'Bond Street Coffee And Goods' Opens At 365 Bond Street in Gowanus

'Bond Street Coffee And Goods' just opened up in the commercial ground floor space of the Lightstone Building in Gowanus. The new café is probably a welcome addition for the residents of both 365 and 363 Bond Street.  The space has been sitting empty ever since the residential development was completed.
Bond Street Coffee and Goods serves espresso for $3 or cappuccino for $4, along with teas and cold beverages. Besides croissants, pains aux chocolat and muffins, it offers breakfast sandwiches as well as various lunch options like kale salad and chicken caprese sandwiches.
There seems to be a bit of confusion regarding the business' relation to d'Amico Coffee on Court Street.  I stopped by to talk to Frank D'Amico in his store a few days ago to inquire and he explained that he and Joanie have nothing to do with this Bond Street location. According to Frank, the new café was opened by his partner in the Red Hook Warehouse, where d'Amico Coffee is roasted. Nothing more.
Yet, when I asked the young lady at the café yesterday, she was eager to tell me that the business belonged to d'Amico Coffee's owner.
No matter, we imagine that the residents of the Lightstone buildings appreciate having the new business there.

Just across the street at 363 Bond Street, a wine and liquor store is applying for a New York State license, so there will be more commercial activity on the corner of First and Bond Streets soon.

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Residents Of Second Street Near Bond Street Are Sick Of Dealing With Sewage Backflow In Their Basements

NYC DEP crew working on Second Street on November 11

 

photos above by Elizabeth Kinney

This afternoon on Second Street between Hoyt and Bond Streets

DEP worker checking on the sewer pipe on Second Place after back flow into people's homes this morning

This morning, several unfortunate residents of Second Street between Smith Street and Bond Street awoke yet again to find their basement flooded with raw sewage due to a back up in the City sewer line on their block. It was the second time this week. On Saturday November 11, at night, local residents had to deal with the same mess and spent their evening calling NYC DEP to get a crew out to unblock the pipes.

Though sewer back-ups have always been an unpleasant reality for residents living so close to the Bond Street sewer and to the Gowanus Canal, these backups are becoming more frequent, especially when rain coincides with high tide at the Gowanus Canal.   Many homeowners have installed back flow systems and check valves, but if one's neighbors have not done the same, the dirty, smelly water just seeps through the common walls anyway.

This morning's episode prompted Second Street resident Elizabeth Kenney to call DEP once again and to follow up with a letter to Community Board 6 to ask for help. Elizabeth writes:

I am a homeowner on (the 100 block) on 2nd Street between Hoyt and Bond Streets and am writing to report we currently have no sewer service on our block due to a backup in the city sewer line. Raw sewage is backing up in neighborhood homes and no sewage can go out.

311 was called and DEP alerted at 7:22 AM this morning. To compound problems, DOT is currently resurfacing our block.

The sewer backed up on 10/11 and DEP was on the scene and reported they were unable to unclog the street line and would send a crew on 10/12. No crew arrived to our knowlege and with the rain last night, we awoke to sewage in our basements.

I personally have reported the city sewer line backed up on nine occasions I have email documentation for - going back to 2013. I know other neighbors have called other times as well.

Our immediate need is to have sewer service restored. We also need to have this ongoing problem addressed. DEP agents told me Saturday pressure needs to be put on the mayor's office to have this line replaced because it is in poor condition and can't handle all of the influx of development.

They also reported on three occasions that the line was clogged with excessive amounts of kitchen grease likely from restaurants on Smith St who do not have grease traps. We would appreciate your help getting the appropriate authorities to inspect the restaurants between 1st Place and 2nd St on Smith. 

Lastly, the DEP agent Saturday said he saw a large amount of road debris in the line and thinks the DOT work on our block may have cracked the sewer line in which chase it would need to be dug up entirely. Hence him saying he would put in paperwork to have a camera crew come out the next day which we don't believe happened.

Thank you for your help with resolving this ongoing problem.

I met Elizabeth in front of her house this afternoon and she pointed to a house several doors down.  where a homeowner was pumping several feet of sewage out of his basement.

Elizabeth believes that her block on Second Street is not the only one that deals with back-ups and that the main problem seems to be the wholly insufficient Bond Street sewer  pipe, coupled with the recent construction of the 750 unit Lightstone Group development at 363 and 365 Bond Street, which appears to have aggravated the situation.  "It is a case of weak infrastructure aggravated by new construction" she feels.

Just two blocks further, on Union Street between Bond and the Canal, another owner seemed to be dealing with  his building's own sewage problems this afternoon, supporting the idea that other blocks feeding into the Bond Street sewer have issues as well.

If you live close to Bond Street and are dealing with sewage back flow in your basement, Elizabeth and PMFA would like to hear from you. Please leave a comment on the blog or on PMFA's Facebook page.

You might also want to join the Voice Of Gowanus Facebook Page to join others in the neighborhood who have the same issue.

