Another condo (940 Metropolitan) opts for the gray brick look and goes rental.

Is gray brick the new white brick?

(And regarding #4, I don't know about you, but when I'm walking around with 21 grand, I tend not to leave it on random park benches. Maybe that's just me.)

This Saturday (26 June) there will be a benefit party for "Bummer", a large-scale sculpture that has officially been selected by the Burningman cultural committee. The benefit runs from noon to midnight, and will be at Grace Space, 840 Broadway (near the Flushing J/M/Z stop). There will be a bunch of live bands, a host of DJs and an art exhibit. More details here.

[See update, below - ed.]

There is a lot of vestigal crap in the City's zoning code, as one might expect for a document written in 1961. Its a code written for a time and a place that have long since passed.

One area where this is the case is the requirements for off-street parking. By now, its pretty well established [pdf] that when it comes to parking, if you build it, they will come. And park. When the zoning code was written, however, cars were seen as the answer to the City's problems and congestion was a problem that could be solved by just building more highways.

The new project at 324 Bedford Avenue epitomizes the stupidity of off-street parking requirements. The building sits at the corner of Bedford and South 2nd. It is designed by Bob Scarano, and is slowly inching its way toward completion (a stop-work order was issued in March, 2007 and the permits have all been revoked). Architecturally, it is quite nice (even if it is an overbuilt collection of quasi-legal mezzanines). Its size and massing fits in well in this more densely built up section of the Southside.

As required by zoning, 324 Bedford includes on-site off-street parking. According to BIS, that works out to two spaces for a project of seven units. To get those two spaces, though, the developer has put in two curb cuts - one on Bedford and one on South 2nd. The net result in terms of parking spaces is zero - the community loses two on-street parking spaces, and gains a virtual guarantee of two additional cars. Oh yes, and the soul-deadening experience of roll-down gates where there might be another retail establishment.

Parking requirements might be a good idea in lower density neighborhoods, where cars are needed on a more day-to-day basis, but in densely built up sections of the City such as this, they contribute nothing.

UPDATE: As noted in the comments, its not the zoning that is creating the parking here. Which makes it that much more ridiculous. I'm not sure what the development angle is, as I would think there would plenty of FAR to turn the parking into retail, and I have to believe that retail at this location ($25 to $40 a foot?) is worth more than two parking spaces. On the zoning side, its silly to even allow this in a densely developed urban area. As noted above, this is essentially privatizing public space. "We" are losing two on-street parking spaces, and the developer now has the right to sell those two spaces. It might be different if the public were losing two spaces in exchange for 25 off-street spaces (though I still believe most of those off-street spaces would result in incremental cars, and not take many cars off the street). But that's not what's happening here.

And yes, I still think that required off-street is a losing proposition for the city as a whole. The result is a net increase in cars, congestion and pollution.

As reported elsewhere, the construction ongoing at the foot of South 5th Street is for the installation a "bladder" to hold water from large storms (like tonight's). The idea is that the bladder would hold the large runoff from flash storms until it can be safely passed onto the sewage system. Under the current system, that storm surge goes straight to the East River.

If you go by the site now, you will notice a not-very-pleasant smell, which is the result of this little bit of infrastructure porn - the old brick sewer basin beneath South 5th Street.

As Robert posted on Curbed today, the rehabbed Grand Ferry Park has been open for about two weeks now (the opening was put off a couple of weeks to miss the Fourth of July and the huge n-ewplant-killing crowds it would bring). The renovation was funded by the New York Power Authority, as part of the mitigation package for the gas generating plant next door.

The new park came out very well. There is a lot more green than the old park (the wood chip piles are now grass), and the plantings are now clustered to make more intimate spaces. Along the water there is now a walkway, so you no longer feel as though you are falling into the East River. Making lemonade from lemons, the new design adds a ravine filled with small stones to move storm water flowing downhill from Grand Street (no more Grand Ferry canyon).

Overall, it is a very successful new design, one that manages to make a very small park feel much bigger. Be sure to check out the more complete set of photos here.

Today was the first installment of Williamsburg Walk, the street closure that is not a street fair. Turnout felt light, and the oppressive heat certainly lent the afternoon a languid tone (except at the hydrants, which were very popular). Whether it was the weather or just the extra space, the afternoon lacked that manic aspect that Bedford often gets on the weekends. (And it certainly helped that the sponsors had people going around emptying garbage cans and generally keeping things in order.) Hopefully, less heat and no Giglio festival three blocks away will mean a greater turnout in the coming weeks.

As it turns out, the closure does not effect any of the cross streets - cross town traffic continued unabated, it was only Bedford that was closed. The regulatory thicket that had to be negotiated for this was pretty incredible, and included multiple city and state agencies. One result was that restaurants and bars could put out tables, but only on the sidewalks. The street tables were all provided by Williamsburg Walks, and clearly, there needs to be more tables. Even without table service in the street, having more tables there would enliven the street. As it is, there is little to bring people into the street, other than the wide open spaces.

Inspired.

