Results tagged “brooklynnavyyard”

Yesterday, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation opened up its doors to bicyclists for Open House New York bike and bus tours. Here are just some of one reader's photographs from yesterday's tour of the shipbuilding yard-turned-industrial park (Steiner Studios is located there).

For two hours a week, there's a museum off the BQE that opens its doors and fights for the preservation of Admiral's Row in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The NY Times reports on Scott Witter's cause, which is displayed on a sign in his museum; it reads: “Don’t let Pirate Mike steal our heritage.”

The Brooklyn Navy Yard is getting a green makeover, to the tune of $15 million in state funds; no word on the supermarket, but part of the plan is to install what will be the state's largest solar panel there.

Brooklyn Navy Yard's doomed Admiral's Row just suffered another devastating blow—but this time it was delivered by the hands of Mother Nature, not Mayor Bloomberg. Yesterday's rain storm helped in further destroying one of the former residences (known as Building C) along Flushing Avenue, which collapsed (at least partially) from water damage. Of course, the building would have been torn down at the hands of man anyway, to make way for the almighty supermarket. Curbed has some photos from the scene.

The Municipal Art Society attended a meeting today at which the negotiations between the National Guard, the owner of the property, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) discussed the future of the buildings at Admiral's Row. The meeting was part of the federally-mandated Section 106 process that requires federal agencies to study the impact of their actions on important historic buildings. Sadly, it seems their minds were made up, the Brooklyn Paper reports that they will save two of the historic buildings in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and destroy the others, making way for a supermarket.

The latest adventure of Brooklynite Jake Bronstein raises an interesting question. To start off, he was loaned a vehicle by a car company that he custom picked the design for (it includes pink dots, a detail that is important later on in the story). Put aside any problems you may have with the corporate shilling for a moment: the car is missing! Or is it? He explains:

The police said they didn’t tow it; their automated number said they didn’t tow it; hell, even my frequent and frantic calls to all of the city’s tow-lots all turned up the same response… “the NYPD does not have this car.” I found a meter-man who said that on occasion cars get towed. And sometimes, just sometimes, they wind up in the system with the wrong plate number. When that happens, you’re pretty much screwed because the city will say they don’t have the car… and because they won’t let you walk around the lots they tow them to, that’ll pretty much be the end of it. Forever.

Taking matters into his own hands, he headed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard towing lot with his girlfriend who managed to scale the brick wall and take one photo before the guards came running. In that photo? His pink-dotted car. The problem: the NYPD and the lot both say his car is not in their possession. During his last call this morning, after giving them the VIN#, plate number, and other assorted details, they told him they didn't have it and that "it would be impossible to take a picture of a car inside."

The Brooklyn Navy Yard contains more than the old, crumbling Admiral's Row homes that are often romanticized in photos (and likely to vanish in the near future). Recently one photographer documented Dry Dock 1, the 3rd oldest dry dock in the country, completed in 1851 and costing $2 million at the time. Last year architect Brendan Coburn noted that it was "Fashioned entirely from massive, hand-cut and hand-sanded blocks of granite excavated from a quarries in Maine, Connecticut, Staten Island and upstate New York, its size, form, and general aesthetic bring to mind a Roman ruin."

Mayor Bloomberg and other city officials opened up the nation's first multi-story green industrial facility at the Brooklyn Navy Yard yesterday. The Perry Avenue Building, which underwent a $25 million renovation, features the city's first wind turbines mounted on a roof; remember when Bloomberg broached the idea of harnessing wind power last year?

Long have the houses on Admiral's Row in the Brooklyn Navy Yard been crumbling, and long have the preservationists fought developers who would like to tear them down and put in their place a supermarket. Crain's is now reporting that "a compromise deal between the National Guard and the Brooklyn Navy Yard's operator is set to raze all but one of the crumbling historic homes." Word comes from unnamed sources at this point, who say the plan will be revealed in late April and will salvage the structure known as the Timber Shed (which is allegedly "the oldest surviving wooden timber shed in the United States"). The supermarket will bring jobs and fresh produce to the surrounding Brooklyn neighborhoods, the developers have argued, but the preservationists have noted that all ten houses could be saved even if a supermarket moved in. Just no one tell Wal-Mart about the soon to be vacant lot.

