Brooklyn Heights | The New York Observer

$10.8 M.: One of Brooklyn's Biggest Housing Deals Ever

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:54:27 -0400

From Brownstoner: "Talk about a trophy property. 88 Remsen Street, in Brooklyn Heights, sold for $10,800,000, nosing out 140 Columbia Heights—which went for $10.75M in '06—as the most expensive house sale ever reported in Brooklyn Heights, and one of the priciest residential properties ever to change hands in the...

Which Brooklyn Nabe Will Wall Street Impact Most? Vote Now!

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:59:12 -0400

Brownstoner's holding a vote today on how much (not if!) Brooklyn's housing prices will fall because of the Wall Street crisis. The votes center on the blue-chip neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights and the up-and-comers like Clinton Hill. Have your voice heard!...

You Know You're a Brooklyn Renter If...

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:46:41 -0400

Flocks of 21- to 35-year-olds moved to Brooklyn in 2008, as the condo boom gave way to a renters’ market, reports The Brooklyn Eagle.

Almost half of the new renters in the first quarter of this year were between 21 to 25 years old, and 93 percent were under 35. The typical renter in neighborhoods like Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill, Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace and Boerum Heights is usually attached, works...

The Brooklyn Literary 100

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:58:56 -0400

THE PLACES: 1. Tea Lounge 2. Press 195 3. Perch Café 4. Ozzie’s 5. Brooklyn Public Library 6. Brooklyn Writers Space 7. 826NYC 8. Brooklyn Reading Works/ Old Stone House 9. Brooklyn Lyceum 10. Prospect Park 11. Pete’s Candy Store 12. Sunny’s 13. Pacific Standard 14. Moe’s 15. Community Bookstore 16. BookCourt 17. Heights Books 18. Union Hall 19. Brooklyn Social 20. A Public Space 21. One Story 22. n+1 23. Ashbox 24....

Brownstone Brooklyn Apartments Averaging $661K

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:40:03 -0500

The average price of an apartment in Brooklyn rose 8 percent during 2007 to $661,000, according to a report from the Corcoran Group released on Wednesday. Here are some more Brooklyn tidbits: The average price per square foot for a co-op jumped 33 percent from 2006 to 2007 to $577. The average co-op sales price increased 7 percent year-over-year, from $497,000 in 2006 to $534,000 in 2007.The average price of a co-op studio rose...

Vibe Rater: Ricky's NYC, 107 Montague Street

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:27:39 -0400

A middle-aged mom slowly steers a stroller down an aisle of dank aromatherapy candles, shopping bags from nearby Ann Taylor Loft slung over the handlebars, as pulsing, synthisized beats, purrs, and bleeps blare in the background.

Trance techno on staid Montague Street?

Indeed. Flamboyant cosmetics and novelty shop Ricky's NYC has arrived to spice up this lackluster strip of banks, realtor offices and cell-phone stores.

"I'm looking for something for my godson," remarks another soccer mom around...

Brooklyn Still A Manhattan Alternative

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 05:43:28 -0500

Brooklyn remaims a home-buying alternative to Manhattan, according to a new report from the powerful Real Estate Board of New York. The median apartment price in Brooklyn rose 6 percent from 2005 through 2006 to $343,000. That's less than half the Manhattan median sale price, which ended 2006 at $799,000, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel. The median for one-, two-, and three-family homes in Brooklyn increased 16 percent in 2006 to $570,000. Try getting...

HPD Predicts Condo Price Dip

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 10:18:12 -0400

HPD Commissioner Shaun Donovan The housing market has been nudging downward for a while now. Add one more factor: the overhaul, recommended this morning by the city housing department, of the so-called 421a tax break. Housing commissioner Shaun Donovan said in a conference call this morning that condo "prices would potentially go down to some degree" in neighborhoods where the abatements would be eliminated. In those neighborhoods, like Tribeca, the Financial District, Dumbo and...

Ruby Eloise Yuan

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 20:00:00 -0400

June 6, 2006

1:05 p.m. 6 pounds, 12 ounces St. Vincent’s Hospital Rosemary’s Baby, part deux? Stephanie Adler Yuan’s water broke two weeks before she was due, at the crack of dawn on a demonic date. Oh my God—we’re having a 6/6/6 baby! was her first thought. Luckily her firstborn, a petite, olive-complexioned girl with a full head of black hair, bore no Adrian Marcato–esque marks. “People just say she’s ‘ethnic’-looking,” said Mom, 31,...

