Con Ed will brief neighbors on the recent fire and findings of the investigation into the fire tomorrow night, Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 7pm at Phoenix House.

The environmental reports by ConEd’s Environmental Health and Safety ChemLab showed elevated PCB contamination in the surrounding area.

All are welcome. Thank you to ConEd and the Vinegar Hill Neighborhood Association for setting up this meeting. Please RSVP to vinegarhillbklyn@gmail.com.

When: Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Time: 7:00 p.m. sharp
Location: Phoenix House, 50 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
(between Water & Plymouth Streets)

Related:
{ConEd Substation Explosion Collateral Damage, 14May2012}
{Fire at ConEd Plant in Vinegar Hill Yesterday (Again), 30Apr2012}
{ConEd Transformer Explosion in Dumbo, 16Sept2011}

The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission has a few calendar items related to buildings in Dumbo:

• 81 Front Street (June 5, 2012): hearing is for an application to replace storefront infill and install signage.
• 185 Plymouth Street (May 22, 2012): application is to construct additions, modify window and ground floor openings, alter sidewalk, install storefront infill, a canopy, and signage.

Brownstoner posted about 185 Plymouth Street last week. The developers of 192 Water Street will be renovating 185 Plymouth into “a similar treatment of the existing warehouse building”. Brownstoner writes:

“Some differences at 185 are that most units will have outdoor space, and there’s an interior courtyard that all units will have views to. 185 also has 13-14 foot ceiling heights which are a couple of feet taller than 192 Water. Half of the units also have water views.” Earlier this week the CB2 Landuse Committee approved facade changes, including a rooftop addition for two penthouse units. Here are a few more cool facts from the architect: since there’s no real sidewalk on Plymouth (it’s mostly cobblestone), they plan to continue the cobblestone into the lobby to create the feeling of a continuing street. And the building, previously a brillo pad factory, had a bridge opening across to 205 Water Street, also part of the factory.”

There have been several tenant rumors about 81 Front Street, but nothing official has been released yet. Anyone know?

The following are selected links from this past week on blogs and websites with discussion about Dumbo (and its neighboring areas):

• Marcus Bleecker Debuts Dumbo Stories, 20May2012, PR
• Living in Downtown Brooklyn, 17May2012, NYT
• New York Tech Sector Booms, But City’s Jobless Rate Still Rises, 16May2012, HuffPo
• Report: Why Yes, Rents Are Up, 17May2012, NYT
• 192 Water St. Developers Will Take on 185 Plymouth St., 18May2012, Brownstoner
• New Building, and Cinema, for 70 Henry Street, 17May2012, Brownstoner
• More Rooms and a Restaurant for the Bossert Hotel, 17May2012, Brownstoner
• New Mural Going Up at Sands Street Gate, 16May2012, Brownstoner
• Price Tag for 30 Henry Street? $3.5 Mil, 15May2012, Brownstoner
• Between the bridges: A Brooklyn excursion, 17May2012, GMNews
• Mapping NYC Tech Jobs, 16May2012, Fast Company

In Dumbo, studios were $2,656, one bedrooms $3,463, and two bedrooms $4,934. Comare that to April 2012 mean Brooklyn rental prices for studios ($1,749/mo), one bedroom ($2,328), and two bedrooms ($3,015).

Here are the Dumbo price trends over 13 months for studios, one bedrooms, and two bedrooms:

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The Brooklyn Rental Market ReportTM is based on a cross-section of data from available listings and priced under $10,000, with ultra-luxury property omitted to obtain a true monthly rental average. Our data is aggregated from the MNS proprietary database and sampled from a specific mid-month point to record current rental rates offered by landlords during that particular month. It is then combined with information from the REBNY Real Estate Listings Source (RLS), OnLine Residential (OLR.com) and R.O.L.E.X. (Real Plus).

The Brooklyn Rental Market Report ™ is published by MNS. The full Brooklyn Rental Market Report ™ by neighborhood (PDF(1.1MB)).

