Here are some of the topics posted on The Forum today:
Vintage Pedestal Sink For Sale
Interior Stairs in a Duplex
What is the Best Use of a Parlor?
Need EPA Certified Lead Paint Remover
Moving a Drain Pipe in Backyard

This lot at 265 Ocean Parkway sits between a single family house and a tall co-op building; this project should fall somewhere in between. According to the DOB, it's an eight-story, 15-unit building designed by Issac & Stern Architects. We're not familiar with their work. Anybody out there have a sense of it? GMAP P*Shark DOB

We love our tipsters, one of whom sent in this report about a new store at 113 Smith, at Pacific. "We The Free, a part of Urban Outfitters, opened their first store ever right here in Brooklyn. We The Free is a clothing line carried by Free People, which has a few locations across the US. We The Free will have 3 stores open by the end of the year. They are opening a couple in Chicago and Los Angeles. Just a pro-brooklyn story that this national company is opening up their first of a new concept store in Brooklyn. The site used to be a drycleaners for a number of years." Keep the tips coming!

You know times are tough when a five-story brownstone in Brooklyn Heights hits the market for less than $3 million. In this case, there are extenuating circumstances: 156 Hicks Street is less than 16 feet wide, and is in need of some TLC. The raw materials are there (woodwork, mantels, etc.) but the $2,875,000 asking price still's not a lay-up, primarily because, well, nothing's a lay-up in this market. It will be interesting to see if houses that need work get penalized more than those in move-in condition the grim market marches on. Update: A tipster sent in some interior photos "from 4 or 5 years ago" that we posted at the bottom of the post; click through to check them out.
156 Hicks Street [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark

As the picture on the jump shows, 255 Eastern Parkway (aka the Woodrow Wilson) started out life as a grand building. After falling on hard times (like much of the area) in the latter decades of the 20th century (see comments), the building was converted to condos in 2003, with some units selling for under $150 a foot at the get-go. One of the larger apartments in the building is now back on the market, a 1,437-square-foot four-bedroom place asking $835,000. (Our best guess is that it's apartment E16, which traded for $527,360 back in 2006.) It's obviously a charming and spacious prewar pad, but we'd be surprised if this price were achieved in the current market.
255 Eastern Parkway [FSBO/NYT] GMAP P*Shark

"The substantial specimens at this old-school sandwich shop are known as heros, and they’re served longshoreman style, in outsize, time-tested combos like potato-and-egg, meatball, and roast-beef-mozzarella-and-fried-eggplant," says New York magazine. "This sandwich comes in two sizes — 1/3 and 1/2. I went with 1/2... which begged the question '1/2 of what?' It was pretty much a whole in just about any category and actually took me about 3 hours of on and off eating to fully consume," says food blog Jam It Down Your Throat.

Chowhound hhhippo raves: "Great roast beef. Also great roast pork. The fried eggplant is great. You can ask them to add it to any sandwich I think. Also recommend Nicky's Special. Many different types of cured meat, provolone, fried eggplant, crunchy spicy pickled vegetables." Blogger Artichoke Heart, who opted for the Valentino Special, a combination of eggplant, provolone, and peppers, adds: "As I bit into my monster hero, I immediately noticed that this was no generic, mealy roll. The crust was appropriately sturdy and crunchy, the interior soft and chewy. The fried eggplant and cheese provided the hefty 'meat' of my sandwich, while the peppers in tomato sauce added a slightly spicy crunch." How would you rate this Red Hook institution?

The Knickerbocker, a 49-unit condo building, is on the docket for 320 Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick. It's an adaptive reuse project that will "transform some of the neighborhood’s finest historic housing stock into modern, loft-like apartments while adding a new top floor containing dramatic penthouse units," according to their Web site. Some 40% of units have terraces or patios, and there's a gym, "virtual doorman," storage and roof access. It'll be LEED-certified. Here's the review from our tipster: "Knickerbocker Condominiums is located one block from Maria Hernandez Park and two blocks from both the L and M trains. They're incorporating most of the block along Knickerbocker along with an old 4 floor-walk-up building around the corner, visible in the photo on the far right (check out Curbed for the rendering).The building was a large grocery store on the first floor for years. This establishment closed two or three years ago." No word on prices, but seems pretty high-end. Is Bushwick — "up and coming," per the developers — ready?

While we couldn't find the exact sizes of the Brooklyn Bridge Park units that sold, they're probably all over 2,000 square feet, given the average asking prices in the building.

1. Fort Greene $2,375,000
76 South Elliott Place GMAP (left)
3,200-sf, 3-fam townhouse was asking $2,795,000 when we had it as an Open House Pick in March. According to StreetEasy, the listing price was reduced to $2,395,000 before it sold. PropShark records say it last changed hands almost exactly a year ago, for $1,950,000. Deed recorded 10/9.

2. BROOKLYN HEIGHTS $2,350,000
One Brooklyn Bridge Park, Unit 636 GMAP (right)
One of several closings at 360 Furman over the past couple weeks. According to StreetEasy, the average listing in the building is a touch north of $1,000/sf. Deed recorded 10/7.

