Red Hook | The New York Observer

The Queen of Red Hook Realty

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:03:52 -0400

There are two ways to get an apartment in Red Hook.

If you live there, you ask around. “Everyone knows what everyone’s paying and who owns what and who’s moving, so it’s mostly done really casually,” says Bevin Strand. Another resident’s account is typical: “A guy we knew from the bar who used to play with Smokey knew we were looking, and put us in touch with his friend who was moving out.”

...

Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Y'All

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:55:24 -0400

Sunny’s Bar on a recent Wednesday night was packed. The last of the longshoremen’s bars that once dotted the Red Hook waterfront, the sepia-toned watering hole is, nowadays, known as a bohemian stronghold and a vital neighborhood institution.

Tonight, customers are packed into the front room, swaying to the rhythms of Smokey’s Roundup, in full Western wear, play a swinging “San Antonio Rose.” Regulars kibbitz with the competent bartender. Visitors wander, examining the photography...

Hook Lines: Postcards at the Edge

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:53:54 -0400

Editor's note: Hook Lines is a new biweekly column by Sadie Stein, an editor at the blog Jezebel and a Brooklyn resident, about the property and daily life of Red Hook. The first column can be read here.

“Sorry,” says Anne O’Neil, running across the street, clutching a sandwich, to unlock the door of her new shop, Tiburon. “I had to get lunch at Fort...

New Column! Hook Lines: Life and Property in Red Hook

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:54:40 -0400

Editor's note: Hook Lines is a new biweekly column by Sadie Stein, an editor at the blog Jezebel and a Brooklyn resident, about the property and daily life of Red Hook.

Red Hook is a rough place to break up. “As soon as it happened, I knew I’d have to move,” says Charlie Stein, 24, who tends bar at two of the neighborhood’s watering holes. “It’s too small. I didn’t want to...

Red Hook Piers Fight Unites Former Foes (Updated)

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:33:13 -0400

In Red Hook, neighbors who once squared off over developments like the Brooklyn Ikea and the Fairway supermarket have suddenly allied to fight a city plan to develop two waterfront piers. “In this neighborhood, there have been so many fights with one side against the other, but on this issue, there’s so much consensus,” said longtime Red Hook resident Adam Armstrong.

At issue is the city Economic Development Corporation’s plan to lease the majority...

Joe Sitt Happy To Get Going in Red Hook, Mum on Coney

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:41:00 -0500

Joe Sitt wants to talk about Red Hook these days; not Coney Island.

At least that’s the main point the largest Coney Island landholder impressed upon me Tuesday afternoon when I bumped into him after a Brooklyn Historical Society real estate luncheon.

“We’re excited,” he said about Coney, adding that there would be an announcement in coming weeks about his plans for the summer (a flea market, he noted when queried, is only...

The Real World: Deli

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:17:07 -0500

It was 10:30 on a recent and particularly chilly Wednesday morning in Red Hook. Inside F & M Bagels, a cozy and plainly ornamented old-fashioned deli in the ground floor of a two-story brick building at the intersection of Van Brunt and Coffey streets, Eugene Orefice, a co-owner of the establishment, was taking time from his lunch-rush prep to talk about his business.

He recently lost one his best customers: The cast...

Is The Real World Red Hook House a House?

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:08:43 -0400

"Pier 41 may be their home but it is not a house. It is a 'set' in a commercial warehouse. This space hosted the Will Smith movie 'Hitch' in 2004." ["Details on The Real World Red...

Details on The Real World Red Hook!

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:52:11 -0400

Recently, we water-taxied to Brooklyn to follow up on reports of The Real World in Red Hook.

Cast members are staying in a newly renovated house on Pier 41. Their entrance is the long driveway that leads to Liberty Sunset Nursery and Steve's Key Lime Pie (famous for his key lime Pie on a stick).

Before The Real World (or Ikea), fallen concrete slabs behind Liberty...

BJ's Coming to Red Hook!

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:19:42 -0400

BJ's Wholesale Club is poised to join Ikea as the newest big-box store in Red Hook, according to the Brooklyn Paper, confirming predictions that the quaint neighborhood is fast becoming popular with unbecoming mega-retailers.

Here's the paper's scoop:

"BJ’s Wholesale Club, the members-only retail chain, is close to finalizing a deal to open a big box store on the Red Hook waterfront, The Brooklyn Paper has learned.

The retailer that sells everything from pet...

Welcome to Cheyenne, Brooklyn!

