"Gowanus BBQ Club": Green Building Waterfront LLC. Planning Seasonal Outdoor Venue

Akiva Reich, left, and his lawyer at Monday evening's CB6 Permits And Licenses meeting

Akiva Reich, who owns and manages the historic Green Building, a multi-use space at 452 Union Street in Gowanus, has just applied for a full seasonal liquor license for a "barbecue club" on an empty lot next door on Bond Street and adjacent to the Gowanus Canal.
Reich, together with his lawyer, presented his plans to Community Board 6's Permits And Licences Committee this past Monday evening.  The 10,000 square foot space will accommodate 157 patrons, there will be 22 tables and two bars.  According to the application, the venue will be open 6 days a week until 2 AM, from May to November.
Until recently, the lot was used as a food truck parking space. In the past few weeks, Reich and his partners have erected a new fence around it and are busy getting ready to open. A BBQ cart is already parked on the lot.
Reich maintained that he had posted notices regarding his liquor application along Union Street and Bond Street, but the address mentioned in the flyer is for the Green building itself. The notice does not indicate that it was for the open lot next door.
Members of the committee expressed concern regarding sufficient notification to neighboring residents, given the size of the venue.  No one representing the community attended Monday night's meeting, but a local resident had reached out to CB6 manager Craig Hammerman the day of the meeting asking for the committee to delay a vote since many residents, including those from The Mill and The Satori, two large condominium buildings, had not been informed.
The Committee also questioned if the venue would get the approval from the local police precinct for a sound permit.  Some of its members also mentioned the noise complaints generated by "The Gowanus Grove", a similar venue which operated on a lot two blocks away on Carroll Street at the canal two years ago.
At the end, the Committee voted 4 against 4 to disapprove the license.  Since there was a tie, the matter will be decided at the general Board meeting on May 13th.




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Gowanus Halloween Eve Masquerade With Michale Arenella & Orchestra

***REMINDER: TONIGHT***

Michael Arenella & His Dreamland Orchestra cordially invite you to...

Got your costume all picked out for Halloween, but don't know where to show it of yet? How about staying right in the neighborhood and attending the Halloween Eve Masquerade in "that green building" at the corner of Union and Bond? Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra have a fun event planned there. More info below.

The Halloween Eve Masquerade.
Friday Oct. 30th, 2009
9:00PM
$20

With a wide array of events to choose from on Halloween night, we thought we'd present the option to step out in style the night before and rub elbows with other glamorous ghouls.

at Brooklyn's most enchanting little speakeasy, the Green Building, a 19th-century warehouse nestled along the banks of the Gowanus Canal, in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. Located at 450 Union Street, it is just a short walk from the following major subway lines:

- F/G to Carroll Street
- R to Union Street

Directions can be found with Hopstop.

There are excellent, dependable car services in the neighborhood which will be available, as well. We will have cars waiting outside for the duration of the evening.

The Hot Dreamland Eight will rouse up the ghosts of yore while the mixologists of Court & Spark stir up your tinctures pure.

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My Neighborhood In Detail: Bond Street Art

Take a walk down Bond between 3rd and 4th Streets, shortly before the street dead-ends onto the Gowanus Canal. There, against the partly cinder blocked loading dock of an old warehouse, you will see it.

For Home Page, click Pardon Me For Asking

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Not So Fast, Toll Brothers!

CGNA meeting at Hannah Senesh

Chris McVoy and John Hatheway, architects

Carroll Street Bridge as it is now, sans Toll Brothers development

Toll Brothers' rendering, according to local architects
Hatheway and McVoy is deceptive and out of scale, making their 125 feet
building look more like 85 feet.

President Street
with outline of proposed Toll development

How Smith Street would be altered

If Toll Brothers build 12 stories on one side, it would set the standard for the rest of Gowanus development.  In addition, Toll Brothers' illustrations never fully show the entire height and bulk of their buildings.  This 'corrected' illustration by Carroll Gardens architects Hatheway and McVoy

shows how 125 foot buildings would turn the shores of the Gowanus canal into a canyon.

Last night at the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association general meeting, architects Chris McVoy and John Hatheway presented their very well thought out alternative to the Toll Brothers Development on a two block area along the Gowanus Canal. After studying Toll Brothers plans, the two local architects are urging Community Board 6 to reject the developers application for re-zoning and special permits. Here are their reasons:

-The Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) is incomplete. It does not provide the analysis needed.

-The Toll Brothers' application is premature. It sets a precedent before the re-zoning of the Gowanus area has been analysed, reviewed and approved.

-The proposed 12 story scale dwarfs the Gowanus Canal and towers over Carroll Gardens' historic core.