There's some amazing photographic documentation of the current state of the Brooklyn Navy Yard's Hospital Complex (known also as the Annex) over at the Kingston Lounge.

This past weekend our very own Jake Dobkin infiltrated the Brooklyn Navy Yard once again, this time hitting up Admiral's Row. According to Officer’s Row, the authority on the area, the "small section of the Brooklyn Navy Yard was home to high-ranking officers and their families. The ten houses (six buildings) were built between 1864 and 1901. Surrounded by a high brick wall and iron gates, Officer's Row was a small piece of beauty amidst a bustling industrial neighborhood. It housed tennis courts, a stable-turned ice skating rink, and parade grounds. Several varieties of fruit trees and a communal vegetable garden could be found dotting the landscape." (Here are some exterior shots.)

Once again, Thirteen has infiltrated a rarely seen part of New York: the Brooklyn Navy Yard (which opened up to the public briefly last year), and captured it on film.

Yesterday we got a rare opportunity to take a look inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard, during the annual Brooklyn Navy Yard Arts Open Studios day. Dozens of artists opened their workspaces to the public, and in between visits, we got to snap some pictures of the southern three-quarters of the yard. With over 300 acres, many streets, and a huge number of buildings of all shapes and sizes, it's hard to get a handle on the vast size of the place-- but these pictures should start to give you an idea. If you want to check the Yard out for yourself, the Brooklyn Historic Society is set to begin their tour program in November.

Could the city soon see the 300-acre Brooklyn Navy Yard up close? The NY Post points out that the former military base may soon become a tourist destination, as they are offering up bus tours starting tomorrow (tomorrow is free, coinciding with OHNY, then it'll cost $30 a head). There will also be 35 artists' studios opened at the Navy Yard tomorrow (details). Last year there was some controversy surrounding the OHNY tour, so hopefully they've worked out the kinks.

The Municipal Arts Society presented some alternative ideas to the U.S. Army National Guard Bureau about the fate of Admiral's Row. The MAS hopes to show it's possible to "retain the historic buildings on the Admiral’s Row site while also allowing for the construction of a much-needed supermarket and new retail and industrial space." While six plans were presented, here's a look at how stark the visions are, by looking at renderings (created by the MAS) to see the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corpration's plan just seems like a parking lot, vs. a greener idea from MAS:

The renderings illustrate the stark differences between the concept behind one of the MAS alternatives and the BNYDC’s proposal. In the MAS alternative, the historic houses along Flushing Street are retained and are used on their ground floor as retail to encourage pedestrians to walk between the houses into a central green space. By contrast, the same viewpoint in the BNYDC’s plan simply shows the suburban-sized supermarket and acres of asphalt and concrete.

The structure on Admiral's Row were built in the 19th century, as homes for high-ranking officers. Many of the buildings are crumbling and are considered beyond repair. Here's more information via The Officers Row Project and more recent photographs here.

The series of residential structures lining Flushing Ave. in Brooklyn are historic treasures, but they are a little the worse for wear and some legislators can't wait to tear them down. Officers' Row, or Admirals' Row, is a feature at the Brooklyn Navy Yard that has admittedly fallen into sad disrepair, but nonetheless has a rich history linking New York harbor to the naval industry that was a cornerstone of building the United States as an international power.

Director Michel Gondry will be overseeing YouTube's homepage during the Sundance Film Festival.

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Brooklyn writers are banding together to be the latest voice against Bruce Ratner's vision for Atlantic Yards. A number of local wordsmiths have contributed to Brooklyn Was Mine, an anthology consisting of short essays and stories put together by two Vogue editor to benefit Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (a non-profit that fights development while uniting the community). From the press release:

"Brooklyn has given birth to some of America's greatest literary voices," note the anthology's co-editors, Chris Knutsen and Valerie Steiker. "Today, a new generation of authors has grown up or resettled here, a testament to Brooklyn's unique quality of life. These writers simply want to protect a community that has provided them with so much. Fortunately, the passion they feel for the place has yielded a vibrant collection of essays—and we are delighted that, with each book sold, something will be given back to Brooklyn."