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:06:45 -0400

Michael O'Connell, scion of Red Hook real estate mogul Greg O'Connell, is taking charge of a project to move the recently closed Cheyenne diner from its Chelsea location to a seaside spot in Brooklyn.

Mr. O'Connell, 37, has worked on developments with his father since he was 7. "It's hard to do anything on my own, my dad and I do pretty much everything hand and hand," he said. "But, yeah,...

Brooklyn, The Borough: Ikea's Benevolent Despotism

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:13:54 -0400

On a recent warm summer evening, two young professional couples sat idly chatting before a performance of Hamlet at Central Park's Delacorte Theater.

"Have you been to the new Ikea in Red Hook?" one of the young men asked his companions, receiving a chorus of "no, not yet!" in response.

On came a list of household items wanted, but not necessarily needed. "I was a bit...

Ikea's First Weekend in Red Hook: Shrug

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:52:02 -0400

Ikea Red Hook has survived its first weekend in Brooklyn. To commemorate, we dedicated several hours to the Ikea experience, starting with their free (for now) water taxi, which departs every 10 minutes from Wall Street’s Pier 11.

The water taxi itself was surprisingly empty and prompt, and filled with happy customers carrying houseplants. I met one woman (holding a houseplant) who was traveling from Wall Street to take her lunch...

My, Some Log There!

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:25:17 -0400

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and City Planning Director Amanda Burden, among others, sawed a log to open the new Red Hook Ikea today.

In this week's print Observer, Benjamin Popper profiles Greg O'Connell, Red Hook's biggest landlord and the de facto godfather of the new big-box....

The Hero (or Villain?) of the Red Hook Ikea

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:10:34 -0400

With the opening of a massive 346,000-square-foot Ikea in Red Hook on June 18, New Yorkers’ attention turns again to this tiny corner of Brooklyn waterfront. What they see is largely the legacy of one man, Greg O’Connell, the beat cop turned real estate baron.

At times, Mr. O’Connell can seem like a caricature of the down-to-earth developer. He has appeared in dozens of articles on the area,...

Something Opening in Red Hook Tomorrow

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:04:28 -0400

We don't want to tumble into too much Ikea-related hype, but the below release dropped into our inbox this morning. (In tomorrow's Observer, we'll have a profile of the Godfather of the Red Hook Ikea. Hint: he's in real estate.)

ONLY 22 HOURS, 10 MINUTES AND 30 SECONDS UNTIL 1st ikea store in NEW YORK CITY OPENS ITS DOORS in BROOKLYN

Grand...

Inside and Outside the Red Hook IKEA

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:43:39 -0400

...

IKEA 'Confident' About Finally Opening In Brooklyn

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:55:16 -0400

Nearly five years in the making (and just a few years off its originally-planned 2005 opening), Swedish retailer IKEA's 346,000-square-foot store on the Brooklyn waterfront will finally open on June 18, the company announced today.

"We made excellent progress on construction last year and so far this spring, so we are confident the remaining construction milestones and interior build-up process will be complete by mid-June," said store manager Mike Baker in a statement.

The full announcement...

Will Red Hook Stay or Go?

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:02:07 -0400

First, it looked like the Port Authority would cede to the Bloomberg administration’s boozy vision for the Red Hook waterfront. Then, the new people at the Economic Development Corporation took a look in the mirror. But it wasn’t at all clear where that left the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which actually owns the cargo port there.

After a Port Authority board meeting this afternoon, Executive...

Old Timer Revisits New York's Port

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 16:23:32 -0400

Another study of the Port of New York is getting underway, this one worth up to $1.2 million and awarded to a company without putting it out for competitive bidding.

The board of the Industrial Development Agency unanimously approved the contract at its meeting Tuesday after a staff member, Venetia Lannon, said that hiring STV Inc. to do the job would be worth it because the company had already done a study on...

Economic Development Corp. Exec Exits

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 14:50:47 -0400

Kate Ascher, an executive vice president at the city Economic Development Corporation who was overseeing the conversion of the Red Hook container port to a cruise ship terminal, is leaving next week, the Crain’s Insider reported Thursday (subscription...

Doctoroff's Deal in Red Hook

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 12:35:03 -0500

The transfer of the Red Hook piers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to the city is still months away it seems, though the Post and the Sun on Thursday made it seem imminent. "We anticipate that the final transfer will occur later this year," Port Authority Executive Director Anthony Shorris said in a statement. Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman likened the agreement that was signed between the two entities to...

