Cop Caught in Friendly Fire in Bushwick; Transgender Bathroom Access; 36-Hour Party and More Brooklyn Briefs

- A New York City police detective was shot on Tuesday, apparently in a crossfire with a sergeant, as they sought to make a drug arrest in Bushwick. [NY Times]

-  Troubling allegations about Bay Ridge's new top cop. [Bensonhurst Bean]

- New York City sheriffs have seized control of a troubled Bay Ridge hotel — and the hotel may get shut down after the owner failed to pay more than $100,000 in fines. [Daily News]

- De Blasio orders transgender bathroom access in NYC. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Brooklyn pol Brad Lander wants you to have to pay for your plastic bags at the store by Earth Day. [Patch]

- Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Brooklyn properties see price surge. [Post]

- Police search for missing 13-year-old Brooklyn girl, Dijenay Nelson. [Brooklyn12]

- The Brooklyn Eagle sent a reporter to Cuba, and he brought back photos of amazingly preserved American cars from the 40s and 50s. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Calling all techno fiends: Unter and the Bunker are throwing a 36-hour party in Brooklyn. [Thump/Vice]

- House Of Cards doesn't know where the Brooklyn Bridge goes. [Gothamist]


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Brooklyn Sex Perv Teacher Gets 5 Years; Carjacking Leaves Trail of Mayhem; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Brooklyn Tech teacher gets five years in prison for sharing pornographic images with seven students, kidnapping one. [Daily News]

- East New York residents worry that de Blasio's rezoning plan will end them up in homeless shelters. [NY1]

- Politicians are calling for the Jehovah’s Witnesses to fulfill promises the group made in 2004 to fix a DUMBO park and subway station. [Brownstoner]

- Tough Russian cookie: A carjacking in Brooklyn leaves a trail of mayhem. [NY Times]

- Map: How crime ridden is your Brooklyn neighborhood? [Patch]

- Manhattan is so ho humm: Brooklyn is becoming an increasingly attractive option for corporate conferences. [Skift]

- Brooklyn wedding shop closes, leaving customers scrambling. [NBC NY]

- Brooklyn has more walk-up apartments than any other borough. Bed-Stuy had the highest percentage in the city. [MetroUS]

- Covered in gold? Williamsburg restaurant sells $100 donuts.  [Fox]

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Eagle: Jehovah's Witnesses Put Huge Brooklyn Heights Headquarters Up for Sale

25-30 Columbia Heights. Photo: MK Metz

 The Brooklyn Eagle reports that the Watchtower is offering to sell their massive headquarters complex at 25-30 Columbia Heights for sale, along with two other properties in DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights.

The 733,000-square-foot property on Columbia Heights -- "whose famed red “Watchtower” sign lights up the night," says the Eagle -- covers nearly two blocks.

Also for sale is 135,000-square-foot site at 85 Jay Street, a solid block in DUMBO.

A competitive offering process has also started for 124 Columbia Heights, a ten-story, 152,000-square-foot residential building that overlooks Brooklyn Heights' Promenade.

Developers are expected to slather over the sites.

Have the Jehovah's hit peak Brooklyn?


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FDNY Swarms Brooklyn Jehovah Building, then Disappears, then Comes Back

Photo: MK Metz, McBrooklyn.com

Late Monday night, a number of Brooklyn engine companies -- including 205, 207 and 118 -- responded to an automatic alarm in the basement at the Jehavah Witness factory building at 220 Water Street between Jay and Bridge Streets, at the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge.

They tore around the building, then parked outside.

Ten minutes later, they had all departed. Apparently, a false alarm.

At 12:01 a.m., technically early Tuesday a.m., the alarm went off again.

At 12:03 we heard fire engines rushing to the same location.

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Another Jehovah's Witnesses Property for Sale in Brooklyn Heights

Another Brooklyn Heights Jehovah’s Witnesses property has hit the market, according to The Real Deal.

The 10-unit, five-story residential building at 67 Remsen Street is for sale for $3.4 million.

Photo by Google Maps

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Post: 'Slumlord' Buys Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn Heights

The NY Post calls developer David Bistricer a "slumlord" and reports that he’s bought the landmark Hotel Bossert on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights from Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah's Witnesses). Bistricer says that he plans to have it running as a hotel again by 2014, pending city approvals.

As owner of the 59-building Flatbush Gardens complex, Bistricer had more than 8,100 open violations in 2010 and ranked among the city’s biggest slumlords that year, the Post reports. Read more.

UPDATE:  According to the Brooklyn Eagle, Bistricer plans a 302-room hotel "with a decent size restaurant on the first floor where one of the meeting rooms could be used to handle the restaurant’s overflow."

His spokesperson also defended his ownership at Flatbush Gardens, saying that when Bistricer bought the property it was "distressed."

- Watchtower Denies Brooklyn Heights' Bossert Sold, But Levine Pays a Little Visit
- Brooklyn's Bossert Hotel Reported Sold (2008)
- Watchtower's Hotel Bossert -- Brooklyn's 'Waldorf Astoria' -- Up For Sale
- Watchtower Continues to Sell Its Heights Property

Photo by MK Metz

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'Brooklyn 11223;" Lil' Kim; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- New Atlantic Avenue eatery HOPELAND is a tribute to owners' respective mothers. PMFA

- Cute little Brooklyn Heights Watchtower property sells for $4.1 million. Brooklyn Eagle

- New York Times calls Brooklyn's Shake Shack "inconsistent."

