More hotels for Duffield Street

Brooklyn Eagle

The old Fulton Mall is no more

I know this link is dated but if you have been to the mall recently, you will notice that all the bus shelters have been removed and that ugly blue steel entrance has been chopped down. It's nice to see steps in the right direction.

City Point gets a well need push from Mayor Bloomberg

The Bloomberg administration has picked the City Point project--to redevelop Albee Square Mall--to receive $20 million in tax-exempt bonds financed by the federal stimulus program

Willoughby Windows installation Began Today

If you were walking down Willoughby Street today, between Bridge Street and Duffield Street, you would have seen the transformation begining. The Willoughby Windows installation has begun. Finally, something to bring life to a street that has been dead for a while. In speaking with on of the organizers, Alison of Ad hoc art (www.adhocart.org), I found out that there will be some festivites around the installation of the remaining store fronts. It will be from 9am to 6pm. Also, the big party will be July 10th. Expect to see guest DJs and people on stilts. More info to come. I'll be sure to keep people posted.

Revamping of Fulton Mall is still scheduled to happen (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

Albee Square/Fulton Makeover

H&M at the Fulton Mall Has been confirmed

According to Sarah Portlock of the Brooklyn Paper, H&M has confirmed that they are coming to the Fulton Mall. The likely location will be the old Price Mart space near Macy's which currently has going out of business signs up. That space is located between Lawrence Street & Bridge Street on Fulton.
Fulton Mall goes trendy (The Brooklyn Paper)

H & M at the Fulton Mall?

I welcome it with open arms. Hopefully it's not just a rumor.

StreetLevel: Swedish Fast Fashion to Invade Fulton Mall?
(Brownstoner)

Event Listing: Free E-Waste Recycling Event at MetroTech BID, Downtown Brooklyn

Spring Fling! Downtown Brooklyn E-Recycling Day

Brought to you by MetroTech Business Improvment District

Friday, May 9th

12pm -4pm

Location: MetroTech Commons, in front of 15 MetroTech Center



The first Downtown Brooklyn E-Recycling Day is happening this month! Donate old cell phones and accessories to Verizon’s HopeLine program, old electronics to LES Ecology and gently used work clothes and the “Dress for Success” initiative at the HOPE Program.



Acceptable Electronic Equipment: Working and non-working computers (laptop & desktop), servers, mainframes, monitors, printers, scanners, fax-machines, copiers, network devices (routers, hubs, modems, etc.), peripherals (keyboards, mice, cables, etc.), components (hard drives, CDRoms, circuit boards, power supplies), TVs, VCR & DVD players, audio visual devices, radios/stereos, cell phones, pagers, PDAs.



Clothing: Pants, dresses, shirts, sweaters, shoes, belts. Only donate clean, gently used clothing. Other kinds of household items won't be accepted.





See links below for more information

MetroTech BID

Fultonstreet.org

Bring on the Glass

United American Land seems to be moving forward. Within the last month, they have acquired the air rights to the property borderd by Willoughby, Bridge, Duffield and the Fulton Mall. This is directly accros the street from Belltel. The only building that will remain is 505 Fulton due to its landmark status (that's the Conway).There are some interesting renderings on their website. No arguements here. I'm lovin the glass.


ULA United American Land LLC

News from the rumor mill. Gracious Home in Downtown Brooklyn. Maybe.

"For decades, the area of Downtown Brooklyn between Willoughby and State streets has been a bustling center of low-end stores and fast-food restaurants. Now an influx of residents is anticipated at a handful of new luxury condo projects: BellTel Lofts at 365 Bridge Street, the conversion of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank building at One Hanson Place, the Oro Condos at 306 Gold Street, and a hotel/condominium project by the same developer set to rise next door. This begs the question: Where will these upscale residents eat and shop in the area?

Higher-end retail is expected to follow the residential development eventually -- and admittedly, there are already signs of change. More affordable condo projects in the area, on Livingston and Schermerhorn streets, are expected to bring an initial wave of retail in their ground-floor spaces. Meanwhile, the home furnishings chain Gracious Home and an Apple computer store are said to be considering the ground-floor space at the Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower. But buyers in the neighborhood's luxury developments are warned that if they want to see a complete turnaround, they need to be patient." (The Real Deal)

Condo towers poised to change Downtown Brooklyn retail
(The Real Deal)

Joe Chan's Vision of Downtown Brooklyn

"It is tempting, of course, to call this something like the “Brooklyn Plan,” but it isn’t a plan in the literal sense. No one person or group of people sat down and sketched out an entire scenario. What has been looked at in the past several weeks is a combination of individual developments." (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

News Analysis: Radical New Look Ahead for Brooklyn (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

Fulton Mall. Change coming soon

“With all the housing stock that we have now and the demographics in the communities that surround Downtown Brooklyn,” said Joseph Chan, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, an economic development group, “the fact that there’s not a Bed Bath & Beyond, a Pottery Barn, a Pier 1 in the downtown of a city of 2.5 million people is odd.”

"And so the mall’s transformation, predicted for years, seems about to finally begin. The old Albee Square Mall, an enclosed shopping center within this stretch of Fulton Street, closed this year to make way for City Point, a high-rise tower that will house people, businesses and, on the ground floor, major retail tenants along the lines of Target.