Port Chief "Looking" at Red Hook Decision

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 11:00:52 -0500

Asked whether he wanted to move forward with the plan to hand over the Red Hook piers to the city Economic Development Corporation, the new executive director of the Port Authority, Anthony Shorris, said, in essence, he wants to think about it: Right now, we are having conversations and are doing a lot of looking at what should happen at each of the piers. The thing that is most important is to make sure that...

Battle of Red Hook Pivots On Cargo and Cruise Ships

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Just a couple of years ago, the container port in Red Hook, Brooklyn, looked doomed. It was doing less than 1 percent of the Port Authority’s business. Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff wanted to replace its orange cranes with cruise ships. And real-estate developers were gnawing at the edges, trying to convert onetime warehouses into market-rate condos with splendid views. But fierce reactions from neighbors and politicians who want to hold tightly to the...

In This Week's [em]Observer[/em]...

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 05:00:00 -0500

Bear Stearns Feasts at 237 Park Avenue "When it comes to the relentless pursuit of prime Manhattan real estate, Bear Stearns is virtually unmatched. After taking 250,000 square feet in two leases last year, the I-bankers are closing in on a 106,000 square foot expansion at 237 Park Avenue." Lawyers Love 919 Third Avenue "The law firm that has the ear of every major hedge fund in the city, Schulte Roth & Zabel, has signed...

City Wants Marina in Red Hook

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 10:43:24 -0500

Despite last month's stormy City Council hearing on the future of the Brooklyn waterfront, the city's Economic Development Corporation is pushing part of its Red Hook plan forward--the part it can push forward without engendering further controversy. A request for proposals issued on Tuesday asks for bidders to submit plans for a marina and marina repair shop in the Atlantic Basin and Pier 10, which the city has been leasing from the Port Authority...

The Afternoon Wrap: Monday

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 11:19:42 -0500

What Chelsea really needs is a nice tall condo. Luckily, construction has begun on Chelsea Stratus, "what will be the neighborhood's tallest building." The 40-story condo on Sixth Avenue between 24th and 25th streets will have a billiard room, media lounge, and a rooftop terrace dog run. It was designed by Lucifer. [Real Deal] The 12,000-square-foot Pratt mansion at 280 Washington Avenue has dropped from $3,995,000 to $3,399,000. Will it go into the terrible twos?...

Port of New York

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 07:47:46 -0500

Here are some of the union members who joined Rep. Jerry Nadler, Council members David Yassky and Mike Nelson and Working Families Party Executive Director Dan Cantor on the City Hall steps today to protest a draft proposal from the city to close the Red Hook Container Terminal, where 633 people work. Nadler, who I'll venture to say is as knowledgeable as any elected official in the country about the shipping industry, said the...

Death in the Outer Boroughs: A Tale of Angst and Real Estate

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 19:00:00 -0500

You know a Brooklyn neighborhood has really hit the big time when it gets its own eponymous murder mystery. The outer-borough universe in Red Hook, Reggie Nadelson’s sixth Artie Cohen novel, is so shadowy and lucrative and treacherous that developers “prowl” the streets in search of real estate. What better way to depict the land of ancient dockyards and four-bedroom waterside condos and low-income projects and hip haircuts? Our hero is Artie Cohen, who...

The Afternoon Wrap: Wednesday

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 11:15:21 -0500

This month's Metropolis cover-story is on The Piano Man: "This sense of transparency is part of the story," the architect says about his new NYT HQ. "It's about the art of telling the story by using form. And the idea [is] that the Times is a building and institution where the relationship with the city is more open, more permeable." Architecture cliches and media cliches go so well together! [Metropolis Magazine] Coney Island's Astrotower...

Red Hook Ikea Faces Suit Over Civil War Site

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 06:42:17 -0500

A remnant of the Civil War may trip up the Ikea store planned for Red Hook, Brooklyn. The Municipal Art Society announced on Tuesday a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which plans to allow a parking lot for the Ikea store on what was once a graving dock. The society is suing to require the Corps to do a full review of the effects of the Ikea on all historic properties in...

On the Waterfront

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 10:12:17 -0400

Representative Jerry Nadler came out swinging last night at the scoping meeting for the New York Economic Development Corporation's planned redevelopment for Piers 7 through 10 on the Carroll Gardens/Red Hook Waterfront. Mr. Nadler opposed the transformation of Pier 10--currently used for maritime shipping--into a second cruise-ship terminal and 250-room hotel.
Citing the vulnerability of the Kill Van Kull--which connects Newark Bay and the Upper New York Bay and is the principal access for...

