Open Thread Wednesday | Brooklyn Heights Blog (2025)

By Claude Scales on April 22, 2025 11:42 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

Photo: Martha Foley

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Open Thread Wednesday 4/23/2025

BROOKLYN HITS THE BIG EASY—A REAL SPRING BREAK HIGH NOTE AFTER ROLLING TO NEW ORLEANS WITH THE PACKER JAZZ BAND

Art Show, Opening Party at Jubilee Gallery This Friday Night

• Banet

  I walked past the new Swedish bakery that is coming to Clark Street and they look extremely close to opening.

  They had a little peephole in their window covering and when I looked inside it looked completely finished, and there were a dozen employees seated and being educated by some manager-type person.

• Banet

  Also, the new restaurant/wine bar that is replacing Teresa‘s on Montague Street is supposed to open tomorrow, Thursday.

• michael

  huge congrats and thanks to the manager of our big chase bank on montague for the painstaking and beautiful renovation of the interior. what a glorious space.

• tfunk

  Ferrane Bakery, the Swedish bakery you’re referencing at 57 Clark Street, will have their soft opening on Tuesday, April 29th.

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• Andrew Porter

  I've run out of old BH photos to post, so I'll start recycling. Here's the Hotel Touraine on Clinton Street between Fulton (now Cadman Plaza West) and Pierrepont, in an old colorized postcard. Everything here has been demolished:
  https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1524ddcc11205539db194ea6a921c5fb956a5733de8df371b5bdbdff3d308ff6.jpg

• Andrew Porter

  …

• Andrew Porter

  Here's the Brooklyn Savings Bank, corner of Clinton and Pierrepont, Touraine in background. Also long demolished:
  https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2dc75b09ed6c56d92f3a11185bd82d0581eaf2f693b7f4fbe0746d60897a1bfe.jpg

• RickP

  Thanks. I look forward to these photos every week.

• Nosey Neighbor

  What are the best lunch specials in the neighborhood?

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

  Sushi Gallery on Clark St (St George Arcade) Has a pretty good lunch specials. They give you a Miso soup and Green Salad with the meal, most places include only one or the other.

• Jorale-man

  I got an email newsletter from Brooklyn Bridge Park stating that they're considering building an indoor rec facility underneath the Manhattan Bridge. "Based on community interest, the space could include a variety of amenities and programs—from sports and wellness spaces to educational and cultural programming." I wonder how much that would encroach on the lawn and other green space around there. It doesn't sound definite yet but I'm a bit skeptical.

• Andrew Porter

  I love how the many building projects in BBP are done with no sense that the adjacent BQE and Promenade might just not be as permanent as BBP would like them to be.

  By the way, remember when they proposed a swimming pool in Squibb Park, to replace the well-used and much loved temporary pool below? The temporary pool is long gone, but the replacement…

• Elaine Sohn

  Something new & of interest to some in Brooklyn Heights!

  International Folk Dancing Classes at the Brooklyn Hts. Public Library branch. (No cost to attend)

  For 4 Thursdays in May – 1, 8,15 & 22 – from 1-2 PM, in the Multi-Purpose Room on the lower level, these will combine moderate exercise with music, community-building and instruction. All are invited. No partners necessary.

• McGruff

  Here's what happened.

  1. The lovely Education Center (adjacent to the Manhattan Bridge) is just too small. They planned to expand it within the existing footprint but then they realized they could move staff to the 2nd floor of their HQ building at 334 Furman and put the Education Center on the 1st floor of 334 Furman.

  2. The outdoor bouldering facility they built (directly under the Manhattan Bridge) has been closed for years because of the danger of falling debris from the subway above.

  3. The plan, it seems, is to build a single, larger building on that combined space (Education Center and Bouldering space).

  I think everyone knows that an indoor pool is, by far, the most in-demand use of the space. I don't know that it's big enough but they're proposing it so they must think it is. I suspect the survey is solely to create the illusion of community buy-in.

• malcolm

  The more wonderful facts on the ground we create at BBP, the less likely it is that they take over the park for BQE construction, in my opinion.

  Of course, I am biased against cars, and believe the BQE needs to be removed or just repurposed for trucks only and shored up in its current configuration.

• McGruff

  Also, the footprint of the area in question is in no way near the BQE and its potential work. And it's certainly a safer location for a new pool than Squib park!

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• Jorale-man

  Yeah, we'll see with this. As I see it, the whole point of a park is to make green space available to people. This building seems to go against that idea. But BBP has often prioritized concrete and buildings – look at the parking lot behind the berm, or that new welcome center at Pier 1…

• TeddyNYC

  A permanent pool in BBP would be nice. I’m not sure if Squibb Park could accommodate a decently sized pool.

• Nosey Neighbor

  The point of the park is to create “public space that connects people, nature, and the waterfront through inclusive, innovative, and sustainable management and design”

  If you were in the park today, you would’ve seen that the new welcome center was packed with people looking so sit in the shade. The new bathrooms are necessary because the bathrooms near the footbridge are currently closed due to litigation with the owner of the condo above. It replaced a parking lot.

  If you ever visited the Environmental Center, you would see that it is too small. It is often packed with strollers and people sitting in the A/C. The location under the bridge has been blighted by a sidewalk shed for years, so a green space might not be feasible.

  As for the parking lot behind the berm, what would you like to see on that 20-foot strip between a berm and Furman Street cars zooming by with the Clark St ventilation fans humming?

• Banet

  I was down in the area on question and paced it off. It seems to be roughly 180 feet by 100 feet.

  I’m not sure if that’s enough room for a proper pool as you obviously need room for changing rooms and all that. But here’s hoping.

• Jorale-man

  Yes, there are a couple buildings that are beneficial but there are also a lot of missed opportunities in terms of maximizing green space and access to nature. They could have moved the berms back about 50 feet and gained a lot of lawn real estate, instead of prioritizing a couple dozen 3-hour parking spaces (typical of our car-centric city). And I'm guessing if they got rid of the sidewalk shed, there would be room for more plantings under the bridge. A lot of plants don't require direct sunlight to thrive.

  As a whole, I enjoy the park and use it nearly every day when the weather is nice, but I'd just hate to see the owners lean more into the poorer aspects of its design.

• Nosey Neighbor

  I just realized that the parking lot is there to provide access for emergency response vehicles near Pier 2, which as we’ve seen, has been very necessary lately.

• Nosey Neighbor

  And getting rid of the sidewalk shed would require the city to fix the Manhattan Bridge, which I am all for. They only painted halfway up the towers!

• Andrew Porter

  No, no, no! What BBP really needs is a Velodrome! Oh, wait…

• Andrew Porter

  Hey, Elaine Sohn, I remember your business in the little store on Cranberry that became the offshoot around the corner from Jack the Horse. And how is your daughter these days?

• cranberry

  I just ran into Gristedes to pick up a few items I usually pick up on my way home from my office at a nearby Whole Foods. I was a bit surprised when the total was $24.02. The identical items, according to the Whole Foods website, totaled $ 16.96!
  I know Gristedes was overpriced, but 30% is ridiculous.

• Cranberry Beret

  FYI, the city doesn't have sheds under the bridge in the non-park public spaces. The park has chosen to leave up their sheds. The city itself seems to think the bridge is fixed enough but evidently the park disagrees.

• Mark C

  They are the worst. I refuse to go in there. I wish the whole neighborhood would boycott it so that it would go out of business (and hopefully something better would occupy the space).

• Jorale-man

  Very interesting… Thanks for the backstory.

• Jorale-man

  Good to know. Pier 2 needs some extra attention, for sure.

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