Brooklyn Heights

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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:  read more »

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 1 p.m. on Friday.

How bout an "I [HEART] MY PENIS" air freshener?

Is buttoned-up Brooklyn Heights truly ready for anal beads, Moregasm pills and chocolate-flavored body syrup?

Maybe not. All that "Red Light District" stuff is stashed away behind a beaded curtain in the far back of the basement.

But don't be fooled by the light foot traffic during the lunch hour (typically the busiest time for Montague-area retailers), warned one cashier.

Just wait until school lets out!

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 a Manhattan townhouse for that price.

Brooklyn condo prices, according to the REBNY report, increased 9 percent to a median of $477,000. The median sale price for Manhattan condos by the end of 2006 was $1.03 million. The median for a Brooklyn co-op at the end of last year was $253,000; in Manhattan, it was $650,000.

You get the picture.  read more »

Full REBNY release after the jump.

- Tom Acitelli

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 Brooklyn Heights, prices have been inflated by about 50 percent of the value of those abatements, he said.  read more »

June 6, 2006 1:05 p.m. 6 pounds, 12 ounces St. Vincent’s Hospital    read more »

June 6, 20061:05 p.m.

6 pounds, 12 ounces  read more »

St. Vincent’s Hospital

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. "When you have people like Lenny Kravitz in the building--and we've just lost Courtney Love--you have to hold your own."

Since coming on the market earlier this year, celebrities like Kate Hudson and Billy Joel taken a walk through this lavish apartment, which was designed by Benjamin Noriega Ortiz. (He also did Lenny's place upstairs).

Considering that the Piano Man is now looking at a $12.9 million townhouse in Brooklyn Heights, he probably won't be at tomorrow's open house.  read more »

- Michael Calderone

May 16, 2006 4:05 a.m. 7 pounds St. Vincent’s Hospital    read more »

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.  read more »

-Matthew Grace

“I would like to say, since 1972, the appearance of the mall has become worse and worse,&rdquo  read more »

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 York Post)

Charitable institutions are finding this to be a great time to unload their townhouse headquarters. And Liv Tyler is reportedly eyeing up a $16 million Brooklyn Heights townhouse—despite the fact that her publicist says she is not moving, and the property is actually off the market. (New York)

-Michael Calderone

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 Grace  read more »

Yng-Ru Chen and Devin Gordon   Met: Aug. 3, 2002 Engaged: Dec. 18, 2005  read more »

Sept. 9, 20057 pounds

Long Island College Hospital  read more »

Sept. 9, 2005 7 pounds Long Island College Hospital    read more »

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:  read more »

1. Poor people stay in their own boroughs and do not clutter up nice boroughs. 2. Really, really easy to get hot guys into our capacious East Village apartment tonight. 3. Principles. 4. Those bloody loud whistley kneel-ey buses that sound like a parody of a child's choo-choo train. 5. Fight the power. 6. Looking forward to flashing the special New York Times buses that will depart Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights for 43rd Street beginning at 7:30 a.m., and the one that runs down Broadway and stops at 145th Street, 110th Street and 96th Streets in Manhattan. Also you might like to know that anyone with a NYT ID card can get on those buses, and how hard can those be to fake up?

The rest of ya, enjoy your bike rides to work. Current temperature: 23 degrees.

Comedian Jon Stewart has finally found a buyer for his $3.995 million apartment on West 13th Street,  read more »

We’ll Skip the Chipotle Hand Roll, Thanks!“A Manhattan restaurateur grinned in court yesterday a  read more »

We’ll Skip the Chipotle Hand Roll, Thanks!    read more »

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 away.  read more »

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 of racial politics here as well. Yassky is running for congresss in a traditionally black district -- it was drawn to further minority representation, and once represented by Shirley Chisholm. Some of his rivals will likely be scrutinizing every move he makes for an opening to attack him as an interloper, and Yassky will be maneuvering to avoid that charge.  read more »

Endorsing Clarence Norman's candidate of choice has to help.

BROOKLYN, N.Y.-7:30 a.m., Tuesday, Nov.  read more »