110 Livingston News & Blog

This rendering made us sit up and take notice — it’s the first one we’ve seen of Ratner’s long-rumored City Tech tower at Jay and Tillary Streets downtown. The preliminary work on-site has already begun, according to some.

According to Wikipedia, the building will contain “a large amount of additional classroom and laboratory space, as well as a new gymnasium and theatre facility.” The Daily Eagle reports 600 units of housing will be there as well. The folks over at Wired-NY speculate the spire could top 1000 feet (!). Needless to say, this building could punctuate the Brooklyn skyline dramatically.

UPDATE: the Daily News reports that the rendering above has evolved, and the height of the building hasn’t been finally determined. The Post reports the building itself is likely to top out around 700 feet.

SECOND UPDATE: Curbed and others report that the plans have been scrapped — a shame for the Brooklyn skyline. (Feb. 28, 2008)

• Arte-Factory
• City Tech (Wikipedia)

• Move-ins underway at Belltel Lofts (Brownstoner)
• Red Hook’s sordid past (McBrooklyn)
• Inside the Red Hook Fairway (Curbed)
• Commemoration of Brooklyn’s Abolitionist History Proposed (GL)
• Court Street development to limit its height (B’stoner)

Photo courtesy c-weiss

The Brooklyn Eagle reports based on an unnamed source that “turf” battles at the planned Brooklyn Bridge Park are slowing down progress. According to the article:

…the announcement of a new president, along with a construction timetable and developer for the Empire Stores, is stalled while the city and state wrangle over control of what would become Brooklyn’s first major park built since Prospect Park 135 years ago…

• Full story (BDE)

Photo courtesy Brownstone Brooklyn Politics

A sharp-eyed resident in our forums spotted this one–110 makes a background cameo in an iPhone commercial shot on the corner of the Fulton Mall and Boerum Place (see above, left). Is this a signal that the much-rumored Apple Store is coming to Downtown Brooklyn? Let the conspiracy theories begin.

• iPhone commercial: Elliot “Meredith”
• Apple Plans Flagship Store in Brooklyn (Racked)

• Supermarket Coming to State St. (Brownstoner)
• Target coming to new Albee Square building, Nordstrom scouting ‘hood (Daily News)
• Yet another downtown Brooklyn hotel–Holiday Inn on Schermerhorn at Bond (BDE)

Sir Ian McKellen (!) narrates a fly-through of the myriad projects slated to transform downtown Brooklyn in coming years, in a video produced by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. If you’ve had trouble envisioning the future of our neighborhood, here’s your chance for a 2-minute crash catchup on all the plans, and it’s an eye-opener. Watch for yourself:

• Downtown Brooklyn 2012 Video (hosted at NYPost.com)
• ‘Brooklyn 2012′ As Told by Sir Ian McKellen (Curbed)
• DBP Does Its Five-Year Vision Thing (B’stoner)