Did you know that mantling means to spread over a surface? That's actually kind of what's happening to our neighborhood. Dismantling is happening everywhere, of woodframes and townhouses and old "taxpayer" cinder-block commercial buildings. But a new surface arises, a vastly different veneer of new construction, much of it ugly, some it less so, all of it remarkably efficient to the task of gentrification. There is no plan - just outdated zoning laws and the whims of the marketplace.
Case in point. One by one, parcels that the
Q identified years ago as "soft spots," properties perfectly suited for developers, have been snapped up. Sometimes it's for the better. Take the enormous building rising where the old Caton Market was. That building will bring hundreds of truly affordable units to the area, with priorities to current residents. Since the large parcel was City owned, it was possible to create an all-affordable building with relatively little pushback.
However, catty-corner/kitty-korner to that, the once dignified bank building (I opened an account when it was an HSBC back in 2003) will come down, along with the furniture store that was a Blockbuster Video when I first moved in. I spent oh-so-many hours wandering up and down the aisles, trying desperately to find something worthy of a watch-see. This was a time before Netflix, before Hulu, before Prime Video or anything on-demand. It's hard to remember what a big part of our lives these video stores became, once we all had VCR's or DVD players. My how the world changes and the wee ones grow. To those who wonder what we did before smartphones, I'd say "a lot looking for stuff to watch," because the modern world has become mostly about finding things, anythings, to deny the realities of the modern world.
Now, 815 Flatbush has gotten even bigger. So imagine this rendering but with considerably more apartments. Read all about it
in the NY Yimby, of course. The corner in question, as currently mantled, below said smaller-than-it-will-be rendering.