Public Meeting for Piers

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 08:30:10 -0400

The New York City Economic Development Corporation will hold a scoping meeting tonight at the Long Island College Hospital at 6 p.m. for the planned development on Piers 7 through 12 on the Carroll Gardens and Red Hook waterfront. The E.D.C. has some grand plans for the development--from parks to housing and waterfront access.
Critics of the plan point out that it doesn't provide any additional housing in Red Hook--instead it will generate more...

Monday: Martha Sells Turkey Estate, CNN Blows Bubbles

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 04:30:00 -0400

The mid-90s: a good thing. How the mighty have fallen! Ex-executive, ex-con Martha Stewart may sell her $9 million Turkey Hill estate to a "Connecticut-based local TV host." This personality, Mr. Mar Jennings, will own the hallowed grounds on which Ms. Stewart's not-impenetrable empire was built. (New York Post) Is "buzz"-happy Red Hook still the same neighborhood? Maybe. According to the Times, "local real estate agents" agree that the majority of residents still live in projects--and...

Fairway Day!

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

On a recent Sunday at the new Fairway supermarket in Brooklyn, a pale, reed-thin man, pointy-nosed and wearing glasses and black long-sleeves, was contemplating a Portugal Serpa. This is a spicy, strong-smelling cheese made in southeast Portugal from ewe’s milk. Here in this Epcot Center of a cheese display, the Serpa bordered on a Torta del Casar, which I took to mean “wedding cake,” but which subsequent research showed to be another ewe’s-milk cheese...

Brooklyn Water Taxi Says: 'Ahoy Hipster Photographers!'

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 12:11:54 -0400

The Williamsburg Love Boat After countless excrutiating decades in which young men in tight black jeans and ironically un-ironic neck scarves were deprived of aquatic transport, the Water Taxi has finally headed to the Brooklyn waterfront. Red Hook? Check. Williamsburg? Double check. But, of course, it's hard to force trends upon the trendy. Therefore NYWT is specifically imploring "hipsters" to enter Flickr photographs of the special yellow boat. What's at stake? $9,140 worth of prizes....

Traffic-Study Update

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 07:51:05 -0400

Yesterday we ran an item about the mysterious appearance of traffic-strips--the devices that count vehicular traffic--on Van Brunt Street in Red Hook, the neighborhood where residents have been agitating for traffic-calming measures from the Department of Transportation, to no avail. Careful readers will remember that a woman was killed last month by a wayward van allegedly coming from the parking lot of the nearby newly opened Fairway grocery store.
We reported that the D.O.T. was...

Protest Turns Out Crowd; D.O.T. Slammed for Inaction

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 08:05:21 -0400

Yesterday, Red Hook residents gathered at the corner of Van Brunt and Wolcott streets, the intersection where Janett Ramos was struck and killed by a van two weeks ago, to protest what organizer John McGettrick called the Department of Transportation's "indifference bordering on incompetence" regarding traffic in the once-sleepy neighhborhood. Over 125 people showed up for a vigil for Ramos; afterward, the crowd marched through heavy truck traffic, waving signs and shouting at...

Protest Today at 6:30 p.m.

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 07:36:02 -0400

Spurred in part by the recent traffic fatality of Janett Ramos, the Red Hook Civic Association, the Red Hook Lions, Groups Against Garbage and the Beard Street Association will be demonstrating in Red Hook today, at Van Brunt and Wolcott streets, at 6:30 p.m.
According to the flyer, Van Brunt Street has the largest stretch of unprotected intersections in the city; ever since the Fairway grocery store opened in May, area residents have been complaining...

Did the D.O.T. Blink?

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 07:48:51 -0400

Van Brunt and Wolcott, July 7, 2006. As evidenced by these before-and-after pictures, it appears the D.O.T. belatedly painted new crosswalks on Van Brunt Street in Red Hook, including the intersection where Janet Ramos was struck by a van last week and killed.

Van Brunt and Wolcott, July 14, 2006. The D.O.T., you'll remember, said that it had no plans for any traffic-calming measures until a planned traffic study in the fall. Residents have been...

Hope for Gowanus Canal?

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 10:33:36 -0400

Via the Gowanus Lounge, the Park Slope Courier reports that Senator Chuck Schumer has funds coming out of the Senate Appropriations Committee that are earmarked for an Army Corps of Engineers feasibility study to assess "environmental problems and potential solutions in the Gowanus Canal."
The canal, which connects the Red Hook waterfront to the Park Slope-Carroll Gardens nabe (a.k.a. Gowanus), is currently a pollution-saturated, industrial nightmare. It's got a certain beauty and charm, though,...

