Page 53 - Demo

Newsbriefs:Rehab ClintonStreet OfficeWork to convert the 14-story former office building at 130 Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights into 88 luxury apartments is proceeding on schedule, with occupancy scheduled tentatively for January 1.Stewart M. Greenfield, who will manage the building for developer Sydney-Garden Associates, said rents will be %u201c comparable%u201d with other buildings in the neighborhood.Plans call for studios and one to four-bedroom apartments, along with duplexes and triplexes whose top floor will consist of an added root-level floor with outside gardens. The building will also feature a closed circuit T.V. security system and laundry on each floor, with every apartment being fully air-conditioned.Greenfield said the developers are also looking for a tenant to fill the large ground floor commercial space, in case the New York City Department of Traffic chooses not to stay on. Only %u201cfirst class%u201d kinds of businesses were being considered, he said, with preference being given to commercial office establishments. Greenfield said that the developers %u201chave a big investment here, and they%u2019re not going to do anything to degrade the building.%u201d %u2014I.L.New HeightsHouse to LPCThe Landmarks Preservation Commision will review applications for Certificates of Appropriateness that would allow exterior modifications to one proposed structure and one existing building in Brooklyn Heights.The first application seeks permission to modify the windows and front bay design on the proposed residence at 222 Columbia Heights originally approved at the May 9, 1978 executive session. The second proposal calls for installation of a picture window and air conditioner sleeves in the 12th floor Columbia Heights facade of 1 Pierrepont Street. Public testimony will be heard at the July 25 meeting in City Hall at 10:30 a.m. -I. L.Golden OpposesGateway PlanBorough President howard Golden expressed strong opposition to federal plans for Gateway National Park at a June 8 public hearing held at Gravesend%u2019s Our Lady of Grace auditorium criticizing the National Park Service plans vagueness about Gateway%u2019s impact on surrounding communities.%u201cThe lack of detailed information about the Gateway Development Plan leads me to conclude that either the National Park Service is not sharing its complete plans with the public or the park service knows no more about it than we do, in which case a mechanism for public participation is imperative,%u201d said Golden.Golden pointed out traffic congestion created by park-goerst r \\ f 'o t o u r o i r K irill m m 10from Marine Parkway Bridge to the planned new parking facilities at Floyd Bennet Field, which will be one mile closer to Kings Plaza and its surrounding communities. The pollution caused by this congestion and how it will affect the surrounding area also has not been adequately explained by the ParkService%u2019s plans maintained Golden.Mill Basin, Spring Creek, Starred City, Flatland, Canarsie, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach, and Sheepshead Bay are among the communities which will be affected by the plan, as well as Breezy Point, Roxbury and Neposit.%u2014P.H.Banks HelpFinance HousingA $100 million financing plan to rehabilitate occupied buildings in four local neighborhoods has been announced by major commercial and savings banks.Flatbush, Lefferts Gardens, Prospect Heights and Crown Heights are among 19 city neighborhoods identified as elgible for the rehabilitation and permanent finanung of occupied buildings.The Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), a private nonprofit agency sponsored by 11 commercial and. 28 savings banks, says it has i.!<%u201d%u2019tified preservation areas eligible > < Pie funding.Moore NamedCommerce HeadDonald Moore has been named President of the New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry, according to an announcement by Chamber chairman and chief executive officer Oscar Dunn. Moore, a Park Slope resident, has served as executive vice president of the chamber, and previously served as president of both the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Brooklyn Development Association.%u2014I.L.Plan Board 7Youth ProgramCommunity Board 7 has attracted some $5,000 in private funds to be used for youth activities this summer, he New York Community Trust and New York Foundation have funded the Board to operate a number of summer programs, including a community stick ball league, handball tournaments in local parks, basketball leagues in D%u2019Ernie Park, and at 56th Street and Sixth Avenue, a day camp, and a bowling program at Melody Lanes.All programs will be coordinated by Community Board 7 and operated by volunteers supplied by nine community organizations. The programs will be free of charge to any child between the age of six and 18 years old who resides in the Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace communities. Registration for these programs will take place at each program site. For more information call Joe Montalto at 854-0003.%u2014J.E.W.Bigs PresentSo Bro PlanBoth Mayor Ed Koch and City Planning Commissioner Robert Wagner, Jr. will be at Carroll Gardens%u2019 St. Stephen%u2019s High School on July 27 for a presentation of a City Planning Commission master plan for the redevelopment of Columbia Street and the South Brooklyn waterfront.Included in the master plan proposals are a three-phased $55 million construction of the longdelayed Red Hook Containerport and the development of 150 to 260 units of low-rise housing to cost between $5 and $9 million.The Commission%u2019s %u201c action proEddie Gregory, number one-rankedcontender for the light-heavyweight crown, [farleft], is shown at the recent Second AnnualAwards Banquet of the Navy Yard Boys Club.W ith Gregory are the Club%u2019s award-sinners,Jose Roig, the Club%u2019s recreational specialist[second from right], and Edward Maxwell, theClub president [far right]. Gregory is nowbarnstorming his way through a series of boutsthat is expected to wind-up with a rematch withpresent light-heavy champion, Victor Galindez,sometime this fall.gram%u201d report, which has been sent to Mayor Koch and other elected officials, also calls for the completion of the Red Hook Interceptor Sewer Project and decking for a portion of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to create greater pedestrians access. Creation of a new truck route along Van Brunt Street and the development of a community park are also components of the plan. The plan also incorporates the already-funded Union Street commercial revitalization project as well as recommendations for the already scheduled repair of the BQE.The Planning Commission report will be presented on July 27 at 7 p.m. at St. Stephen%u2019s High School, 135 Summit Street. The presentation will include charts and graphics to make the master plan %u201c comprehensible to a large audience.