Reminder: Williamsburg Walks starts today. From noon until 7pm, Bedford Avenue will closed to vehicles from Metropolitan to North 9th. Its a hot day for the inauguration of this event, but there will be cafe seating at most of the restaurants up and down Bedford. You can also beat the heat (and the crowds) by stepping off Bedford - restaurants along Berry and Wythe will also be open, and in many cases offering some air conditioned comfort.

I screwed up - in yesterday's post on the Building Brooklyn awards, I completely missed Greenbelt in the list of award winners. So there was a north Brooklyn project worthy of being the best of Brooklyn architecture. Greenbelt is a fantastic mixed-use project on Manhattan Avenue between Jackson and Withers. It is billed as Brooklyn's first LEED-rated residential project, and includes arts and cultural space on the ground floor with residences above. The building incorporates much of the single-story building that was formerly on the site (not preservation, but not throwing the entire building into the dumpster certainly has a positive environmental impact). As the project's website says, "Greenbelt aims for sustainability in relation to multiple 'environments' - natural, cultural and visual - by building green, providing space for the arts and community, and launching bold architectural ideas scaled to the surrounding neighborhood."

All in all, a very interesting and worthy project. Which only goes to reinforce the point I was trying to make in yesterday's post - given the huge wave of building we are seeing Greenpoint and Williamsburg, why are there so few projects that can be singled out as enriching our neighborhoods? Yes, there are some projects such as Greenbelt that are worthy of accolades, but they are few and far between. Take a look at the list of projects that won awards last night - I think you'd be hard pressed to find too many local projects that rise to the level of these projects.

The big building at the north end of the site (the one Heather was asking about) is a homeless shelter; I believe the smaller buildings north of there contain affordable housing units. The building at the corner of Kinglsand and Maspeth is being renovated by St. Nick's (the purpose escapes me). That's a lot.

The lot of nothing is what's happening east of the St. Nick's site. The building fronting Debevoise at Maspeth is the former Nurse's Residence. Community activists have been trying for decades to place a nursing home here, but that seems all but dead. Instead, this is one of the city-owned sites slated to become affordable housing in order to meet the city's promise of "30%" affordable in the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning (private sites are supposed to account for 20%; public sites the balance). HPD issued an RFP for the Nurse's Residence and adjacent parking lot in April, 2007. To date, HPD is still reviewing applications. Hence, a lot of nothing.

The 33rd Council District (David Yassky's district, which covers Greenpoint to Cobble Hill) is one of the most hotly contested in the city. Isaac Abraham, who only just announced his candidacy, has raised less than $3,000, and Kenneth Baer about $12,000. The other four candidates (Ken Diamondstone, Steve Levin, Jo Ann Simon and Evan Thies) are all over $30,000. Simon leads the way with $55,037, followed by Thies at $38,620, Levin at $31,298 and Diamondstone at $30,238.

The 34th Council District (Diana Reyna's, covering Williamsburg, Bushwick and Ridgewood) is one of the least contested open seats in the city. Gerry Esposito, the District Manager of Community Board #1, has raised close to $65,000 to date. Esteban Duran, a CB1 member and Department of Ed employee, has raised $3,560. (Duran has not even had a formal campaign announcement, other than a quick reference in the Greenpoint Star.)

Its all very early, though - too early to read too much into the numbers. (If you want to see who's behind those numbers,

The overall effect is only slightly less confusing than 20 Bayard, but equally atrocious.

FT attributes the NYC increase to the enactment of the new building code on 1 July, which they say prompted builders to rush to file plans under the old code. I bet the changes in the 421-a program also had a big impact on these numbers. Either way, it will be very interesting to see how many of these "starts" stay building, and how many wind up as grandfathered foundations.

Pretty amazing, when you think about it - Williamsburg and Greenpoint are home to the biggest building boom in the borough. There is more "architecture" happening here than anywhere else in Brooklyn. And yet, by the standards of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, all of that architecture sucks.

They obviously have good standards.

UPDATE: Oops, there was a north Brooklyn project honored. More here.

Developing, as they say.

On Curbed today, an owner at the Mill laments the loss of his sliver view of the Williamsburg Bridge - blocked in part by the construction of 80 Metropolitan. Which brings to mind the old NYC adage that if you want views that can't be blocked, buy on the park. (I think the adage refers to Central Park, but I suppose it applies to McCarren too.)

80 Metropolitan's website proves the point. That million dollar view in the first Flash screen is probably not long for this world - Domino's development of 20 to 40 story towers (shaded red above) will easily block the bridge views in this image, leaving the Woolworth building and Knickerbocker Village. The view west is already crap (the last bit of industrial waterfront in Williamsburg, which is owned by Con Ed and probably not going anywhere), and the view to the north is quickly being eaten up by 184 Kent, Northside Piers and the Edge.

Even Northside Piers is about to block its own views - the new towers that are part of phase 2 will block much of the western views from phase 1.

Just goes to show.

Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG) is one of the organizers of the event, and they are looking for volunteers for Williamsburg Walks to help with either with event logistics or with non-partisan voter registration, especially for this upcoming Saturday (July 19th). If you are interested, contact NAG at (718) 384-2248 or email mfs at mikebot dot com.

More information about the event is available at http://www.billburg.com/walks/about/