The 2012 New York Photo Festival opens to the public today, Thursday, May 17, 2012 (11am). Tickets are not required to view exhibitions, but will be required for presentations and receptions to be held at The POWERHOUSE Arena. For tickets, go to nyph.at/tickets. NYPH’12 tickets also function as Dumbo Amenities cards, allowing bearer one-time discounts and samples of foodstuffs, candies, drinks, and durable goods in the area (value: $45+). Tickets are $15 in advance (order here), $20 at the door. Tickets ordered in advance can be picked up during the festival at Will Call May 16-May 20.

For full programming schedule, go to nyph.at/explore.

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Photoville (photovillenyc.org) is a new Brooklyn-based photo destination – a veritable village of freight containers transformed into temporary exhibition spaces, taking place this summer from June 22 to July 1, 2012 at Pier 3 of Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Photoville will feature a mix of exhibitions, lectures, hands-on workshops, nighttime projections, a photo dog run, a camera greenhouse, and a summer beer-garden with food trucks that will create a photography destination like no other. And best of all, Photoville is FREE for all to attend and participate (beer & food sold separately ;)

Occupying more than 60,000 sq. feet in the heart of Brooklyn Bridge Park, Photoville will be located on the uplands of Pier 3, along the Brooklyn Waterfront between DUMBO and Atlantic Avenue.

Photoville will be a FREE community event, but they need your help with this large scale event. They are asking the community for support on Kickstarter:

We are humbled by the extraordinary outpour of support that we have received from our community & programming partners in our quest to raise most of our capital – but we need your support to carry this project to the finish line and create a photographic destination like no other.

United Photo Industries is a Dumbo based, Brooklyn-born, art-presenting cooperative dedicated to identifying, harnessing, and occasionally conjuring unexpected exhibition opportunities. Their mission at United Photo Industries is to promote and showcase emerging photographers through curated exhibitions both locally in DUMBO, Brooklyn and around the world.

The NY Times gave a mention of this event yesterday, which wrote “The ultimate aim, he said, is to create a whole environment for photography: Photoville will be immersive, which means it will provide some basic perks (beer, food trucks, dog run) and more elaborate ones (a greenhouse where plants sprout tiny cameras).”

According to Gothamist and Brooklyn Paper articles, the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment limited film shoots in Dumbo, restricting movies being filmed for a 6 week period in March/April due to complaints from neighbors that they are too frequent and because of infrastructure work.

The Brooklyn Paper wrote:

“It is part of our office’s continuing efforts to weigh the needs and concerns of the community while supporting the jobs that come from film and television production in the city,” said city film spokeswoman Marybeth Ihle.

The city is only allowing a limited number of movies to shoot in a wide swath of the borough bounded by Gold, Front, Plymouth, and Main streets.

Production companies did not film any movies, television shows, or commercials in large parts of the historic neighborhood before April 1 because of infrastructure work, according to the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.

Some neighbors cheered the intermission for easing parking and congestion, but others claim any moratorium — even a limited one — will hurt the city’s film industry and neighborhood businesses.

“Most residents do not understand that filming in NYC has a strong positive economic impact on the community,” said DUMBO resident Mark Winkel, who stages events and runs a production studio. “The shops, cafes, and galleries all gain substantially from any type of extra foot traffic — it’s hard times right now, and businesses need any push they can get.”

The temporary moratorium on productions has been lifted, according to Chris Coffey, the Assistant Commissioner at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment. He told Gothamist, “Brooklyn is open for business, including Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo… while we balance the needs of residents, it is also our primary mission to get people to make their production in this City. Film and TV employs 130,000 New Yorkers. Those are real jobs for real New Yorkers. It generated $7.1 Billion for the City’s economy in 2011 and we are going for even more this year.”

Looks like we should expect to see more filming in Brooklyn and NYC.

