 When I moved to PLG, the site at 27 Lincoln Road was a crumbling building - one I charmingly referred to as a "festering rathole" - hidden behind construction fencing as the Lincoln Road overpass was being refurbished. The building was purchased by Henry Herbst who, amid considerable controversy, planned to turn it into a gleaming 23-story glass tower. The building was demolished and then the economy exploded. To nobody's surprise, the building hasn't progressed since the demolition. The only apparent work to date has been the PLGArts Wall Mural project.
 There was a break in the wall a few weeks ago, though, and I was able to reach my phone in and snap a picture of the inside of the site. There is always something a little beautiful about the way nature reclaims spaces after people abandon them (like, for example, the pre-renovation High Line).
I have since noticed that there is a glass window cut into the fence on the side of the lot facing Flatbush Avenue, so if you are interested in taking a closer look you are free to do so.
Reader Murray Dwertman attended the Community Board 9 meeting last night and sent us the following report (Thanks, Murray!)
The Community Board 9 meeting primarily revolved around this development and the vote associated with whether or not to recommend this project. Two recent housing projects have recently been approved (75 and 200+ units) by the board but were for low income residents WITHIN the immediate community and were not associated with reintegration of convicted persons. Considering this as well as the developer's request for a special zoning exemption, and the concerns of the community, the board members voted 28 to 6 against all 3 motions regarding the project.
People living in the historic district on Lefferts right behind the project as well as a huge contingency from Lincoln Rd. attended. The meeting was raucous and exciting! The evening concluded with the board's recommendation against the project and invitation to the developers and architect working for the Providence House to go back to the drawing board before RE-PRESENTING the project to the community board.
The process is not over. The developer will likely come back with modified plans or try to jam the project through. This is a project that should be of concern for all of those living in the community. Attending future Community Board 9 meetings every time the Providence House project is on the agenda will be necessary in order to be heard as a local resident. Regardless, it looks like the current building is going to be demolished.
UPDATE: The Daily News article about the hearing is here:
pdf; scroll down for the article, which includes quotes from attendees at the hearing and from the Executive Director of Providence House.
 The proposed development we mentioned last week at 329 Lincoln has sparked some all-out NIMBY action. On one side: local residents concerned about a potential "halfway house" in the neighborhood are bonding with those worried about the height of the building (six stories instead of the standard zoned four). Their opponents: local residents annoyed by reflexive NIMBYism and supportive of nonprofit efforts to house disadvantaged populations.
We're not going to wade into the fray without knowing more about the planned development... but perhaps you can make up your mind (or have someone make it for you) by attending the Community Board 9 Meeting Tuesday night, May 25, at Middle School 61 Auditorium, 400 Empire Boulevard, 7 pm. Let us know how it goes.
 Moses Fried, noted slumlord of 205 Parkside Avenue, is in the news again…. and no, I'm not talking about the recent shutdown on one of his illegal hourly "hotels." An anonymous neighbor, a local hero of sorts, complained to the Department of Buildings about 205's cracked facade and the DOB issued a stop work order. Fried responded by installing scaffolding along Parkside Court and the complaint is now resolved. But hopefully neighbors will stay on the case. RELATED: 205 Parkside Available For Free?
Fried Responds To Free Building Prank
 Thanks to our friend Matt, who found this excellent gallery of interior shots of the pre-renovation Loew's Kings Theater by flickr user marioletto.
Flatbush Gardener is where Matt found the link to the gallery, so credit where credit is due. Nice find, Xris.
 We are late coming to all of these, but we're going to blog them all the same.
First of all, there is word (again) that the city is going to provide funds for the refurbishment of the grand Loew's Kings Theater on Flatbush and Tilden. The $70 million renovation project being undertaken by Houston's ACE Theatrical Group (which apparently doesn't have a website?) is expected to be completed by 2014 and, when completed, host 250 events a year. If you don't want to wait until 2014 to see a show, however, Midwood Street resident Jeremy Shamos is currently appearing on Broadway in Clybourne Park at the Playwright's Horizon Theater. Of particular relevance to PLG, the play covers the issue of gentrification in the neighborhood where Raisin in the Sun took place. Jeremy himself scored an interview in Playbill, where he gave a shoutout to PLG.
(UPDATE: The New Yorker gives the show a rave, including a shout-out to the "delightful" Jeremy Shamos. Congratulations!) Finally, much to our embarrassment, we forgot to blog about the performance of Lefferts Avenue's Gwynne Watkins musical Tea With Chachaji, which was at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center earlier this month. There is still a chance to see the show, as Stanford Lively Arts is having three shows on February 28th.
 Brownstoner tells us that 185 Ocean Avenue--the giant hole in the ground where PlanetPLG HQ used to be--is back in action.
[A] check of DOB records shows that the site passed an audit in December and was reissued a New Building permit early last month. The permit's for a 22,000-square-foot, eight-story residential building. Should fit in nicely next to the recently landmarked Ocean on the Park Historic District.
Rumor has it that Henry Herbst is still planning to resume building his gigantic tower on Lincoln Road in the next couple of years as well (at least, that's what he's been telling people). We'll see.... (Photo: Brownstoner)
We just received the following as a comment on a previous article but I'm posting it here instead: I use to live at 45 Hawthorne Street and now work at CAMBA in the Small
Business Services Division. If you are looking for Free Small Business
Counseling, Entrepreneurial Training, or need a loan to start or grow a
business, CAMBA has capital to lend and other resources for
entrepreneurs located in Central Brooklyn. CAMBA recently received a
grant from the Federal Government to provide loans to small business
owners and entrepreneurs that find difficulty in accessing loans from
banks. CAMBA Small Business Services is located on the corner of
Flatbush and Church Avenue. Counseling and training for entrepreneurs
is free.
 Coming soon to a block near you: 53 units of affordable housing, courtesy of the federal government. CAMBA (a Flatbush nonprofit with an elusive acronym) will receive $2.239 million to construct the building at 97 Crooke Avenue. While technically outside the border of PLG, it's damn close — just two blocks from Ocean and Parkside.
B’klyn Housing Construction Benefits From 2nd Round of Stimulus Funding [Brooklyn Eagle]
 The Daily News has a followup to the "free building" story. Apparently, the owner is not very happy about the prank.
"People were calling all day," [Moses Fried] said. "I couldn't get through to my office."
[...]
Fried, who was fined by the city for running a hot sheet hotel in Clinton Hill ... ultimately scrapped his hotel plans for 205 Parkside, citing "community unrest."
"Community unrest" - ha! That's a funny way of saying that the community didn't want a whorehouse.
Meanwhile, Fried maintains that he's got plans to turn the building into a 20-family building "sometime soon." According to city records, the building is currently listed as having only 14 residential units. In 2006, a lawyer for Fried told Planet PLG that the income from 14 residential units would not offset heating costs and taxes.
Whether this hypothetical renovation would require a zoning variance (the building is currently R7-1) or be built higher is a question we'll leave to someone with a better understand of building code. I wouldn't get too worked up about it yet, though.
(Photo: Jeff Wilkins/Daily News)
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