Opposition to Brooklyn Jail Proposal Organizes a Little

The Brooklyn House of Detention expansion proposal now has an organization called the Brooklyn House of Detention Stakeholders Group working to “keep the community informed of the ongoing struggle against expansion of the Brooklyn House of Detention.” Their website is brooklynjail.org. Quite a few groups near the facility, which the city wants to reopen and double in size, bitterly oppose the plan. The group says the city ignored a “visionary plan” to redevelop the facility. The proposal from Time Equities and Hamlin Ventures would have added condos and rental housing, but replaced the jail with alternative incarceration and treatment programs. Groups involved in the “stakeholders” effort include the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association, the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation, 53 Boerum Place Condominium, the Boerum Hill Association, Brooklyn Vision Foundation, Cobble Hill Association and State Street Houses Association.

Bklink: Stacked Mannequin

It’s rare to find a mannequin with such cleavage, or even to pay attention to one, but this one at Dr. Jay’s in Downtown Brooklyn is “falling out of her dress stacked.”–McBrooklyn

Piano Finito: Big Ratner Tower is Dead

The 100-story tall Renzo Piano tower at Tillary and Jay Street that would have been developed by Bruce Ratner is dead. Both the Daily News and the Brooklyn Paper report the tower has fallen victim to rising costs and the credit crunch. Forest City Ratner would have built a dorm and lab for City Tech in return for $300 million and land to build the Piano tower, estimated at 70-100 stories tall. A CUNY exec told the Brooklyn Paper that it was a “was a mutual decision” and a statement said “timing and complexities” of development didn’t match with the school’s “immediate need.” City Council Member David Yassky, however, blamed finances, saying Ratner “may be overextended right now.” He added that “a lot of developers are re-evaluating their numbers and feel that residential buildings don’t work right now.” CUNY will go ahead with building a new lab and dorm, probably in the range of 10 stories.

Bklink: Meaty Rendering

There’s a rendering of the much-hyped new Morton’s that will open in the Brooklyn Marriott . “We were delighted to receive this here rendering of the 14,000 square foot restaurant-to-be. Conclusion: Peter Luger, all is forgiven.”–Eater

Citypoint Tower: 65 Stories on Flatbush

The Citypoint website for the project that is going up on the site of the Albee Square Mall doesn’t go out of its way to highlight the height of the tower that will rise with the huge development planned for the site. (Brownstoner first drew attention to the site on Monday.) In fact, most renderings of the project has downplayed the tall building. A small rendering appears on the project’s website and a somewhat larger one has popped up on the Greenberg Farrow website. The building is planned at 65 stories, far taller than the Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, which is Brooklyn’s tallest structure. Here’s what the architect’s website has to say about the development:

City Point will enliven an already bustling office and retail district in the heart of Brooklyn. Next to the Metrotech office complex and along two major thoroughfares in central Brooklyn, this 1.9 million square foot development features over 500,000 square feet of retail, approximately 280 hotel rooms and 800 residential units along with 250,000 square feet of offices. This signature tower will rise to over 65 stories, rising above the Brooklyn skyline.

Is 65 stories too tall for Flatbush Avenue? Will there be any questions raised about the size of the Citypoint tower? Stay tuned.

Bklink: Times Visits Fulton Mall

In the days before Christmas, the Fulton Mall is one very busy and un-bland place. It’s “a chaotic throwback to the era before the sanitization and, yes, mallification of New York City’s retail districts. For every Nextel or Children’s Place or Foot Locker on the mall there is an immigrant-run mom-and-pop store offering off-brand electronics or no-brand suits or a trifecta of cellphones, gold teeth and sneakers.”–NYT

Brookyule #1: Borough Hall Edition

Borough Hall, Brooklyn[Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Hilary/flickr]

Bklink: IHOPBK is Here

The downtown IHOP at Livingston and Bond Streets is now open and there is talk of customers forsaking Junior’s. Turns out the IHOP owner has his hand in the hip hop business.–NYDN

Bklink: Downtown Brooklyn Luxe Retail?

“A high-end steakhouse chain and luxury retailers are expected to set up shop along a drab street near the Brooklyn Bridge, the Daily News has learned. The steakhouse and as many as six luxury clothiers and other retailers will move into the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge and two floors of an adjacent city-owned building on Adams St.”–NYDN

Brooklyn Getting a Really Big Piano

Anyone that still doubts Brooklyn will be a very different looking (and feeling) place in a few years, might want to take a look at these renderings of the City Tech Tower that Bruce Ratner wants to build at Jay and Tillary Streets. The rendering made the rounds yesterday after it was first posted on the Wired New York Forum on Thanksgiving Weekend and then picked up by the 110 Livingston Blog. It is widely noted in print media followups today. The building will be very glassy (note the Empire State Building reflection) in the tower and quite tall. The estimates on Wired ranged from 850-1,000 feet. Jotham Sederstrom reports in the Daily News that the rendering “may not reflect the developer’s current vision” for the building. Even at a reduced height, however, it may still be taller than the Williamsburgh Savings Bank building.