All filming posts are tagged here: DumboNYC.com/tag/filming

Apparently during the 89 John Street Con Ed substation explosion and subsequent fire on April 29, collateral damage was done to surrounding cars parked on Plymouth Street. In addition, a few residents are concerned about the hazardous threshold level of PCB contamination as a result of the explosion and fire. The owner of the car damaged during the explosion (in the upper right corner of the photo above) sent us the following note:

We’re writing to warn you of potentially hazardous levels of PCB’s released during the April 29th fire at ConEd’s Farragut Substation in DUMBO/Vinegar Hill, which you reported on in an April 30th post.

Our car was parked directly opposite the Farragut Substation gate on Plymouth Street at the time of the fire. Its rear window was destroyed and the interior contaminated with transformer components, debris and soot as a result of the explosion and subsequent fire at the facility. Knowing that ConEd hazmat crews had tested the area for PCB’s in the wake of the fire (including our car), we requested a copy of the environmental testing report. After first ignoring repeated requests, ConEd finally released the report to us yesterday afternoon, Friday May 9.

The day after the fire, we were told by Sean Monaghan of the ConEd environmental department that our car was clean and that we could pick it up. When we asked what “clean” meant, he told us that it tested below 1 ppm (parts per million), which he said was ConEd’s threshold for hazardous PCB contamination. Not wishing to expose our 20-month-old son to ConEd’s ‘acceptable level’ of contamination without first seeing the test results, we did not pick up the car. As it turns out, according to the report, the interior of the car was never tested.

What is likely of primary concern to you and your neighbors is the data on page 5 of the attached report, which indicates that curbside water outside the gate tested at 3 ppm, triple ConEd’s stated hazardous threshold level of PCB contamination. We understand that this is the second fire at this facility in the last six months. Given the reckless disregard they’ve exhibited toward our family’s safety and the contempt with which they’ve treated us in their fire’s aftermath, we have little doubt this level of concern extends to the community at large. We thought you should know.

We’re not environmental experts, so we don’t want to comment on what this means. If anyone can speak to it, please chime in. The EPA’s “Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Site Revitalization Guidance Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)” document addresses clean up and disposal requirements for PCBs pcb-guid3-06.pdf (PDF).

wikipedia entry on PCB

The following are selected links from this past week on blogs and websites with discussion about Dumbo (and its neighboring areas):

• ‘Creative Renegades’ at Creative Week, 08May2012, AdWeek
• Brooklyn Tech Triangle Development, 08May2012, Crain’s
• LuckyRice Night Market in Dumbo, 07May2012, Examiner
• Between the bridges: A Brooklyn excursion, 09May2012, gmnews
• Obama Fundraiser in Dumbo, Obama’s Tech Staffers Are the Stars, 08May2012, The Atlantic
• Filming in Dumbo to Continue, 10May2012, Gothamist
• City limits movie shoots in DUMBO, 10May2012, BK Paper
• MakerBot Moves to Downtown Brooklyn, 07May2012, WSJ
• , 08May2012, Brownstoner
• Details on Two Trees’ Reno of 30 Washington, 11May2012, Brownstoner
• Century 21 is Opening at City Point on the Fulton Mall!, 10May2012, Brownstoner
• NYC Fastest Growing Tech City, 10May2012, WSJ
• With DUMBO filling up, Brooklyn Tech Triangle seeks to draw creative firms downtown, 09May2012, NYDN
• Zakka – Japanese Imports in Dumbo, 11May2012, Racked

But is it actually a currency? Kenneth Bromberg, lead programmer of Bloomberg’s foreign exchange platform, will explain what actually makes something a “currency”, why Bitcoin doesn’t fit that definition, and why it therefore doesn’t trade on the global currency exchanges.

Go here to sign up: meetup.com/BK-Tech-Talks/events/55386052

meetup.com/BK-Tech-Talks
Location: Etsy Labs, 55 Washington Street, Ste 712 , Brooklyn, NY
Monday, May 14, 2012, 7:00 PM

The NY Times published an article about the 30 Washington Street building conversion, which will be about 100 rental apartments and will take about a year to renovate. Writer Jake Mooney includes some other nuggest of information, including a reference to how Dumbo’s housing market is doing well.