The book is available (as of yesterday) for $15, and of the 20 contributions you'll find works from Jonathan Lethem, Jennifer Egan, Robert Sullivan, and Phillip Lopate -- who are all members of DDDB's advisory board. Egan's story, titled "Reading Lucy," follows "a woman who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II and wrote almost daily letters to her husband overseas," while Lethem's "Ruckus Flatbush" is described as "a wild, dystopian ride into Brooklyn's future, meant to serve as a warning shot to the barbarians at the horizon."

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a stabbing on 20th Ave. and the Whitestone Expressway in Queens, a slashing on Van Siclen Ave. and Linden Blvd. in Brooklyn, and three people were shot (one homicide) on Hoe Ave. in the Bronx.
• Just when you thought crime in Newark could not possibly get worse, a witness in a major drug trial was murdered before he could testify. Cops believe that his killing was facilitated by a defense lawyer, who is a former Newark prosecutor.
• The neighborhood of Fort Greene, Brooklyn is getting 72 new bike racks for cyclists.
• Marble Hill residents fought to keep their neighborhood part of Manhattan as it was being geographically separated from the island and made contiguous with the Bronx. Now a Marble Hill woman is fighting to get her Housing Court lawsuit heard in a Bronx court, which tends to be a much friendlier venue for tenant claims.
• Preservationists are grasping at straws to prevent the imminent destruction of the Brooklyn Navy Yard's Admirals Row. The federal government will have a small say in the matter.
• An apartment on 79th St. and Amsterdam Ave. on Manhattan's Upper West Side was robbed today, when two men posing as delivery workers forced their way into an apartment.
• The Week in Pictures from the Times blog City Room. That will be the last you'll hear from them until the 26th, as Gothamist staffers soldier on.
• The Mexican government was required to open a mini-consulate at JFK to deal with its citizens attempting to fly home for the holidays without proper documentation.

Untitled, by bigalla at flickr

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Austin Rd. in Queens, another bank robbery on Church Ave. in Brooklyn, and a police car vs. scaffolding in Manhattan; the scaffolding has been compromised.
• A Queens high school was locked down this afternoon for two hours after a student's 'To Do' list was found listing seven students "To kill today."
• The projected cost of restoring the separate homes that constitute Admiral's Row at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
• Alcides Moreno, who fell more than 40 stories in an accident that killed his brother, has been yawning and moving his arms and legs.
• The owner of Central Park Carriage and Horse Stables and the managers of Wicker Park Cafe and Bistro and Penang on Columbus Circle were arrested for attempting to bribe a Consumer Affairs inspector, hoping he'd overlook multiple violations.
• A $10,000 security system is being installed at the Wollman Rink in Prospect Park after thieves broke into the skating facility's concession stand last week.
• The ad sales execs at NBC are getting tricky by placing AmEx bumper spots featuring cast members of Tina Fey's "30 Rock" that segue directly from the show.

Fwd: Photos: Ft. Greene Park, after the ice storm, by Paul Fugelsang at flickr

The Gotham Awards gala run by the Independent Feature Project (IFP) will be held in Brooklyn for the first time tonight, after 17 years spent bouncing around between Roseland, Hammerstein Ballroom and Chelsea Piers. This year the independent film awards will take place on the soundstage of Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Among the thousand-plus guests expected to attend are Javier Bardem, Sean Penn, Laura Linney, Uma Thurman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Brooklyn’s...

