Flatbush

The city is looking for developers to renovate and operate the landmarked, long-derelict Loew’s Kings Theater—“the Kings” as locals called it back in the day—on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. Designed in 1929 by Rapp and Rapp Architects, the 3,769-seat movie palace modeled after the Paris Opera House is the only one of the five “Wonder Theaters” Loew’s built in the city that has not been renovated or converted into a church.

Rehabilitating the majestic, rotting Art Deco building will not be cheap. It has remained shuttered since 1978—the city took it over in 1983—and the city's Economic Development Corporation estimated that the project would cost a minimum of $70 million in the request for proposals it issued this week.  read more »

Cynthia Darrison, the woman who spent eight years building Eliot Spitzer’s mighty fund-raising  read more »

• Residents fret Park Slope one-way traffic conversions.
[NY Sun]
• Bistricer-owned Flatbush Gardens seeks change.
[NY Sun]
• Milstein plans apartment tower near Union Square.
[NY Sun]
• "Hotel mania" grips Manhattan!
[NY Sun]
• New York dodges mortgage problems--for now.
[NY Sun]
• Subprime mortgage debacle snags state teachers' fund.
[NY Post]
• Hotels going up across Queens.
[Daily News]
• Possible Sunnyside Gardens historic district moves.
[Daily News]
• Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment stalls.
[Daily News]

Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.

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An informed reader emailed over a rough breakdown of the results of Tuesday's special Council election in Brooklyn.

It turns out that Mathieu Eugene's union-backed victory was just as thorough as the overall numbers indicated. He was the top vote-getter in nearly all of the Assembly districts that lie at least partly within the Council district.

The only one he lost was the 44th Assembly District in Park Slope.

A more detailed analysis should be ready by Friday when the city's Board of Elections finalize the results. But here, according to my source, is how the order of finish broke down:

42nd Assembly District - Flatbush, Midwood Mathieu Eugene (almost 50 percent) Jennifer James Wellington Sharpe Richie Leithland 43rd Assembly District - Crown Heights/Flatbush Mathieu Eugene Jennifer James Wellington Sharpe Jesse Hamilton 44th Assembly District - Park Slope Harry Schiffman Moe Ravzi Joel Toney Mathieu Eugene 57th and 58th Assembly Districts - Clinton Hill, Brownsville Mathieu Eugene Wellington Sharpe Jennifer James/Jesse Hamilton (close 3/4th) -- Azi Paybarah

The much sought-after Daily News endorsement in the City Council in Brooklyn went to Yvette Clarke's former fund-raiser Jennifer James.

Here's what the News said:

"A local political activist, lifelong Flatbush resident and daughter of Caribbean immigrants, she has broad support in a diverse district. Also welcome is a promise to donate any "lulu" pay beyond her salary to charity."

Last year, the News endorsed Yvette Clarke for Congress, while the New York Times backed David Yassky.

In the Council race this year, the Times is backing Jesse Hamilton, an attorney and Democratic district leader. Clarke is backing another candidate, Mathieu Eugene.

-- Azi Paybarah

• For the first time ever, the American Institute of Architects has given its firm-of-the-year award to a lady-owned practice. The honors go to Boston's Leers Weinzapfel Associates, which Chris Hitchens and Graydon Carter would probably find unfunny. [Architectural Record]
• Newly unveiled plans show that Atlantic Yards may boast two "150-foot-tall illuminated billboards" at the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues. Nothing makes 19th-century brownstones look better than "the light from 15-story beer ads." [Brooklyn Papers]
• The bad news is that temperatures are rising one degree every year (though it doesn't feel like it this afternoon). The good news is that the average homeowner (and/or landscape designer) can save the world Al Gore-like by "strengthening canopy cover, using water efficiently and introducing environmentally-friendly plants." [Multi-Housing News]
• Bruce Schaller's red-scale map of Manhattan gridlock is pretty frightening--especially if you're a high-end broker who wants to show a Park Avenue apartment during the congestion-heavy evenings. [Streetsblog]
- Max Abelson
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Downtown Brooklyn's lament has been the inability to attract mega-tenants to four different sites that were painstakingly drawn and measured in a city-led massive rezoning two years ago.  read more »

Joe Chan, the president of the new Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, indicated in an interview last week that he was headed in a different direction: go for singles rather than home runs. Small parcels here and there might work better for the "creative industries" that he says could make Brooklyn home.

Bill de Blasio has endorsed Bill Batson for the 57th Assembly District, despite the fact that they differ in their views on the Atlantic Yards project. De Blasio's district does not overlap with the 57th, but is just north and east of Flatbush Avenue from his Park Slope district.

