RFP issued for parking adjacent to BAM

Parking is part of plan for BAM cultural district. The New York City Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals seeking developers to construct and operate an underground garage to be located beneath a newly constructed street-level public plaza on the 32,000-square-foot site located across Ashland Place from the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The triangular-shaped downtown Brooklyn lot, bound by Lafayette Avenue, Flatbush Avenue and Ashland Place, is currently used for street-level parking.

As … <Read More>


Sale of 4 closed FDNY firehouses sparks controversy

Mayor’s Office agrees to create community committees to find new users. On April 9, 2007, the Planning Commission approved four applications by DCAS to sell four closed firehouses in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The plan sparked controversy with residents, community boards, Borough Presidents Scott Stringer and Marty Markowitz, and Council Members Bill de Blasio and David Yassky, who argued that their districts needed increased FDNY services and, if the firehouses remained closed, only a community … <Read More>


Planning Commission files comments on Atlantic Yards

Commission recommends that the project be reduced by 635,000 sq.ft. and its open space increased. On September 27, 2006, the Planning Commission recommended to the Empire State Development Corporation that Forest City Ratner Companies reduce the overall size of its proposed downtown Brooklyn Atlantic Yards project by eight percent or 635,000 sq.ft. and increase the proposed open space from seven to eight acres to address the significant amount of pedestrian traffic that the project would … <Read More>


Former court building to be converted to school

Downtown Brooklyn Family Court building to become 1,000-seat high school. The City Council approved the New York School Construction Authority’s proposal to renovate the former Brooklyn Family Court building, located at 283 Adams Street at Johnson Street in downtown Brooklyn, to accommodate two high schools.

Currently vacant, the five-story structure will undergo complete renovation to convert the space into a 1,000-seat high school facility serving Community School District No. 13. An existing penthouse will be … <Read More>


New homeless housing approved for E. Houston site

Former Boys’ Club, Milliken Clubhouse, will be demolished to make room for the Common Ground homeless housing facility. Photo: Shane Tattan.

Twelve-story facility will house 263 former homeless and provide on-site supportive services. On June 29, 2006, HPD and Common Ground, a not-for-profit that provides housing services for the homeless, obtained City Council approval for a 12-story housing facility to be located on East Houston at Pitt Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The site … <Read More>


Two department store buildings designated

A.I. Namm & Son Department Store and Offerman Building Designated. On March 15, 2005, Landmarks designated the A.I. Namm & Son Department Store and the Offerman Building, both located on Fulton Street in downtown Brooklyn.

The A.I. Namm & Son Department Store, 450-458 Fulton Street, first opened in 1891 at 452 Fulton Street and gradually expanded in 1924-25 and 1928-29. Robert D. Kohn and Charles Butler created a modern design with a structural steel frame … <Read More>