Brooklyn Paper also mentioned last month that Dumbo rents are higher than most of Manhattan. With the limited inventory in the neighborhood, the average price of a studio in Dumbo was $2,567 per month ($300 more than last year and $458 more than the average studio price in the Lower East Side), writes Brooklyn Paper.

With 205 Water Street, 220 Water Street, 37 Bridge Street (Kirkman Lofts), 192 Water Street, and 133 Water Street added to the real estate mix, real estate developers are trying to meet the demand in the area.

The other item mentioned in the NY Times article is the long-planned 400-unit Dock Street project next to the Brooklyn Bridge is to begin in July. Currently, a parking garage and lot occupy the space where the Dock Street project will break ground (photo above). We spoke with the garage staff who mentioned that they are no longer offering monthly parking there and renters have been notified that they will have to find other garage space by June to prepare for the Dock Street project.

A filming for TV series Louis (third season) is taking place in Dumbo Brooklyn in Dumbo Brookyn on Thursday, May 10, 2012.

Filming and equipment will take place on the following streets:

• Front Street on the south side of street between Main and Dock Street
• Adams Street on the east side between Plymouth and John Street

All filming posts are tagged here: DumboNYC.com/tag/filming

Dumbo Gem Spa (dumbogemspa.com)
57 Front Street, Brooklyn NY 11201
(718) 576-3173

Creative Week NY, a celebration of creativity in advertising, design, digital media and all the arts that feed and touch those disciplines is taking place in Dumbo Brooklyn this week. There will be thought leadership events at Galapagos Art Space, GE’s live hologram experience (free and open to the public!) on Water Street, the Celebrate Brooklyn Creative Week Digital DUMBO Party hosted by HUGE, and the One Club’s unConference all day Thursday at 111 Front Street.

Several agency partners and firms based in Dumbo are presenting at events during Creative Week include:

• Big Spaceship
• Breakfast
• DDB (Spike)
• Domani Studios
• HUGE
• The JAR Group

We hear the GE hologram experience, THROTTLE UP at 56 Water Street is something you can’t miss (11am-9pm – free and open to the public, May 7-11).

See program of events for the full schedule of events. To attend, go to creativeweeknyc.com/attend. The Dumbo BID is a partner organization.

The following are selected links from this past week on blogs and websites with discussion about Dumbo (and its neighboring areas):

• Brooklyn Kids’ Stores: Toy Shops and Children’s Boutiques in Dumbo, 29Apr2012, MommyPoppins
• Remembering Brooklyn Heights Native Beastie Boy MC Adam Yauch, 04May2012, BHB
• Gran Electrica is upscale, authentic Mexican in DUMBO, 29Apr2012, NYDN
• Are Brooklyn Heights Activists Looking $40M BBP Gift Horse In The Mouth?, 03May2012, BHB
• ‘Boardwalk Empire’ film shoots in VH, 29Apr2012, NYP
• 220 Water Best Lobby, 03May2012, NYDN
• Browse & Pick’s fashion swap June 2, 01May2012, PR
• Date Night: DUMBO, 26Apr2012, get2know.me
• Dumbo in Brooklyn “Celebrity Belt”, 30Apr2012, NYDN
• Digital Dumbo Needs a New Name, Cause ‘Silicon Beach’ Is Taken, 03May2012, BetaBeat
• TechCrunch Startup Office Hours in Dumbo, 04May2012, TechCrunch
• Chart-topping songwriter and producer Amund Bjørklun Moves to 1 Main, 03May2012, NYO
• What the Team Behind Huge Wears to Work, 03May2012, Racked
• Dumbo’s 185 Plymouth Heading to the LPC, 04May2012, Brownstoner
• Building of the Day: 81-89 Washington Street, 01May2012, Brownstoner