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: Airmail in Brooklyn, truck vs train overpass in 31st St & 20th Ave in Queens, an amputation at Grant St & St Pauls Ave in Staten Island and a bomb scare at Broadway and Mercer (NYU) in Manhattan.
• A former deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani is now an "ambassador" for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. But it's not that shocking, since Fran Reiter had lead the Liberal Party before joining the Giuliani administration...or is it?
• Who decides how subway posters are hung, because this is another example of great subway-poster-juxtaposition?
• A piece of the Willamette Meteorite, which is at the American Museum of Natural History, is being auctioned off. And, no, the museum is not selling it - the private meteorite collection who they traded the 28-pound piece (getting a piece of Mars in return) is behind the sale.
• One man has been arrested in the Labor Day weekend bias attack of Top Chef Season 2 contestant Josie Smith-Malave. The attack was outside a Sea Cliff, Long Island bar; Smith-Malave said that about 12 people punched and kicked her and two of her friends and that the bar's employees, who went outside to watch the attack, didn't do anything.
• The NYPD's new headquarters for the towing division are in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
• Staten Island DA Daniel Donovan is warning residents about the fake IRS "Customer Satisfaction Survey" scam because taxpayers aren't really customers anyway.
• Speaking of taxes, John Gotti Jr. may head to prison because he hasn't paid $220,00 in back taxes.
• The Eldridge Street Synagogue's rose window returns in time for Rosh Hashanah.

like the beach but not, by susiejulie at flickr

This past weekend was notable for a number of shootings that left many injured and at least three dead.

• On the Gothamist Newsmap: A suspicious package shut down Penn Station this morning (it was ID'd and taken care of), a two-alarm fire in Park Slope, and a missing child at the Guggenheim Museum
• That psychedelic piece of the Brooklyn skyline, the Broken Angel, will have to come down because it's "dangerous", but it may be re-built
• Interesting NY Sun article about what might happen to State Senator Malcolm Smith (D, Queens), currently the minority leader, if power shifts to the Democrats
• A 12-year-old girl walking to school was hit by a driver in Queens; her leg may need to be amputated
• Fake cop alert: A 19-year-old was arrested after he used his car's lights and sirens, plus a fake badge, to pull over a retired detective who cut him off on the Upper East Side; bonus: the kid is the son of a NY Times reporter, according to the Post
• Racked braves the crowds for Kate Moss' Topshop clothing collection at Barneys Co-op
• The city installs a sign for "Foley Square" that says "Folley Square"
• The Brooklyn Navy Yard is buzzing with tenants
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The Brig was built in the early 1940s and served as a naval prison. After the closing of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1966, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service used the Brig as a detention center until 1984 when, faced with severe overcrowding in its prisons, New York City sought ownership of the prison. The Brig served as a minimum security prison until it was closed in December, 1994. The last occupants of the Brig were volunteer workers involved in the post-September 11th cleanup effort.

New York City introduced a proposal to develop the property to provide affordable housing several years ago. The history above was excerpted from a city press release almost three years old announcing the project. The New York Times reports this week, though, that developers will be turning the former penal facility into townhouses, co-op apartments, and rental apartments for a mixed-income population.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced that a partnership between the Dunn Development Corporation and L&M Equity Participants Ltd., two development companies specializing in low-priced housing, would redevelop the 103,000-square-foot site between Flushing and Park Avenues with 434 housing units.

Gothamist noted this project back in July 2004 when it was first introduced. This particular section of Brooklyn has a history with prisons dating back to the American Revolution. Until the British left New York in 1783, there was a system of prison ships and barges anchored in the bay that is now surrounded by the Navy Yard. Approximately 11,000 Americans died on these ships from disease and starvation during the war. There is a memorial in Fort Greene Park nearby called The Prison Ships Martyrs Monument, dedicated to the prisoners whose bones continued to wash ashore in Brooklyn for years afterward.

It's birdseed throwing or bubble blowing time with this weekend's NY Times wedding announcements.

Why are we showing this photograph of 67-year-old Smail Tulja being led away from police officers in Montenegro? Because Tulja is suspected of being a serial killer, one of his victims a Bronx woman who was mutilated 17 years ago. Parts of Beal's body were found near the Brooklyn Navy Yard in September 1990, and over the course of two decade investigation, authorities in New York and abroad found Tulja could be involved with as many as eight murders.

Mitzi, by Raymond. Tag yours "gothamist" on Flickr if you want us to use them.

Yesterday morning, a worker died after falling inside a tanker at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The FDNY says that Arturo Medina lost his footing when climbing down a 50 foot ladder on the ship's hull. The only way into the hull is through an 18 inch hole, so rescue crews had to create a pulley system to lift Medina out. Medina died later at Brooklyn Hospital Center.

At my window sad and lonely, by Brainware3000.