Ruby Eloise Yuan

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 20:00:00 -0400

June 6, 2006 1:05 p.m. 6 pounds, 12 ounces St. Vincent’s Hospital Rosemary’s Baby, part deux? Stephanie Adler Yuan’s water broke two weeks before she was due, at the crack of dawn on a demonic date. Oh my God—we’re having a 6/6/6 baby! was her first thought. Luckily her firstborn, a petite, olive-complexioned girl with a full head of black hair, bore no Adrian Marcato–esque marks. “People just say she’s ‘ethnic’-looking,” said Mom, 31, a senior communication...

Price Drop at 30 Crosby

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 07:39:52 -0400

Just another breakfast nook. Even with Courtney Love out of the building, a buyer has not yet scooped up theater chairman Laurence Isaacson's maisonette at 30 Crosby Street. Now, the price has just been reduced from $6.45 million to $5.995 million. Over the years, Mr. Isaacson has tried to keep up with the Soho building's high-profile residents, as he told The Observer last March. "I am quite a flamboyant creature," said Mr. Isaacson....

Gabe Shanoff

Sun, 18 Jun 2006 20:00:00 -0400

May 16, 2006 4:05 a.m. 7 pounds St. Vincent’s Hospital Baby boozer! Married just a year and a half, parents Dan and Margery Shanoff are enjoying toting their handsome, sideburned cutup of a firstborn to the bars of Brooklyn Heights—including the recently opened Jack the Horse Tavern on Hicks Street. “He’s this funny guy, and makes funny faces,” said Ms. Shanoff, 32, soon to be a clerk for U.S. District Judge Peter Leisure. “You realize this little...

WiFi in Brooklyn

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 06:57:19 -0500

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Columbus Park, Cobble Hill Park, Carroll Park and Fort Greene Park may all see wireless Internet access by summer. The Parks Department is still taking R.F.P.'s. The company that is selected to provide the service will pay the depertment $30,000 or 10 percent of the profits made through advertising on the portal's home page. -Matthew...

Beloved Fulton Mall Fights For Existence Vs. Boerum-geoisie

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 19:00:00 -0500

“I would like to say, since 1972, the appearance of the mall has become worse and worse,” said Ursula Hahn, a 67-year-old German immigrant who lives a few blocks north of downtown Brooklyn’s Fulton Street Mall. She was at a panel discussion to review improvements that are planned for the strip, a popular shopping destination. “I want to know what the planners plan to do to attract a white clientele. You can walk from...

Luxury Roundup: Safra's a Seller Again

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 07:32:49 -0500

Apparently Jacqui Safra’s East 75th Street townhouse is once again on the market for $55 million (but with the added prestige of being this year’s Kips Bay designer showhouse). The Observer has tracked this mansion closely since last October when it was rumored to go on the market for $50 million, before entering at $55 million. Then, the property was taken off the market in early January, before returning this past week. (New...

Green Here, Not So Green There

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 08:38:00 -0500

From 53 Boerum, an über-local Brooklyn blog, a list of the "greenest blocks in Brooklyn" (compiled by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden): First Place: Residential The Landings at Fresh Creek Phase II, Louisiana Avenue, between Twin Pines Drive and Vandalia Avenue First Place: Commercial Hoyt Street between Atlantic Avenue and State Street (pictured) And compare with The Brooklyn Eagle's story on Brooklyn Heights' missing trees on Henry Street. -Matthew...

Countdown to Bliss

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Yng-Ru Chen and Devin Gordon Met: Aug. 3, 2002 Engaged: Dec. 18, 2005 Projected Wedding Date: September 2006 Honestly, the whole love-at-first-sight crap kind of drives me crazy,” said Devin Gordon, 29, a senior arts writer for Newsweek, “but I guess when it happens, it happens. There’s no way to get around it. Whether the cliché makes you nauseous or not, that’s the way it works.” “I’m nauseous,” said his fiancée, Yng-Ru Chen, 27, director of...