- Oxygen's newest docu-series "Brooklyn 11223" takes viewers to the wilds of Bay Ridge and beyond. (Video) The Futon Critic

- The owner of the building housing the Brooklyn Heights Cinema will provide space for a new cinema within the new building. Brooklyn Eagle and Brooklyn Paper

- Here's a picture of the an abandoned wine cave built into the anchorage of the Brooklyn Bridge. Edible Geography

- The Manhattan state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that unmarried homeless people do not have to prove they have no other housing options before entering a shelter. Gawker

- Lil’ Kim (Brooklyn) vs Lil’ Kim (North Korea): How to Tell the Difference. Brooklynian

- Google is said to be readying Android-based "smart glasses" which would provide an augmented reality view of the world. Apple Insider

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Watchtower Denies Brooklyn Heights' Bossert Sold, But Levine Pays a Little Visit

Monday Brownstoner received a tip that the Bossert Hotel -- "Brooklyn's Waldorf Astoria" -- at 98 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights has been sold for $90 million.

But Tuesday Richard Devine, a spokesperson for the Watchtower organization (also known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses), was "emphatic" when he told the Brooklyn Eagle, “The Bossert has not been sold.”

He said that Brownstoner never called him about the sale. (NOTE: Read Brownstoner's comment below.)

But wait: When the Eagle called Robert Levine of RAL Development Services, said to be the purchaser of the hotel, a receptionist told the Eagle that Levine “is at the Bossert now.”

The tale grows tangled ...

The Grand Foyer of the hotel is still on this weekend's Brooklyn Heights House Tour.

- Brooklyn's Bossert Hotel Reported Sold
- Brooklyn Heights House Tour This Saturday
- Watchtower's Hotel Bossert -- Brooklyn's 'Waldorf Astoria' -- Up For Sale
- Watchtower Continues to Sell Its Heights Property

Photo by MK Metz

Brooklyn's Bossert Hotel Reported Sold

A tipster has told Brownstoner that the Bossert Hotel -- "Brooklyn's Waldorf Astoria" -- at 98 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights has been sold for $90 Million.

The Grand Foyer of the hotel -- painstakingly restored to its full glory by the The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society -- is on this weekend's Brooklyn Heights House Tour.

- Brooklyn Heights House Tour This Saturday
- Watchtower's Hotel Bossert -- Brooklyn's 'Waldorf Astoria' -- Up For Sale
- Watchtower Continues to Sell Its Heights Property

UPDATE here.

Photo by MK Metz

Jehovah's Witnesses Getting Outa Dodge?

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is selling six Brooklyn Heights properties, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported this week. Three of the buildings — 169 , 283 and 161 Columbia Heights — are being sold as a group; the other three — 165 Columbia Heights, 105 Willow Street and 34 Orange Street — are available individually.

And, according to the SkyscraperPage, the JWs have abandoned their plans to build a Watchtower complex at 85 Jay Street in Dumbo: "The Watchtower Society has decided not to build the complex, instead continuing the gradual transfer of its facilities to upstate New York."

UPDATE: According to the Brooklyn Eagle's May 2nd paper, not yet online, the Jehovah's Witnesses deny the Skyscraper story, saying they have NOT abandoned Dumbo. More later.

UPDATE UPDATE: The Eagle story is online: Richard Devine, a spokesperson for the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses), denied there was any truth to the rumor. Story here.

Watchtower Continues to Sell Its Heights Property

Neighbors Ask: What Will Become of the Vast Network of Underground Tunnels?

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society — the Jehovah’s Witnesses — will be offering for sale the large property it owns at 169-171 Columbia Heights, formerly the Standish Arms Hotel, the Brooklyn Eagle has learned.

According to the Eagle's Dennis Holt, the Witnesses use this 12-story building for residential purposes.

The Watchtower has been in the process of reorganizing its operations, transferring many of them to facilities in upstate New York. See here for more.

More comments on the Brooklyn Heights Blog.

UPDATE: The Brownstoner blog latched onto this story Thursday and the comments have been pouring in.

Some correspondents focused on the benefits to the area's tax base (once the JWs have left). Others wondered when the religious group would sell the nicely renovated Bossert (on Montague Street). One Brooklyn Heights neighbor notes that no matter what you think of the JW's, they don't seem to add to the parking hassle in the nabe: "... guess it's all their carpooling, their Dumbo parking lot and the 24-hour shuttle buses for church members."

But perhaps the most interesting comments focus on the vast network of tunnels connecting most of their Brooklyn Heights buildings, and what will become of them when their buildings are sold: "... They have built an extensive system of tunnels connecting most of their buildings underground and providing them with a safe haven when Armageddon comes, which was supposed to have been in the 1980's but has been pushed back. They will need to seal the tunnel entrance under the Standish Arms now..."