The notorious Brooklyn House of Detention – immortalized by everyone from the Beastie Boys to Jonathan Lethem – has been closed since 2003, but plans to reopen the jail at twice its previous size are still moving forward. Last year many newcomers to the steadily gentrifying neighborhood decried plans to bring back the detention center, located at the intersection of Atlantic and Smith. more ›

So do armed guards, barred doors, and locked cells. That's what the City is hoping anyway, as it floats plans to have developers build condos contiguous to an expanded Brooklyn House of Detention. Testing the limits of desirability of New York real estate, the Dept. of Corrections has been considering building retail space and restaurants on the first floor of the jail for the last year (Prison Tower Records? Lever Big House?). But with rents and real estate prices verging on the criminal, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz thinks that people will be happy to not only eat and shop there, but to live next to the jail, and the DOC is considering building residential, hotel, or office buildings that directly abut an expanded Brooklyn House of Detention.

The city is seeking a developer interested in supervising the expansion and renovation of the jail and in owning the retail space on the street level of the complex, as well as the new residential or commercial buildings. more ›

Demonstrators gathered in Hunts Point Friday, again protesting a proposed jail set to be built on an industrial site in the Bronx neighborhood. more ›

The New York Times has one of those stories today that exemplifies the friction that occurs in a transitioning neighborhood, but with a twist that involves a group of residents who would be there against their will. In this particular case, it's about how neighbors feel about the proposed re-opening of Brooklyn's House of Detention on Atlantic Ave. and Boerum Place. more ›

The New York Times is reporting that the Brooklyn House of Detention is going to be turned into a novel mixed-use building: a jail-mall! That's right-- the mayor is pushing for a 24,000 square foot mall in the bottom stories of the colossally ugly building on the corner of Atlantic and Boerum Place: more ›