Zoey Halcyon Ojalvo

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Sept. 9, 2005

7 pounds Long Island College Hospital After 11 years traveling the world together, free spirits Holly and Jason Ojalvo, both 35, finally settled down enough to produce this long, chubby-cheeked babe, who lives in the bottom half of the family’s Brooklyn Heights duplex. (“It’s sort of our TV room/office/my dressing room/her bedroom,” said Ms. Ojalvo, an English teacher at Packer Collegiate.) Then they were off again, traveling to Puerto Rico the week...

Zoey Halcyon Ojalvo

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Sept. 9, 2005 7 pounds Long Island College Hospital After 11 years traveling the world together, free spirits Holly and Jason Ojalvo, both 35, finally settled down enough to produce this long, chubby-cheeked babe, who lives in the bottom half of the family’s Brooklyn Heights duplex. (“It’s sort of our TV room/office/my dressing room/her bedroom,” said Ms. Ojalvo, an English teacher at Packer Collegiate.) Then they were off again, traveling to Puerto Rico the week before...

Strrrrrrike!

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:56:00 -0500

Since our friends at The Politicker seem to have fallen asleep on that tempting Hyatt carpet, The Transom will gleefully announce that, as of 3:05 a.m., the transit strike is on. Of course, we couldn't be more excited about the strike, a feeling not much shared in other quarters of the paper. Here are the principles on which we endorse, nay, celebrate this nascent strike: 1. Poor people stay in their own boroughs and do not...

Jon Stewart Inks $4 Million Deal

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 19:00:00 -0500

Comedian Jon Stewart has finally found a buyer for his $3.995 million apartment on West 13th Street, brokers involved with the deal confirmed, though they wouldn’t identify the buyer who signed a contract to buy it. The ersatz newsman had spent $5.8 million to upgrade to a 6,000-square-foot condo in Tribeca in March, just upstairs from slugger Mike Piazza. A week later, he put his Village place—a 2,240-square-foot penthouse with two bedrooms, two bathrooms...

New York World

Sun, 11 Sep 2005 20:00:00 -0400

We’ll Skip the Chipotle Hand Roll, Thanks!

“A Manhattan restaurateur grinned in court yesterday as a prosecutor accused him of being the frequent flasher who’s been exposing himself to women on the subway. “Dan Hoyt, 43, seemed unconcerned after being arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on four counts of lewd conduct and released on $5,000 bail. Asked afterward about the charges, Hoyt said, ‘It’s a misdemeanor.’ Hoyt, a co-owner and chef at Quintessence restaurant, could face...

New York World

Sun, 11 Sep 2005 20:00:00 -0400

We’ll Skip the Chipotle Hand Roll, Thanks! “A Manhattan restaurateur grinned in court yesterday as a prosecutor accused him of being the frequent flasher who’s been exposing himself to women on the subway. “Dan Hoyt, 43, seemed unconcerned after being arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on four counts of lewd conduct and released on $5,000 bail. Asked afterward about the charges, Hoyt said, ‘It’s a misdemeanor.’ Hoyt, a co-owner and chef at Quintessence...

Spinning City

Wed, 07 Sep 2005 11:21:00 -0400

Why bike over the Brooklyn Bridge--why enjoy the views? why the fresh air?—when you can burn calories indoors instead—and pay $125 a month for the privilege? Crain’s New York Business reports that Equinox Fitness has signed a lease for a four-story facility on Joralemon (pronounced jor-A-la-min) Street in Brooklyn Heights next year. Or, if your belt is already tight enough, check out the new Y four blocks...

New York's 11th

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 05:56:00 -0400

Don't miss this story from the Daily News's Brooklyn section, in which Councilman David Yassky -- a Yale-law, Brooklyn Heights reformer who used to work for Senator Schumer -- comes out for John Sampson in the race for District Attorney. While you could argue that he's endorsing Sampson because the only African-American running for District Attorney is the one with the best shot of beating Joe Hynes, it's hard not to see a straightforward piece...

Last Word in DUMBO: I Voted With My Head, But Not My Kishkes

Sun, 14 Nov 2004 19:00:00 -0500

BROOKLYN, N.Y.-7:30 a.m., Tuesday, Nov. 2, Hicks Street, Brooklyn Heights: Hamlet in the voting booth. My hand hovered over the Kerry lever as a small voice from within asked: Do you really want to do this?

In the end, I did, if only because I had indicated for Kerry in this space, and to have voted otherwise would have been hypocritical. The late Judith Shklar observed that hypocrisy is a small price to pay for...