Brooklyn's Polytechnic Votes to Merge with NYU

Expect to see those purple NYU trolleys streaming over the Brooklyn Bridge any time now -- the Board of Polytechnic University at MetroTech in Downtown Brooklyn voted Thursday to merge with NYU, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

Poly students will be able to take courses at any of NYU's 12 colleges, professors will be able to expand their research, and NYU will get an engineering school -- plus a major toehold in Brooklyn.

One issue covered in the confidential Definitive Agreement is the issue of Poly’s substantial air rights, in light of NYU’s much-publicized need for real estate. Craig G. Matthews, chairman of the board of Polytechnic, told the Eagle, “The Definitive Agreement clearly addresses this issue. The air rights are protected.” He said that further details were confidential.

More here.

Odd Grass Strips at Cadman Plaza Park

These odd strips of brown grass line the running path (facing south) at Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn Heights/Downtown Brooklyn.

In January the Park's Department planted these strips of sod alongside the path around much of the park. Whoever did the job drove their truck all over the existing grass when they put down a layer of earth to go under the sod.

Here's a couple of photos of the deep ruts left in the grass by the truck as they worked on the new sod in January. We hope everything recovers.


Photos by MK Metz

Brooklyn's Bed Bug Club: Everybody Welcome

Quite a window at the corner of Third and Smith Street in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. Besides the bed bug theme, there are anti-Bush and 9/11 memorial motifs. (Click on the photo for a close-up.)

UPDATE: Brooklyn Bed Bug Complaints Soar 1,900 Percent!

Photo by MK Metz

Even the Principal is Afraid of This Violent Brooklyn Student

An obviously troubled student at Edward R. Murrow threatens to "get" school officials. He'll be transferred -- but where?

Spring Comes to Smith Street

The window at environment337 on Smith Street in Boerum Hill.

Photo by MK Metz

New 'New St. Clair Restuarant' Opens at Atlantic and Smith

The old New St. Clair Restaurant -- the diner at the corner of Smith and Atlantic, near the Brooklyn House of Detention -- closed last September. (See the old New St. Clair here.) Mr. Costa, the owner, told McBrooklyn back then that he had sold the building and was moving back to Greece. "After 40 years," he said.

Spiro Katehis, owner of the Carroll Gardens Classic Diner, bought the New St. Clair and has given the old joint a trendy makeover. No more fishing nets on the walls. The prices have gone up a bit (click on the breakfast menu to the left to see).

Has anybody tried it yet?

- Two Over Easy at the St. Clair Restaurant

Photos by MK Metz

National Grid's Catell Says Buh-Bye to His Million-a-Month Brooklyn Office

Newsday has a great story about the goings-on at National Grid's MetroTech headquarters.

National Grid (remember when it was called KeySpan? And before that Brooklyn Union Gas?) confirmed that it is in discussions with the landlord of its Downtown Brooklyn building. National Grid wants to vacate the top three floors to reduce costs and consolidate.

But there had been a little hitch, says Newsday: Former KeySpan chief executive Robert Catell, now executive chairman of National Grid USA, had "expressed a strong desire" to remain in his spellbindingly impressive 23rd floor office, which two sources said is leased for around $1.1 million a month.

After what we can assume was a bit of pushing and shoving -- Catell is said to have a "special bond" with his executive aerie -- we're told that the matter is now settled and that National Grid will fix up another office for Catell -- a bit lower.

Of course, hundreds of regular National Grid employees live in a different reality: All National Grid office employees below the vice president level are being shifted to workstations six by eight feet in size.

Catell's stock, retirement and potential separation package from National Grid has a value of $81.4 million if he departs this fall.

A Lower Perch for National Grid Chief Newsday

- It's Official: KeySpan is Now National Grid
- KeySpan Cleanup, and More Brooklyn Thursday News
- KeySpan Workers on Tinderhooks as Merger with National Grid Looms
- KeySpan/ National Grid Merger: Another Snag
- What Does KeySpan/ National Grid Merger Mean for Brooklyn?
- KeySpan, National Grid Merger One Step Closer
- British Co. to Take Over Brooklyn-Based Electric Business
- National Grid Offers Concessions in Pursuit Of Keyspan

Photos by MK Metz

DNA Forces City's Hand, Releases Dumbo Rezoning Proposal Earlier Than Planned

The City Planning Department -- "somewhat earlier than it had planned" -- has made public its draft proposal for rezoning a large part of Dumbo, writes Dennis Holt in the Brooklyn Eagle.

The early release was forced by last week’s issuing of a plan drawn up by the Dumbo Neighborhood Association (DNA), intended to curb a David Walentas project for Dock Street, very close to the Brooklyn Bridge. Its boundaries include the parcel where Walentas wants to build, which City Planning’s map does not.

As DumboNYC reminded us back in July, Council member David Yassky is opposed to the Walentas proposal, in spite of the middle school sweetener Walentas threw in. The New York Times published a letter from Yassky last year which read, in part:

“Families should not need to accept an inappropriate building for the soon-to-be-landmarked Dumbo neighborhood in order to get a much-needed middle school."

- City, Amid Controversy, Releases Proposal for Dumbo Rezoning Brooklyn Eagle

- City Planning Presents Dumbo Rezoning Proposal DumboNYC

- Planning Reveals More Deets About Dumbo Rezoning Plan Brownstoner

- Brooklyn Planning Director Explains Dumbo Rezoning The Gowanus Lounge

- Save the Brooklyn Bridge, Stop This Building Save the Brooklyn Bridge

Soju Gone, Dragon Lounge Gone, Buck's Lodge Gone. New Pizzeria Coming to Brooklyn Heights

Soju, the pan-Asian restaurant that received decidedly mixed reviews on Citisearch closed a couple of years ago at 145 Atlantic in Brooklyn Heights.

Then the gay Dragon Lounge came in, but briefly. A little over a year ago, the space morphed into Buck’s Lodge -- same owner(s) as Soju (Brooklyn Paper review here).

Sometime late last year Buck's closed and now, a new pizzeria is coming in its place. (A post on Brownstoner says it will be an organic pizzeria.) There will be an opportunity for public comment about the new concept at the CB2 meeting on March 6. Enlarge photo for details.

The building is the site of the original La Boulliabaise restaurant, now reopening in Red Hook after a sojourn on Union.

Photos by MK Metz

Two Views of the Lockdown at Packer Collegiate, Private School in Brooklyn Heights

The Brooklyn Eagle broke the story about last week's lockdown at a private school in Brooklyn, with lots of details but no name to the school.

It seems that a student attending the school received an anonymous threat on Facebook early Friday morning just over a week ago. According to the school’s head, the Facebook posting “threatened physical harm, and implied a threat to the school." Police were called in and eventually they uncovered the identity of the person who made the threat. More here.

Now we have a school ID to go with the story -- Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights, in a posting by a student published in New York Magazine's Intelligencer.

It's quite interesting to read the same story of a day gone bad at a prestigious Brooklyn private school -- scene of many of the shots in Gossip Girls -- told from two points of view: the school administration's vs. a student's. From the school's POV, things moved quite smoothly. From the student's viewpoint, it was , like, WTF?

- Brooklyn School Goes into Lockdown After Facebook Threat Brooklyn Eagle
- Virtual Threat New York Magazine

Photo of Packer Collegiate copyright MK Metz