"The important thing is that Bill and I disagree on the Yards, but we can work together in seeking a community brokered development model," Batson said in a just-completed phone interview. "That's what I think the people in Brooklyn want right now. We want development, we want affordable housing, we just want to be onboard the planning process."  read more »

De Blasio was out of town and unavailable for comment, but at least some opponents of the project consider him to be "conditionally" supportive.

—Nicole Brydson

With so many people from outside the 11th Congressional district weighing in on what ought to happen there, we figured it was about time to take a stroll down to the area surrounding the proposed Atlantic Yards Plan to speak to actual residents about the issues that will affect their choice in that race.

At least within the area that will be directly affected by the development, there still seemed to be some confusion about who was actually running, and the Atlantic Yards project, unsurprisingly was the big issue.

Here's what three residents said.

Kiane Zawadi, 73, said in a brief interview on 5th Avenue off of Flatbush, "I'm trying to think of who the candidates are, Yvette Clarke, and who else?"

When provided with the names of the other candidates, Zawadi, of Prospect Heights, only reacted to Chris Owens, a familiar surname name for longtime residents of the district. "I think he needs to go further than his father."

Zawadi is opposed to the Atlantic Yards Plan, and said that his opposition would weigh heavily on the candidate he chooses this fall.

"I think Brooklyn should be kept the way it is, you know, all these high rises going up. Plus I don't like the idea of eminent domain."

Down the street, Tracy Santos, 24, also of Prospect Heights, said she had received campaign literature in the mail, but couldn't name any of the featured candidates. Santos is also opposed to the Atlantic Yards proposal--a common position within the footprint of the plan--saying, "I don't really want an arena two blocks over, you know, I've seen the area around Yankee stadium and it's not pretty."

On 4th Avenue with his girlfriend, Emilio D., 37, who lives near the Atlantic Terminal, said he has received emails from Chris Owens through friends, but is still undecided on the best candidate to support.

"I haven't seen anything that makes one different from another," he said. "It would be nice to keep it a majority-minority district because, given the representation in Congress, I think it would be good. But I don't want it to be just soley based on the individual's race because they do have to make good on the issues, in addition to their race."  read more »

And about that picture: it's Yassky's office at about 9:45 this morning. Since we were in the neighborhood.

—Nicole Brydson UPDATE: In the wake of his cancelled press conference yesterday, Carl Andrews has officially rescheduled his event for Sunday, on the steps of City Hall. Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson, Bill Thompson and David Dinkins will all be there to endorse.

In an intriguing pre-buttal to Eliot Spitzer's planned endorsement of Carl Andrews this Sunday, the following, from Tom Suozzi's public schedule for tomorrow:

3:00 PM Campaigns with Yvette Clarke Flatbush Avenue Vendors' Market (Between Caton Avenue and Lenox Road) Brooklyn, New York

A blaze broke out in a vacant waterfront warehouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn early this morning. About 170 firefighters headed to the scene from as far away as Flatbush and the Bronx, fighting what became an eight-alarm fire.

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta told NBC News that is was the "largest fire in the city in more than a decade, excluding the World Trade Center attack, and said the cause was suspicious."

No word yet on how the fire started, but the building is believed to be empty. However, Curbed has renderings of condos that were to be developed nearby.

—Nicole Brydson

More photos after the jump.  read more »

An February 3 save-the-date mailing for a breakfast hosted by the Council of Jewish Organizations of Flatbush this Sunday gives Speaker Christine Quinn prominent billing.

But the speaker, whose sexual orientation makes many Orthodox Jewish politicos ambivalent about honoring her, has vanished from the final version.

A COJO official wasn’t immediately reachable. Quinn’s spokeswoman says she’ll be out of town that day.

In any case, she’s replaced at the event by Marty Markowitz.

Boerum Heights, the under-construction condo building on Atlantic Avenue at the intersection of Atlantic, Fourth and Flatbush avenues, is shaping up nicely. We took a look at its Web site, and there are still a few units left! But, as evidenced by the picture, traffic right now is a nightmare. Just think what it's going to be like once Ratner's folly is finally up and running.

The tagline for the new building: The Luxury of Manhattan, The Culture of Brookyn, A New Way of Living Check out floor plans and details after the jump.  read more »

It's time for John Liu's fourth media advisory of the week!

Transportation Committee to Investigate "Private Van Services: Vital Transportation Options or Accidents Waiting to Happen?"

Presumably it's a fact-finding mission. Oops, one fact is already in evidence! Here's the rest of the press release:

Council Members will announce a Transportation Committee hearing on the City's regulation and enforcement of private van services. Demand in areas of the City underserved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has led to a proliferation of so-called "dollar vans" - many of which are unlicensed by the City. Jennifer Gibbons, a 56-year-old subway cleaner, was struck and critically injured - reportedly by a privately-operated van service - on March 4, 2006 while she walking home in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn.

