NY Observer > Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation

Proposal of the Decade: vision42 wants to ban cars from 42nd Street. That's because the current Times Square is a godforsaken nightmare, and because "a pedestrian and light-rail line zone would boost business" by $380 million each year, and because there might be greenery. (AP)
Drama on the High Line! The Dia Art Foundation has ditched plans to open a museum on the elderly elevated railway, and the Whitney may swoop in to take its place. But that would mean the Whitney would have to forget its old plans for a Renzo Piano-designed expansion uptown. And that would mark "the third time that it commissioned a celebrity architect to design a major expansion to its landmark building, only to renege." (The New York Times)
The un-glamorous Brooklyn Navy Yard gets a 400,000-square-foot expansion, resulting in seven bigger buildings (including a "huge" supermarket, of course). Borough Prez Marty Markowitz boasts: "Brooklyn can still make it big, make it bold, and even make it green." Marty always knows just what to say. (NY1)
In its steady climb towards modernization, Vinegar Hill is being treated to a $3 million renovation of McLaughlin Park. The garden will be restored, and there'll be a "multi-purpose synthetic field"--just like the kind our forefathers had. (Brooklyn Record)
The new "Vista Boquete" condos have everything a Baby Boomer could ever want in a luxury development. (Tennis courts, putting green, outdoor heated pool, etc). Remarkably, the place isn't in Midtown--it's in rural Panama. Central America is so chic. (Multi-Housing News)

Max Abelson

Solution to Affordable Housing? Old Prisons in Brooklyn. (Sort of)

Observer Staff — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 10:00:55 -0400

Not this kind of Brig.

It's been exactly a year since we've heard about the City's plans for the fascinating Brig site in Wallabout. Today, however, brings an official Request for Proposals for the redevelopment of the former prison (conveniently neighboring the Brooklyn Navy Yard) into 400 new housing units.

According to the city's press release, commercial and community space--plus sustainable design--are also in the mix. The Brooklyn House of Detension (and retail shops, and "boutique hotel"?) has nothing on Brig.

But best of all: There will be 300 units of affordable housing, a small step towards Bloomberg's "$7.5 billion Housing Plan [for providing] homes for 500,000 New Yorkers over ten years, more than the entire population of Atlanta." Take that, Ted Turner.

But how much will the city charge potential developers for the 103,000-square-foot Brig? $1. - Max Abelson

Admiral's Woe

Observer Staff — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 05:56:00 -0400

Another landmark target on the Brooklyn waterfront: Admirals Row in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which the city wants to replace with a supermarket. The advoacy group Historic Districts Council says in its October newsletter: "These buildings are a community amenity, and to demolish them for a big-box supermarket, which is planned, flies in the face of forty years of preservation planning." Despite how they look in this photo, from the Fort Greene Association website, a consultant found that it would be possible to restore and repair the buildings. --Matthew Schuerman

Lights, Camera, George!

Observer Staff — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 05:31:00 -0400

After Iowa, where is there for a 2008 hopeful to go? The silver screen. Or the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

That is where Pataki turned up - and where Spike Lee is filming - in order to hand out Made in New York t-shirts (third item down).

Maybe he is ready for his close up?

Now for Something Completely Different

Terry Golway — Sun, 16 May 1999 20:00:00 -0400

Nearly a decade has passed since Charles Millard had the good sense to visit Wise Guys during what s read more »

Mayor Green-Lights De Niro Movie Yard

Greg Sargent and Devin Leonard — Sun, 02 May 1999 20:00:00 -0400

It isn't easy for Robert De Niro to make a move in this city without being hounded by paparazzi . read more »