Red Hook Accident Victim Dies

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 09:17:40 -0400

According to the NYPD, the woman who was struck by a van last Thursday, July 6, in Red Hook, has died. Police identified her as Janet Ramos, of Sunset Park.
Area residents have complained about increased traffic since the opening of the nearby Fairway grocery store in May. Witnesses said the van that struck Ramos came from the Fairway parking lot. The D.O.T. has not conducted a study of traffic in the neighborhood yet; it...

New York Blight Has A $300-Million Enemy

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 07:30:35 -0400

Jim loathes dilapidation "Restoring New York's Communities" has a pleasant ring to it, especially now that the phrase has been backed by $300 million in state funding. Assemblyman Jim Brennan, who represents Brooklyn and chairs the Assembly Committee on Cities, says the initiative will help restore blighted communities by funding the reconstruction of deteriorated real estate. "Think of where the fire was in Williamsburg," he explained. "The city can use this money to knock...

Accident in Red Hook After D.O.T. Turns Head, Ignores Pleas

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 20:35:35 -0400

Firefighters clean blood off the street. Last night around 10 p.m. at the intersection of Van Brunt and Wolcott streets in Red Hook, a woman was struck and thrown by a gray minivan that had just turned out of the Fairway parking lot five blocks away, according to witnesses. The van was heading north on Van Brunt as the woman was trying to cross the street. According to police at the scene, the...

E.D.C. Unveils Red Hook Waterfront Plan

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:52:20 -0400

(from B61 Productions) B61 has the goods on last Monday's Brookyln Community Board 6 meeting with the city's Econoomic Development Corporation about the future of Piers 7 through 20 in Red Hook, 120 acres that run from the Atlantic Basin to the southern edge of the future Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Features of the E.D.C. plan include a second cruise-ship terminal, hotel and convention-center space, the retention of industrial operations, a possible water-taxi expansion and, most...

Thursday: Gehry, Anna Anisimova and Red Hook Get Lucky

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 06:10:00 -0400

Frank Gehry, the popstar behind Tiffany jewelry and Bruce Ratner skyscrapers, gets his $4.6 million contract for the WTC arts center extended for yet another year. Sadly Mr. Gehry will face the annoyance of dealing with the Port Authority, whose executive director promises: "If there's an obstacle, that's not the obstacle." (AP, via New York Daily News) Heiress Anna Anisimova pays a slick $600,000 for her Hamptons summer rental, smashing her record-breaking $550,000 tab from...

Time Takes a Cigarette

Fri, 02 Jun 2006 09:59:19 -0400

The New York Shipyard today.

The New York Shipyard a month ago. Here's a little before and after of the Ikea site in Red Hook. (be in awe of our Photoshop skillz!) Demolition seems to be going quickly. We'll try and see what's happened to the graving dock this weekend. -Matthew...

LBRHFO Pt. IV

Wed, 17 May 2006 11:55:25 -0400

While Fairway's got the fresh produce, keep in mind that Added Value operates a couple of farmer's markets nearby in Red Hook from July 8 through Thanksgiving. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, you can check out their farm at Columbia and Sigourney streets (map). On Wednesdays there's a small stall on the corner of Wolcott and Dwight streets (map). Also, in previous posts we forgot to mention that the Red Hook...

LBRHFO Pt. III

Wed, 17 May 2006 10:53:49 -0400

Well, the store's quickly turned from a relaxed, cocktail-party-like atmosphere to a free-for-all, with shoppers crowding each other, carts banging into little children and each other, and grumbling overheard about the lack of space and poor traffic design.

Nevertheless, people are in a shopping frenzy, an orgy of food purchasing and sampling. It's as if the crowd disbelieves that the Fairway is indeed open, and must hoard supplies before, magically,...

In Related LBRHFO News ...

Wed, 17 May 2006 07:58:06 -0400

Curbed's got info that 160 Imlay is up for sale. Observers of the Red Hook scene will note that this property's had problems since its developers started its condo conversion. Red Hook real-estate baron Greg O'Connell's been opposed to the conversion since the beginning, and the projects been stalled for years. Mr. O'Connell's been the prime mover for much of Red Hook's "renaissance"--depending on whom you ask--and he's the owner of 480-500 Van Brunt...