By Matt Chaban 12/17/12 1:08pm

on the waterfront

Waterfront wonder. (Bing Maps)

Dumbo Apartments Set Sail: Brooklyn Bridge Park Seeking Developers for Latest Controversial Project

How would you like to wake up to views of the Manhattan Bridge and Lower Manhattan beyond, a lavish waterfront park right outside? That is the vision Brooklyn Bridge Park is hoping will entice developers into the newest private development within the libertarian park. Today, the park released a request for proposals for a development at the nexus of John and Pearl streets in Dumbo. The project calls for no more than 130 residential units in a 101,000-square foot development that can rise no higher than 13 stories.

“The addition of the residential development at the John Street site represents a critical element of our park maintenance plan,” Regina Myer, president of Brooklyn Bridge Park, said in a statement. “This development will not only benefit the DUMBO community, it will further activate the northern end of the park.” Read More

By Matt Chaban 6/19/12 5:05pm

on the waterfront

8 Photos

A Marvel on the Shore

Anchormen: A New Hotel and Other Developments as Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1 Approved

As expected, a team of Toll Brothers and Starwood Capital won the right to develop Pier 1 at Brooklyn Bridge Park today. They will be building a new hotel of 200 rooms and a neighboring apartment building with 159 units, a complex that peaks near Fulton Street entrance and sloping down toward the park. The project is designed by Rogers Marvel Architects, whom Toll has initially tapped, with Dumbo-based Bernheimer Architects apparently getting the boot. There will be no mash-up on the shore here. Read More

By Michael Ewing 4/20/12 6:38pm

Wheels of Change

The field house will occupy this site! (Courtesy of the New York Times)

Brooklyn Bicyclists Get A Boost

Brooklyn bikers received a treat to the tune of $40 million dollars!

Joshua Rechnitz, a cyclist and the grandson of New York philanthropists, pledged a $40 million dollar gift to the city to build a field house in the Brooklyn Bridge Park, The New York Times reported. Read More

By Matt Chaban 3/06/12 1:17pm

on the waterfront

9 Photos

Starwood Capital/Alloy Development/Bernheimer Architecture/nArchitects

Vacancies at Brooklyn Bridge Park: Hotel Requirement Sinks Developers

Brooklyn Bridge Park has transformed the borough’s waterfront, replacing derelict warehouses with yuppie-packed lawns and playgrounds. The project would not be possible without the controversial private development surrounding it, a handful of apartment buildings, retail outlets, even a hotel. After all, who wouldn’t want to spend the night in New York overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge?

The developers vying for the right to develop Pier 1, that’s who. Read More

By Matt Chaban 11/02/11 11:00am

on the waterfront

All aboard.

Ahoy, Brooklyn! Defying Recession, Developers Drop Anchor Along East River

The sun had not quite broken over the rowhouses and warehouses of Greenpoint Monday morning when The Observer arrived at the new concrete pier jutting out into the East River at India Street. The dock seemed barely finished, its concrete planks not entirely even, the sides of the structure lined with chain-link fencing. Whole sections were torn up and surrounded with orange construction netting.

When the ferry pulled up, ghost decals clinging to the foredeck, the passengers filed on, handing over their $4 tickets, joining the nearly 3,000 New Yorkers who have ridden the ferry each weekday since its launch in mid-June, according to the city—more than double the number officials had expected.

After ordering our locally brewed fair-trade coffee and a pain au chocolat, we turned to see a gay couple smiling across a starboard table, sharing a quiche, a floating picnic. On the port side was a pretty biracial pair staring out the window at Long Island City, its gleaming towers pulling into view. The woman held a breastfeeding baby on her lap.

The subway this was not. Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/21/11 3:04pm

Greensward

Horsing around. (Billy Farrell Agency)

Adrian Benepe, Parks Commissioner and Carousel Aficionado

At last week’s opening of Jane’s Carousel, perhaps the only person more excited than the legion of children and Ms. Walentas herself was Adrian Benepe, the city’s Parks Department Commissioner. “I guess it comes with the territory of being a conservator of carousels,” Mr. Benepe told The Observer, finishing off the last of his bag of popcorn. By Mr. Benepe’s count, there are now at least 10, perhaps 12, carousels in the city, depending on how you count them. With the exception of one at Coney Island, all are found in the city’s parks. Read More