Watchtower Building In Heights Sells for $7.1M

50 Orange St., Brooklyn Heights. Image courtesy of Massey Knakal Realty Services.

Compiled by Linda Collins

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — A Brooklyn Heights multi-family building previously owned by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (also known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses) has been sold by Massey Knakal Realty Services.

The building, at 50 Orange St., on the southeast corner of Orange and Hicks streets, was sold in an all-cash transaction valued at $7.1 million, according to Robert Knakal, Massey Knakal chairman, who exclusively handled this transaction with Stephen Palmese, director of sales in Massey Knakal’s Brooklyn office.

Owned by the society for over 20 years, the five-story elevatored apartment building contains 20 residential units — including 10 studios and 10 one-bedroom units — in approximately 15,355 gross square feet, including the cellar.

“It was delivered vacant, which is rare for this size building and location,” said Knakal, who added, “This property has been maintained according to the incredibly high standards of care and attention for which the Watchtower is particularly well-known.

New Year’s Eve Shooting in Heights

At this location, on Willow Street near Clark Street, a livery cab crashed into the sidewalk on New Year’s Eve after a passenger, who allegedly tried to rob the driver, shot him in the neck and then fled, a law enforcement source told the Eagle. The driver was taken to Lutheran Medical Center, where he was in stable condition. The suspect was soon taken into custody.

 

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Project Girl Empowers With Passion and Performance

NY1 reports Project Girl Performance Collective  travels the nation from Brooklyn Heights, telling their personal stories to women everywhere.  Read more HERE:

Brooklyn’s Brownstone Belt Strapped on by Pioneers

Three Decades of Restoration Spread From Heights to Fort Greene

By Carl Blumenthal

This row of brownstones on Lincoln Place in Park Slope shows the type of housing that attracted young professionals who moved to, and renovated, historic 19th century houses in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. The movement began in Brooklyn Heights; spread to Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens; and later spread to Fort Greene and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.

BROOKLYN — In a recent Brooklyn Broadside column, Dennis Holt looked forward to the benefits of such new or expanded developments as Brooklyn Bridge Park, Barclays Arena, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Coney Island amusement district.

Looking back on books about urban development in 2011, one especially comes to mind: The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: Gentrification and the Search for Authenticity in Postwar New York (Oxford University Press), by Suleiman Osman.

Osman, a young professor of American Studies at George Washington University, grew up in Park Slope. He delves into the nitty-gritty of the early brownstone movement, beginning with revitalization of Brooklyn Heights in the 1950s, then spreading to Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill and Park Slope through the housing boom of the 1980s, when “brownstoning” turned into “gentrification.”

Anyone expecting Osman to take sides on the question of whether gentrification caused displacement will be disappointed, since he says that the debate remains unresolved.

Brooklyn’s Predictions for 2012

by Mary Frost

BROOKLYN — As we bid adieu to 2011, we turn to the future and ask: What could possibly happen next? Will the stock market skyrocket? Will the Nets win their first Brooklyn season? Will the city sell the naming rights to the Promenade? Will the Euro fail?

We asked some of Brooklyn’s most prescient movers and shakers to look in their crystal balls and share their revelations about the upcoming year — and we expect, as usual, that these predictions will be 100 percent accurate.

If you want to know what 2012 will bring, here are some predictions from Brooklyn’s most prescient prognosticators:

Brooklyn Heights in the News

The Brooklyn Paper reports several new restaurants to open in the New Year, The NY Times profiles Jed Walentas of Two Trees Management, and the Observer notes actress Amy Ryan is moving to the Heights.