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Despite Assurances From DOT, New Signage Eliminates Parking On North Side Of 2nd Street Between Bond Street And Gowanus Canal

2nd Street between Bond Street and the Gowanus Canal

New "No Parking and No Standing" signs on North side of the block

 Newly opened "Quick Park" garage on north side of this block

New bicycle lane and parking signage on Bond Street

Prior to construction of Lightstone Group's mega housing development at 363- 365 Bond Street in Gowanus, 1st Street and 2nd Street between Bond and the Gowanus Canal provided public parking
both day and night for local residents.
Those parking spots were taken away when these two blocks were blocked off as construction began in 2014.

Concerned that Lightstone may apply to make  the1st and 2nd Street blocks a “no parking zone" permanently, Gowanus resident Carl Teitelbaum reached out to the NYC Department of Transportation in the fall of 2015 to ask if the developer had done so already.  "Is there any public scrutiny and feedback if that is their intention? How can we make public the desires of the neighborhood in this matter?" Teitelbaum inquired. He added: "Parking is very tight in our neighborhood and taking away what were public spaces would be a great disservice to existing residents."

The answer he received came directly from DoT's Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Keith Bray.
"All parking regulations will be restored once the work on this conduction project is complete," Bray assured Teitelbaum.
This, however, does not seem to be the case.

While this stretch of 1st Street remains closed during ongoing construction at 363 Bond Street, the 2nd Street block was reopened this fall. At the beginning of this month, local resident Michael McGinn reached out to neighbors to report that new D.o.T. signage "eliminates all parking on the north side of Second Street between Bond and the canal."

Incidentally, the entrance to a new private parking garage in Lightstone's 365 Bond Street building is located on the north side of Second Street.

Coïncidence?  "I have a lot of trouble with the idea that a for-profit parking garage means eliminating public parking spaces," Michael McGinn wrote to his neighbors.

The loss of parking spots on 2nd Street is in addition to new parking rules on Bond Street which were implemented in September  to create a bicycle lane.  According to DNA Info: "DOT removed 13 parking spots on the east side of Bond between Sackett and Douglass streets and changed the entire west side of Bond between Third and Douglass into a 'no stopping any time' zone."

As more people move into the 700  apartments at 363-365 Bond Street, parking will just get tighter, especially if additional spots are removed when 1st Street between Bond and the canal re-opens.

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Apartments At '365 Bond' Luxury Building In Gowanus Now Listed On Craig's List

As seen from the Carroll Street Bridge, 365 Bond Street in background, 363 Bond Street in foreground

365 Bond Street at First Street

At Second Street

365 Bond Street apartment listings on Craig's List

Pardon me for asking, but doesn't it seem a bit surprising that 365 Bond Street, the 12-story rental development by Lightstone Group in Gowanus, has felt the need to advertise its apartments on Craig's List?  The developer is now offering a month free, 'end of summer specials', and telling people to ask about 'incentive information' on the building's own site.  Could this be an indication that, perhaps, the units in this building are not renting out as fast as anticipated?

Just search Craig's List for 'apartments for rent' in Gowanus (or Carroll Gardens) and you will come across quite a few listings for units at 365 Bond Street.

The luxury rental development on the shore of the Gowanus Canal, an EPA Superfund, was completed in early 2016. Of the 430 apartments in the building, 83 were set aside as 'affordable'.  The market rate apartments were offered for rent this past March through Douglass Elliman, which operates a  'leasing gallery' right inside the building.  By the beginning of April, the first tenants moved in.

The rent for the apartments currently available range from $2,483 a month for a studio apartment to over $6,800 for a two bedroom with a terrace.  Yes, the apartments are very nice, but the rooms are rather small.  The amenities in the building are awesome, but perhaps not enough to justify the rental price?

We keep on hearing from our politicians (and developers) that there is a huge deficit of apartments in the area. If that is the case, one would imagine that the building would have been fully rented by now and that the developer would not need to offer rental incentives.

More apartments will be available in Gowanus in the near future. Just next door to 365 Bond Street, a 12-story sister building at 363 Bond Street will be completed in 2017.  It will add another 268 units to the development complex.

Councilman Brad Lander has been pushing hard for an overall rezoning of the Gowanus Canal corridor from mostly manufacturing to mixed use, which will open the floodgates to more residential developments similar or even larger that the Lightstone development.  That will mean thousands of new apartments may soon come on the market in Gowanus.
That's rather ambitious for a neighborhood that sits squarely in a flood zone and includes one of the most toxic waterways in all of the United States. An environmental clean-up of the Gowanus Canal is planned, but is still years away from completion.

In the meantime, those adventurous enough to move into these new buildings will have to deal with foul odors emanating from the canal and with rats, as it would appear.  As the photos below show,  rodent bait stations have been place every few feet along the circumference of 365 Bond Street.

***And one more thing:  I have heard that those who won the lottery for one of the 83 affordable apartment units at 365 Bond Street have not been allowed to move into the building yet.  Apparently, Lightsone is waiting to fill all the market rate units before letting the lottery winners move into the building.
Is that correct? Can someone shed some light on this rumor?

Rat baiting stations surrounding 365 Bond Street

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