Albert Laboz, one of the street’s biggest property owners and chairman of the Fulton Mall Improvement Association, said that deals were in the works with several leading retailers. “I think you’re going to see a nice transition in the next few years,” he said." (NY Times)

Brooklyn Mall Is Oasis and Anomaly (NY Times)

JC Penney to replace Conway on the Fulton Mall

"Next year, JCPenney will be opening its first location in Brooklyn, on Fulton Street. It will occupy the retail space presently leased to Conway's, which is directly across the street from Macy's.

Stanley Chera, a principal at Crown Acquisitions, one of the largest owners of property in the Fulton Street area, said leasing "continues to be excellent, with no slowdown in prime locations. Retailers are committed to downtown Brooklyn, and expect to see a new tenant mix over the next few years".

"With thousands of new residents moving to downtown Brooklyn, expect to see a large supermarket and health and beauty centers opening in this underserved area," a retail broker, Lori Shabtai of Winick Realty Group, said." (NY Sun)


'A Very Exciting Time' For Retail in New York (NY Sun)

It's Official. Morton's Steakhouse At the Downtown Brooklyn Marriot

"PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Morton's Restaurant Group, Inc. today announced that it has signed a lease to open a new Morton's The Steakhouse in Brooklyn, N.Y. The 14,500 square-foot restaurant will be located in the New York Marriott(R) at the Brooklyn Bridge. Morton's expects to open the restaurant, its first in Brooklyn, in late 2008.

With a total seating capacity of nearly 300, the restaurant will seat approximately 125 guests in the main dining room, 100 in Morton's exclusive private boardrooms and 70 in Bar 12-21, Morton's new bar dining concept, the place for specialty cocktails and Morton's appetizing Bar Bites menu. Morton's will be on the ground level of the Marriott. The Marriott, located at 333 Adams Street, is a 25-floor hotel with more than 600 rooms and suites." (CNN Money.com)



Morton's to Open its First Restaurant in Brooklyn
(CNN Money.com)

Morton's Steakhouse (official site)

Luxury retail and a steak house coming to Downtown Brooklyn

(image courtesy Marriot.com)
Some of this will be in the Marriot Hotel and some will be in the building on the corner of Adams Street and Willoughby Street


"The unnamed restaurant (High end steak house) - the announcement is expected this week - could open as early as Labor Day on the ground floor of the hotel.

Next door, on two floors of a city-owned building, Muss Development plans 40,000 square feet of luxury shopping. Barneys, Apple, The Gap and Banana Republic top a list of potential retailers." (NYDN)

Luxury shops for Downtown Brooklyn (NY Daily News)

388 Bridge Street. 360 Residential units.

(image courtsy Brownstoner)
It's more condos if you can believe it. All I can tell you is that this thing is huge in the rendering (see link below). I like the way it looks. Any thoughts?

Rendering

Development Watch: 388 Bridge Street
(Brownstoner)

This neighborhood really is getting cleaned up. Literally

(image courtesy aaroscape on flickr)
Apparently, the Doe Fund, with the creation of the Court Livingston Schermerhorn BID, has begun steam cleaning the streets in Downtown Brooklyn. They will also be removing graffiti in an ongoing beautification project aimed at creating a new perception of DoBro.
Court, Livingston, Schermerhorn Streets Getting Steam Cleaned (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

V3 Hotel Indigo at the former VIM

The V3,designed by Karl Fischer, will be built to accommodate 90,000 sq ft. that's 180 “high-end, amenity rich” rooms.

"The 180-room new hotel is one of at least seven planned for Downtown Brooklyn. On Oct. 31, the Eagle broke the news about the new Holiday Inn planned for 300 Schermerhorn St. (see list below). At a Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce forum on Oct. 16, moderator Joe Chan, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, reported that there are 1,250 hotel rooms currently under development in Downtown Brooklyn. The list of hotel rooms that follows raises that total to 1,950 and it doesn’t include the 100-200 hotel rooms that have been discussed for Brooklyn Bridge Park, near Pier 1; or the 48 rooms — in the works for some time — at 262-276 Atlantic Ave. near Boerum Place, which so far have been denied a variance.

Known Hotels in Development

• The Smith, 75 Smith St., 93 rooms. Boymelgreen Developers and Meltzer/Mandl Architects.
• 32-38 Nevins St., 180-200 rooms. McSam Hotel Group with Michael Kang Architect.
• Cambria Suites 75 Schermerhorn St., 300 rooms. Choice Hotels and Perkins Eastman Architects.
• Hotel Indigo, 237 Duffield, 180 rooms. V3 Hotel Management and Karl Fischer Architect.
• Holiday Inn, 300 Schermerhorn, 250 rooms. Tyler Hospitality and Gene Kaufman Architect.
• NY Marriott at Brooklyn Bridge Expansion, 333 Adams St., 280 rooms (already open). Muss Development and William B. Tabler Architects.
• Sheraton/Aloft, 216 Duffield, 500 rooms combined. The Lam Group and Gene Kaufman Architects.
• Atlantic Yards’ Miss Brooklyn, 150 rooms. Forest City Ratner and Frank Gehry Architect." (Brooklyn Daily Eagle excerpt)

Downtown Brooklyn to See Yet Another Major Hotel (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

Department Stores Seem to be Eyeing up City Point (the old Allbee Sq Mall)

"Department stores are making a huge comeback in downtown Brooklyn, with Target, JCPenney, Kohl's and Nordstrom eying spots in the Fulton Mall, the Daily News has learned.

Target has already signed a deal to open a store at City Point, sources who are familiar with the project said. The soaring tower, slated to be built where Albee Square Mall stands, will include residential, retail and office space." (NYDN)


Target signs deal to open a store at City Point (NYDN)