Page 445 - Demo

Mayor Visits Fulton Mall SiteMayor Ed Koch flanked by Richard Sachs (R. in the photo on the right), chairman of the FultonMall Improvement Assoc., Fulton Street merchants and Borough President Howard Golden (L)inspected the ongoing construction of the Fulton Mall and assured merchants that they would dowhatever necessary to make the holiday shopping season go smoothly. (Feldman Photo)Developers Sought As Hotel Study Is ReleasedBY LIBBY HAYMANThe next step for a new hotel in Brooklyn is up to developers now, according to three public officials who formally announced on Nov. 12 the results of a consultant%u2019s study, already publicly discussed. The study showed that Brooklyn can support a 350 room hotel, and Congressman Fred Richmond said, %u201c Now we%u2019re looking for somebody who%u2019s got the guts to build the first hotel in Brooklyn.%u201dAlong with Richmond in the announcement were Rick Rosan, Director of the City%u2019s Office of Economic Development which commissioned the $10,000 study from the firm of Laventhol and Horwath, and Borough President Howard Golden. Golden stated two difficulties resulting from the report, that the site chosen as most suitable, the %u201c Pierrepont%u201d site, a plot of city-owned land used for a Meyer%u2019s parking lot located at the corner of Brooklyn Heights at Pierrepont and Clinton, Golden sees as %u201ccontroversial%u201d because of possible opposition by rhe Heights community.Golden also expressed disapointment that the study did not support development at this time of a %u201cluxury%u201d hotel at the Fulton Ferry, where state and city owned lands near the Brooklyn Bridge could be put together for such a project. A luxury hotel could succeed on the site, he felt, and all the speakers emphasized that the study does not actually preclude proceeding with such plans. Golden said of starting with a first class hotel, %u201c I would have liked to have seen a luxury hotel, but I%u2019m willing to crawl before we can walk.%u201dRosan emphasized that the study found all four sites evaluated, including a site next to or including the Granada Hotel at Lafayette Ave. and Flatbush and a location in the heart of the shooDine district, to be feasible, only preferring the \central downtown location.Congressman Richmond saidthat a total of 16 developers had talked to his office and to others involved in downtown planning, and that there was some assurance that federal funds, including an Economic Development Administration (EDA) loan guarantee and a federal Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG), normally loaned by the City to the developer, would be available. These federal sources are also part of the financing package of the Albee Square Mall and other development projectsaround the city.Neither the %u201cfirst class%u201d hotel, with rooms at about $50 per night in today%u2019s dollars, or the %u201cluxury%u201d hotel at $75-100 would provide the moderate priced accomodations which the officials agreed might also be needed. But Borough President Golden pointed out that an initial hotel downtown would create further demand, possibly for a moderate priced hotel.Golden pointed to the success of the River Cafe, a restaurant underthe Brooklyn Bridge, as an indication of the possibility of (he Fulton Ferry site. Transportation, a problem at this time, might be improved with bus routes, or even a trolley service, Golden said, while Rosan noted that ferry service to be instituted from Brooklyn to Manhattan as early as next spring, would also give access.Community participation in hotel planning will come through Community Board Two. Board Two%u2019s Planning and District DevelopmentCommittee has been briefed extensively on the hotel study. Hardy Adasko of the Office of Economic Development notes, and further planning will be done in consultation with that committee, whose Chairman, Marsha Rimlcr, has said that the committee has not been brought into hotel planning sufficiently. Since all of the sites would involve use of city owned land, all would require review under the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.Heights Store Evicted in Building SaleBY LIBBY HAYMANThe Women%u2019s Exchange, which has had its shop for many years at 76 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, is facing an eviction notice from the building%u2019s new owner, just as the Christmas shopping season begins. The Exchange, which runs the shop as an outlet for handcrafted and homemade items, created by neighborhood residents including many elderly and homebound craftspeople, is one of three local organizations which must leave the building, but the only one served with an eviction notice.76 Montague was sold in a closed-bid estate sale last spring by U.S. Trust to Carl Zerbe, a builder and developer. The Women%u2019s Exchange had a bid for the purchase, but did not match Zerbe%u2019s $130,000 bid. Recently Zerbe, in turn, sold the building to Wolfgang Spille, a Heights resident who has told members of the organizations in the building that he plans to move the offices of his shipbrokerage from Manhattan to the Montague Street site. A ship brokerage is an enterprise which obtains space in ships for cargoes. Spille says that he will announceh is n la n s %u201c in a fpw w p p Ics %u201dThe three local groups, the Women%u2019s Exchange, the Brooklyn Heights Association, and the Junior League, all plan to move tospace in the newly renovated Pierrepont, the former hotel which has been renovated for federally subsidized %u201c Section 8%u201d housing for the elderly. The new housing, which is to be managed by Catholic Charities, will have community space on its second floor, where the Heights Association and Junior League, as well as other organizations will have offices. The Women%u2019s Exchange will use another portion of the building, a ground floor space with its own entrance.The problem is that Catholic Charities has suffered numerous delays in taking over the building, which must be certified by the Federal Department of Housingand Urban Development for the Section 8 program.The Women%u2019s Exchange has two months to renovate its space after it receives occupancy, and tried to negotiate an agreement with Spille that they would be out of 76 Montague by two months from the day they take possession. Eileen Tublin, President of the Women%u2019s Exchange, says that %u201cOur contractor is ready today.%u201d Instead, Spille served the group with a thirty day notice more than a month ago, and now is seeking eviction. %u201c What he%u2019s doing is very unnecessary,%u201d Tublin said. %u201c We%u2019re set up for Christmas, and now we%u2019ll have the additional costs of going into courtto face this eviction notice.%u201d Karen Schlesinger, President of the Junior League, and James Masters, President of the Heights Association, have temporary quarters lined up until they move into their new quarters, probably not until %u201c late spring\they are not contracting the renovations themselves. The Heights Association is planning to arrange for use of some space at the Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity, while the Junior League is getting space donated by Long Island College Hospital at their staff housing at 43-45 Columbia Place in the Heights.Police Continue War Against Boerum Hill Prostitutionjftc r m nun %u00bb * ^ %u201e __ BY LINUS GELBERHopes are still running high and spirits are hardly flagging along Pacific Street in Boerum Hill, where residents and police have been conducting a several-monthlong campaign to oust prostitutes from their otherwise serene streets. Thanks in large part to squads of Undercover Police and to Neighborhood Stabilization Unit cops in uniform who keep tabs ona rtiv itif'c a ln n o rh ^ ctrp p t h p tw p o nThird and Fourth Avenues, where hooking had recently flourished, much of the problem seems to have abated for the moment. LieutenantMcGowan from the 78th Precinct reports that things have been kept well in hand, and that beyond clearing the streets of prostitutes, several alleged cathouses have been shut down with the owners arrested. The owners are awaiting trial on charges of promoting and permitting prostitution, and the operations in the buildings themselves have also come to an end. Acording to Gina Holmes, PressD n .n n /--U %u201c6*Howard Golden, the police, politicians and people from the area will be meeting on Nov. 20 to decide how to approach the coming weeks.%u201c We%u2019re checking into the status of things,%u201d Holmes explained, adding that the Borough Hall spirit on the issue is %u201c we don%u2019t want to give up on this.%u201d Until then McGowan reports that the police shan%u2019t be faltering in their assigned duties, with continuing Stabilization Teams foraying into the area now and again and more planned undercover Public Morals Division decoys present on the streets.\area continued attention,%u201d he assured.N ovem b er 1b, 1979, The PHOENIX. Page 3