Hmm. I think I know where this Investigation is headed. If they gather enough evidence, maybe they can get the dollar-van driver's to turn state's evidence against Kalikow's irresponsible M.T.A.!

Meanwhile--I need some dollar vans in my neighborhood--the B61 sucks, and so does the L.

- Tom McGeveran

Blogger Norman Oder has a report on Wednesday’s Brooklyn Borough Board meeting and the question of whether Forest City Ratner is going to provide enough open space in its Atlantic Yards arena and housing development.

Let’s put this another way: the three community boards closest to the project site, at Atlantic and Flatbush avenues, have between 1.25 and 1.7 acres of open space per 1,000 residents, according to the city parks department. Assuming 15,000 new residents and 7 acres of publicly accessible open space, Atlantic Yards would provide only 0.47 acres per 1,000 people.

That would result in what environmental impact statements call a “negative impact.” An independent consultant is undertaking an E.I.S. study right now, upon which officials will base their decision to approve or deny the land-use changes. (Well, they may take other factors into consideration, also.)

In other words, though Forest City has been celebrating the fact that its development will provide Brooklynites new parkland, it will be bringing so many more people into the neighborhood that they will more than cancel out any benefit.  read more »

-Matthew Schuerman

Downtown Brooklyn's gonna look busy soon, with thousands of square feet of residential property going up, as Matthew Schuerman reports in today's Observer. But another nearby development, the Brooklyn Public Library's Visual and Performing Arts branch, at Flatbush and Layfayette avenues in Fort Greene, is hitting some speed bumps, according to The Brooklyn Papers. Seems that funds are drying up, and construction, originally planned to happen in four to five years, is now looking like it'll take much longer.

What's the problem? Well, it looks like the library's only raised $18 million for the $70 million to $85 million price tag on the Enrique Norton-designed "slinky, all-glass, ship-bow-shaped" library. A retooled design revealed last week includes more commercial space, which will provide a revenue stream for the library's operating expenses.

This raises the question, once again, of commercial interests moving into public space: It monopolized discussions about the redesign of the northern end of Union Square Park (in which the local community board came down hard against a new restaurant), and commercial activities in various city parks have been questioned. It's basically a question of why, when tax money should be used to support public facilities, does the city need to sell or rent out public space to for-profit businesses?

It also raises the question of why must a public building be designed by starchitects, especially a public library, when prices can be so expensive (see Jason Horowitz's article on Rafael Viñoly to understand the dangers of architectural visionaries).  read more »

And, as a cautionary tale, take a look at Seattle's Rem Koolhaas-designed public library. Are we the only ones, or is it really as ugly as we think? (And let's not even talk about the inside. It's well worth a trip west just for a chuckle.) (The Brooklyn Papers)

-Matthew Grace

Here's a scrap of evidence in favor of congestion pricing: The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (price: $4.50) was wide open this morning a little after 9:00. We hit 50 miles/hour under the harbor.

My drive in was a bit slow down Flatbush Avenue, but local Brooklyn streets were fine, and the tunnel was easy. Leading me to believe that the traffic chaos may be getting slightly exaggerated.  read more »

On the other hand, the lawyer trying to get from the Flatiron district to a Bronx courthouse this morning wasn't getting much love from taxi drivers.

When hipster protest candidate Christopher X. Brodeur picked up 3.5% of the vote in last month's Democratic primary, there was much mirth at the expense of City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, whom Brodeur actually beat in the Bronx.

And there were some theories floated to explain Brodeur's success: His name makes him sound Haitian; his name makes him sound like a Black Muslim; he has a higher profile than we'd realized.

Brodeur declared amused victory: "You may have heard that I was responsible for the biggest upset in political history," he wrote in L Magazine after the election, adding, "I've never visited the Bronx in my life!"

But a closer look at the numbers suggest we owe Miller an apology, and that the Board of Elections owes us an explanation. The result seems to have less to do with Brodeur than with the mechanics of New York's creaky old voting system and voters' interactions with it. And, ironically, the protest candidate does seem to have demonstrated deep flaws in the city's political system, if not the same ones he spent his campaign denouncing.

The returns show a striking correlation between Brodeur's votes and Freddy's. In Assembly Districts where Ferrer romped, Brodeur picked up as much as 10% of the vote. In areas where Ferrer was badly beaten, Brodeur hardly showed up.

(A statistical analysis of preliminary data at the finest, election-district by election-district, level, done for The Politicker by CUNY's John Mollenkopf, showed a .229 correlation between Brodeur's votes and Freddy's, which Mollenkopf called "strong". (That's .229 on a scale of -1 to 1.))