%u201d%u2014P.H.Spencer ChurchWork to StartDeveloper Joel Miele expects work to begin this August that will transform Spencer Memorial Church on Remsen and Clinton Streets into Spencer Mews, a residential complex housing eight duplexes and two large lofts, all of the %u201c mid to upper income%u201d cooperatives.Miele said plans will be finalized by August 1 for the Brooklyn Heights project, which is expected to cost between $300,000 and $500,000. Financing is already underway, with his organization ready to take title to the property and existing structure from the Presbytery of New York.The choir loft in the old church is being decked, or extended, to form a full second story, and a third floor will also be added tc provide space for two 2,400 square foot lofts. All stained glass windows will be left intact, but more windows are being added in the rear alley for ventilation to complement the central air-conditioning.P lans ra il fo r a %u201c h ig h q u a lity %u201dcommercial establishment in the cellar, with the Brooklyn Board of Real Estate, or %u201cthe right kind%u201d of shop or pharmacy%u201d being considered, according to Miele. Miele said a small mews area will be excavated at the entrance to the commercial space, furnished with tables and chairs, and decoratedwith bronze plaques commemorating the history of the church, to provide residents with a place to relax.Miele expects all exterior work to be completed by December of this year.%u2014I.L.Fulton Mall StartWait 4 MonthsConstruction on the Fulton Mall may wait up to four months for routine paperwork to be processed, according to Angelo Pegno, builder for the project.Pegno has submitted the required bbnding and construction insurance papers to the Department of Highways, which must evaluate them before passing the contract on to the Emergency Financial Control Board for approval.Before the contract can be finalized by the Board and Mayor Ed Koch, the icty must alos receive an additional $3.1 million allocation from the Urban Mass Transportation Administration for phase I costs on the project. The federal agency is providing 70% of the funding for the first stage of construction.A spokesman for the Mayor%u2019s Office of Development, which has applied for the grant, said approval from Washington is expected within two weeks.In other Mall business, the Fulton Mall Improvement Association will award a street maintenance contract to a private company within the next two weeks. Michael Strasser, manager of the Association, said several companies have submitted bids for the contract, which will provide private sanitation and maintenance services for the busy shopping thoroughfare.Funds for fie one-year contract will be drawn from the special tax levied on Fulton Street merchants under the Fulton Mall Special Assessment Act of 1976.%u2014I.L.** ***** mMmV V U I I U I U I d l l l l L dCity Councilman Abe Gerges has introduced a bill that would create a special committee %u2018 %u2018to investigate the issuance of Scaffold Permits. %u201dReferring to the tragic scaffold accident at Willow Island, West Virginia last April as a negative example, Gerges spoke of the needfor regular scaffold inspections and tighter permit regulations. %u201c Let us act now with preventative medicine instead of waiting for another disaster,\Coop Mart BlastMysterious bomb blasts ripped up the roof and damaged the interior of Fort Greene%u2019s Consumer Cooperative supermarket early in the morning of July 12 causing minor damage.Most of the damage incurred by ihe explosions were caused by the %u2022destruction of two water towers located on the roof of the 217 Myrtle Avenue market, which knocked out both the refrigeration and air-conditioning systems as well as tearing two ten-foot holes in the roof and shattering two windows in the storefront.The Consumer Cooperative was formerly an A&P market. A&P%u2019s departure from the neighborhood and community organizing assisted by the anti-poverty Fort Greene Community Corporation brought the cooperative market into being, according to manager Fitzroy McClatchie, the damage done to the market was not extensive, and in fact, shoppers were purchasing goods inside the building later that same day.%u201c We're just trying to get everything back together again,%u201d said McClatchie, who indicated that the bombs caused some loss of perishable food that had been refrigerated as well as structural damage.A spokesman for the Police Department%u2019s Bomb Squad indicated that police had yet to determine the nature of the explosives used but said that the bombing was being investigated.Merchants who have been here for considerable time could not recall a similar incident. Ironically, when the cooperative was the A&P it was the target of the black Operation Breadbasket which organized boycotts and pickets against the large supermarket chain to increase pressure to hire blacks. Today, the market%u2019s shareholdersnrtA Piictomoec o eo nforlomln onfUrblack and Hispanic and just why the bombing took place here instead of a privately owned market such as the Pioneer up the street was uncertain.All McClatchie could say about the bombing was that why it was done %u201cwas something everybody wants to know.%u201d%u2014P.H.July 20,1978, THE PHOENSX, Page 21