed to hear that Nuhart Plastics on the corner of Dupont Street had been sold to a Chinese developer who plans on turning the site into residential condos. Many of us were familiar with Nuhart’s former life as a plastics plant, but a lot of Greenpointers did not realize the site is a Class-2 Superfund site complete with a phthalate plume.
According to the 2013 NuHart Plume map–which shows liquid plasticizers 5ft deep in some areas–the plume is in fact moving. With a recent study tying prenatal phthlate exposure to lower IQ’s and a host of other health issues, we should be very concerned and vigilant about what is happening at the Nuhart site.
Tonight at 6pm at the Dupont Senior Center the Department of Environmental Conservation (the agency who is responsible for the Superfund’s oversight) will be briefing neighbors about Nuhart and any clean-up efforts that have been conducted in recent months. Also 0n hand will be Greenpoint Landing and 77 Commercial Street representatives giving their own brief updates on their mega developments.
If you have questions, concerns, or comments about the Nuhart plant or our new neighbors Greenpoint Landing & 77 Commercial Street–I know I sure do–then you’ll make it your business to attend tonight’s meeting at the Dupont Street Senior Center (entrance on Eagle Street) between 6-8pm.
For those you can’t make it tonight, Greenpointers will be providing folks with an update. Stay tuned for more details to come.