-A 7 story alternate design, in scale with the context could provide similar area and affordability.

Hatheway and McVoy told the audience that Toll Brothers' development includes 4 to five story townhouses close to Bond Street, but that along the canal, the height will rise to 12 stories or 125 feet. This is "exactly the same height as those new buildings on 4th Avenue."
Mc Voy reminded local residents that right now, Toll Brothers can not build anything until the zoning for the two blocks is changed by the city from manufacturing to residential. This gives the community lots of leverage. " The developer jumped the gun." McVoy stated.
It was clear from the discussion that followed the architects' presentation that the community continues to have grave concerns about this project.
Residents were urged to let their elected officials know how they feel by writing letters and emails.
Spontaniously, a residential task force was formed to start a petition and to help organize opposition to the development.


Related posts:
Toll Brothers Spent $365,000 On Lobbying For Gowanus Rezoning
Toll Brothers Come To CB6 Complete With Union Entourage

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Detailing By The Gowanus

On a dead end off Bond Street
along the Gowanus Canal,
A lone cabbie
Is detailing his wheels.

For Home Page, click Pardon Me For Asking

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Tonight, CB6 Public Hearing On Toll Brothers Development

Bond Street looking towards the Gowanus canal

Tonight
Public Hearing

CB6 Land Use Committee Meeting
Public Hearing On Toll Brothers' Project

At PS 32 In The Auditorium
317 Hoyt Street
At 6 PM

The Toll Brothers, the development firm which has its sight set on developing a huge parcel of land along the shores of the heavily polluted Gowanus Canal, had applied for a zoning change a few month back. In order to build their planned condo development, the City Planning Department has to agree to rezone the lot from industrial to residential in advance of an overall rezoning of the Gowanus area planned by the city. The Toll Brothers just released their Environmental Impact Statement and the City Planning Department certified the developers application.
This development will change the Gowanus area forever and will open the door to out-of-scale development. In addition, there are serious concerns about the proposed clean-up of the canal. Will it be extensive enough to truly make it safe to live along the canal? For decades, industrial waste was dumped into the waters and the surrounding area is heavily polluted.
It is important for the community to be involved in the rezoning process.

****
Make sure to read Smart Money's interview
with Robert Toll Of Toll Brothers

Click Here
****

For more on the subject , go to FOUND IN BROOKLYN



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C.B.6 Public Hearing On Toll Brothers' Gowanus Condo Project Coming Up

Bond Street looking towards the Gowanus canal

CB6 Land Use Committee Meeting on Thursday, Sept. 25

Public Hearing On Toll Brothers' Project

The Toll Brothers, the development firm which has its sight set on developing a huge parcel of land along the shores of the heavily polluted Gowanus Canal, had applied for a zoning change a few month back. In order to build their planned condo development, the City Planning Department has to agree to rezone the lot from industrial to residential in advance of an overall rezoning of the Gowanus area planned by the city. The Toll Brothers just released their Environmental Impact Statement and the City Planning Department certified the developers application.
The next step in the Uniform Land Use Review Process (U.L.U.R.P.) is a hearing in front of Community Board 6. The hearing is scheduled for September 25th at the Landmark/ Land Use Committee.
I encourage everyone to attend this meeting. This development will change the Gowanus area forever and will open the door to out-of-scale development. In addition, there are serious concerns about the proposed clean-up of the canal. Will it be extensive enough to truly make it safe to live along the canal? For decades, industrial waste was dumped into the waters and the surrounding area is heavily polluted.
It is important for the community to be involved in the rezoning process. Too much is at stake. So mark your calendars and plan on being there.

Related reading on Found in Brooklyn

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Picture Of The Day: The Plant Chair

What to do with a broken chair?
Hmmm,
why not turn it into...
a home for wonderful plants?

This great chair/planter was spotted on Bond Street
In front of Dvir's Hair Salon.

Related reading:
Dvir's Salon

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Picture Of the Day: The Beauty Of A Bond Street Rose

"It is the time you have wasted on your rose that makes your rose so important."

From The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Walk towards Atlantic Avenue on Bond and you will see a climbing rose that is so spectacular that you cannot help but admire its beauty.

Covered in perfect pink blooms, it almost forms a canopy over the slate sidewalk.

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Picture Of The Day: Tuscany In Brooklyn

A lion's head,
a fountain and some lovely flowers
Against a weathered stuccoed wall.

If I had traveled to Tuscany
I would have told you, dear reader.

Instead, I walked down Bond Street, you see
And there, in one small corner,
It almost looked like Tuscany.

Oh yes, one can be in Brooklyn, but far away all the same.

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