Brodeur, astonishingly, won more than 10% of the vote in three election districts, all heavily Hispanic and all among Ferrer's very strongest:

In the 84th Assembly District in the South Bronx, which is represented by Carmen Arroyo, Ferrer won 72.4% of the vote; Brodeur won 11.2%.

In the nearby 86th district, represented by Luis Diaz , Ferrer won 72.4%; Brodeur won 10.5%.

And in Adriano Espaillat's 72nd district in Washington Heights, represented by, Ferrer won 66.9%; Brodeur won 10.4%

Meanwhile, Freddy's worst districts were also Brodeur's worst. Out in the 26th AD in white Northeast Queens, Freddy picked up a scant 21% of the vote, and Brodeur came in with 0.8%.

How do we explain this? It's very hard to imagine that 10% of the people in overwhelmingly Hispanic Bronx neighborhoods decided to vote for a guy they'd never heard of.

The simplest answer is the design of the ballot. Candidates names appear in alphabetical order, with the first position rotating in each election district. (That is: In one district the order would be Brodeur, Ferrer, Fields, Miller, Piccolo, Weiner; in the next it would be Weiner, Brodeur, Ferrer, Fields, Miller, Piccolo.)

That means Brodeur's name appeared on the ballot next to Freddy's in most districts, because they're next to each other in alphabetical order. So the simplest explanation is that most of the Brodeur votes are errant Ferrer votes.

That's a strong explanation, but a partial one. Brodeur appeared on the ballot in most places between Ferrer and Weiner. The other obscure candidate, Arthur Piccolo, appeared between Miller and Weiner. Brodeur wound up with more than 8.6% of the combined vote of his neighbors on the ballot. Piccolo got 4.1% of his neighbors' vote.

So perhaps there's another factor at work there -- those misled Haitians, or black Muslims -- though there's no evidence Brodeur performed better in, say, Flatbush.  read more »

More likely, this is striking evidence of something civil rights advocates have long argued: that poor, less-educated voters are relatively less likely to get their votes counted. Who takes the blame for this is an interesting question for another day, and one that people are often squeamish of discussing, because of the possibility that poorer, less-educated voters are more likely to err.

But the evidence suggests that thousands of Hispanic New Yorkers lost their votes, and that what should have been Freddy's convincing primary victory turned into a squeaker, and was cast under an unnecessary shadow as a result.

Well, I'm back from a week of moving from Park Slope to one of those Brooklyn neighborhoods that was called Flatbush until the real estate agents got to it, and I may have missed a bit of news while Jess and Azi ably minded the site.

In particular, I gather that a widowed animal-lover from the suburbs is running against Hillary Clinton.  read more »

As you see, I'll be grateful for news, updates, and story suggestions. And tips.

Here's a classic instance of the odd gray areas that the Mayor's vast philanthropy creates.

His recent $20 million gift to a long list of organizations, distributed by Carnegie, didn't include any openly political ones. A reader points out, however, that it did include two prominent Jewish groups: Agudath Israel and COJO of Flatbush, that are major constituent organizations of the Va'ad Harrabonim (Rabbinical Assembly) of Flatbush. That umbrella group just endorsed the Mayor.  read more »

Nobody's suggesting an endorsement like this is for sale. But across New York's often cash-strapped non-profit, religious, and cultural scenes, the Mayor's current giving and hopes of future money has to be part of the calculus.

NOTE: People who know their way around that community say "constituent organizations" isn't the right way to describe the relationship between COJO, Agudath, and the Va'ad. They're independent groups whose members are concentrated in Brooklyn, and which have some overlap both among members and interests.

Whoever is doing the polling for the Atlantic Yards project had the misfortune of reaching the leader of the opposition, who caught the exchange on tape.

The pollster appears to be testing various pro-arena messages, and Patti Hagan isn't exactly swayed. The Brooklyn Papers has the whole exchange here.

Pollster: This arena would be the centerpiece of a large commercial and residential complex that would be built on the same site. It would include retail stores, office space and more than 4,000 units of housing for all levels of income and needs.The retail stores and office buildings would be located adjacent to the arena at Flatbush and Atlantic avenues. The residential units would be built along Atlantic Avenue between Sixth Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue and part of the project, six acres of land in and around the site, would be landscaped and made into public open space. Having heard more information, do you favor or oppose plans to build a sports arena for the Nets basketball team and a commercial and residential development at this site in Brooklyn?

Hagan: I absolutely oppose the whole damn thing!

Pollster: OK.

Hagan: And by the way, that doesn't say that they're going to destroy the homes and offices and businesses of more than a thousand people, and just kick them out of this neighborhood. They don't say that.  read more »

Pollster: OK, now let me read you some different opinions about this project....

It goes on and on.

I've always been opinionated. Opinions are my bread and butter after all.  read more »