Hudson, the developer putting up the 23-story building on Flatbush, has the above planned for the SE corner of Clarkson and Nostrand, according to something called buzzbuzzhome (I'm not kidding; that's what they call it - real estate is now a spectator sport.) If I recall the building they're replacing was once a movie theater, way, way back. The inimitable Montrose Morris wrote a piece on it. Ah yes, here it is.
Think the Q's off his rocker saying the conquistadors have arrived? Not so. My butts firmly planted on my rocker, and buckling up for the slaughter. And as a reader wrote, "seems like Hudson's all up in our junk."
Here's the old theater and lately, not exactly her glory days.
Y'all I'd need to quit my job to keep up with the pace of it all. Someone want to offer to take over the "real estate desk" so I can stay gainfully employed?
By the way, they're tearing down 111 Clarkson, the old Haunted House, as I write this.
13 comments:
I'm generally pro denser infill residential development but these developers do make it hard to defend when they choose to build ugly class boxes. The theater building is probably not worth rescuing at this stage, but it is a shame the architect didn't try to preserve and incorporate the facade with the new construction -- that could have been a really cool design!
"Class boxes" or "glass boxes"? Paging Dr. Freud...
So sad - I love that old building.
it's worth noting that this is just a concept rendering commissioned by the developer. unlikely the built design will look anything like it, as this would be an extremely expensive structure. and although we're 'on fire' out here, we ain't 'richard meier on prospect park' on fire.
i'll take issue with folks who think contemporary building methods can't complement historical structures, but yeah, this will likely turn out to be another steel frame p.o.s. with a bunch of nonfunctional bricks slapped on between the windows to suit the sad contextual philistines and the developer's bottom line.
(Something changed that allows me to comment from my phone, nice.) As shown this new bldg would hit the eye as a totally alien expression. As long as it is kept low I welcome the diversity.
I wonder if the developers can be persuaded to at least incorporate the front of the building in their design? I think that would set it apart and make it more interesting and pleasing to the eye.
How dare someone try to put clean, modern looking housing where a perfectly decrepit abandon building is located on such a scenic, lively and thriving nook of urban utopia that is Nostrand & Clarkson. I know everyone would prefer a dollar store, wig shop or dollar store but dem the breaks
EZ, I don't think that's what people are saying at all. If someone is going to put up modern housing, it'd be nice if 1. it weren't too high and 2. it were to have some character (instead of these sterile, boring rectangular designs).
@JFB:
WHY ARE YOU YELLING?
@disco princess:
Why you hatin' on rectangles? Would you prefer a rhombus? Don't be a shapist.
JFB: I'm not inviting you to my birthday party! Here's why...
In capital letters, which is the digital equivalent of shouting, you wrote:
WAKE UP FOLKS INVEST IN YOUR COMMUNITY AND KEEP IT CLEAN YOU MIGHT HAVE A VOICE WITH WHEN THEY COME INTO YOUR HOOD!!!! UNTIL THEN I welcome GENTRIFICATION!!
Here's how folks have invested in this community for the last 50 or so years. 1,000s of families have purchased houses and apartments with their life savings and a commitment to live here for life. They've raised children and spent money in the 'hood. Hundreds of families have started and maintained businesses that cater to the needs of the people who live here, some working 12 hour days to keep their shops going in a low-income neighborhood. Many more rent apartments, and go to our schools and churches and synagogues and help each other out when times are tough - poor folks spend more of their income on charity by percentage than do rich folks by the way. People mourn together when their neighbors die, and they get together to fight drugs and thugs. They held the neighborhood together through the worst of redlining and drug wars. And lots of us clean up after the few knuckleheads who think littering or dumping is not a crime. Hundreds more bought apartments buildings and houses because they believed they were good investments, and many of them are decent and maintain their properties and aren't predatory.
So where have you been, JFB, during all of this? Simply waiting for gentrification? Or have you been getting your hands dirty and trying to solve some of the problems that plague any low-income neighborhood, let alone one made up primarily of people of color and immigrants, an area of town that has been essentially abandoned by their government through the years and left with police forces that don't understand or care about their needs?
Now that we have been discovered, it's easy to say we should have been doing more all along. But we don't come backed with millions of dollars of SOMEONE ELSE'S money. We rely on each other and a sense of community. I hope our new neighbors dig in and help solve some problems too, and don't seal themselves off from the people who could use their support, plus their economic and political leverage. We'll see.
In the meantime, you better hope you own your home JFB. Because if you don't, the same market forces that have sent shivers through the neighborhood might end up tossing you out on your hide as well.
leffertspapa, I'm not hating on rectangles per se. I was agreeing with this part of Scott's comment: "these developers do make it hard to defend when they choose to build ugly class boxes." :)
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