3. BROOKLYN HEIGHTS $2,275,000
One Brooklyn Bridge Park, Unit 436 GMAP
Deed recorded 10/6.

4. BROOKLYN HEIGHTS $2,075,000
One Brooklyn Bridge Park, Unit 629 GMAP
Deed recorded 10/9.

5.DUMBO $1,890,000
One Main Street, Unit 12K GMAP
1,414-sf unit in this record-breaking condo. Last sold for $1,150,000 in 2003. Deed recorded 10/8.

Photo of 76 South Elliott from Property Shark.

Peter Golenbock's tome of Kings County history, In the Country of Brooklyn: Inspiration to the World, chronicles our neighborhoods, and the characters they spawned, from the 1920s until now. Greeks in Red Hook, Russians in Brighton Beach, Curtis Sliwa, Neil Sedaka, Pete Hamill, Shirley Chilsolm, White Flight, Dodgers, Marty Markowitz ("Brooklyn's cheerleader") — it's all in there. And while there's plenty for the history buffs, some might be most interested in the latter chapters on recent Brooklyn issues: Atlantic Yards, the remaking of Coney Island and our own real estate boom. The book has a decidedly uncritical bent; he attributes our real estate boom to Ratner's Metrotech and Atlantic Center projects, and finds a pro-AY subject to interview for the chapter. As for Coney Island, he profiles Thor Equities' Joseph Sitt and his plan to build a "glitzy billion-dollar hotel/mall/Las Vegas attraction on the boardwalk." Not sure if this is the Brooklyn stuff that inspires the world, but the book is chock full of other interesting Brooklyn tidbits that might excuse the rose-colored-glasses view of certain modern projects. The book goes on sale today.

This proposal for a rear addition at 139 Lincoln Place surfaced at the LPC back in August; it also included a rooftop addition. The application was laid over before the commissioners could opine on it and it will be resurfacing again at tomorrow's meeting. It caught our eye when we were snooping around the viewing room at LPC last week because of what looks like a glass ceiling for the basement which extends 15 or 20 feet out into the yard. What do you make of that?
Agenda 8/12/08 [LPC]

After many months of excavation and shoring, the Clarett Group's massive tower at 111 Lawrence Street is starting to rise towards its ultimate height of 51 stories. Did you catch that? 51 friggin' stories! (The proof is here.) At this point, it seems a pretty safe bet that the 491 units will be rental when they come online.
Development Watch: 111 Lawrence Street [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark DOB
Digger, Not Much Else at 107 Lawrence [Brownstoner]
Clarett's Big Plans on Lawrence Street [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 107 Lawrence Ready for Next Stage [Brownstoner]

We can poke our heads through construction fences 'til we're blue in the face, but at the end of the day the lifeblood of this site is the stream of tips that come in from you, the readers. So thank you and keep 'em coming! If you happen to walk by a new store or development (or anything noteworthy like a funny sign or new piece of public art), drop us a note at tips@brownstoner.com. And if you can include a photo, so much the better.
Thanks!

The weakening market sinks all boats! The actress Mary Stuart Masterson found out the hard way that there's no such thing as a celebrity premium when the market's hurting. After coming out of the gates at $1,465,000 in March, the skinny but cute house had its asking price trimmed to $1,395,000 in April before going into contract in August for $1,305,000; the transaction closed on September 26, according to ACRIS. Although she only owned the house for a little over a year, it was probably still a money loser for her after transaction costs: she paid $1,275,000 for the house in June of 2007 and Corcoran doesn't work for free.
386 State Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
House of the Day: 386 State Street [Brownstoner]

The Cobble Hill Association fears that impending construction on the BQE and the Promenade could have a desultory effect on the Brooklyn Bridge Park. "In a worst-case scenario, the park could be built and then colonized as a staging area for the rebuilding of the triple-cantilever structure that supports the two lanes of the highway and the Promenade above it," they write, and urge concerned citizens to attend the CB6 Transportation Committee meeting this Thursday at LICH. But others fear parts of the park might never be realized. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the walkways raised over the East River, one of the beloved design elements of the park, have disappeared from the proposal, due to concerns about the effects on aquatic life. "Besides the aesthetic appeal, the bridges would have made the park more pedestrian friendly. It provided links between three of the six piers that comprise Brooklyn Bridge Park, allowing park users to stroll from one pier to the next without having to go all the way back to dry land," they write. Park supporters plan to appeal to the state Department of Environmental Conservation to reconsider.
Wave Goodbye to 'Park' Walkways [Brooklyn Paper]
BBP and the Reconstruction of the BQE [CHA]

So says the Gotham Gazette, pointing out that we have managed to retain small, indie businesses and still attract the giants, who manage to peacefully co-exist; Home Ec and Ikea can thrive within a couple of miles of each other. The secret, they say, is "promoting a 'my way' kind of thing with its retail sector - big stores and small, chains and independents, ordinary and idiosyncratic, garish and subtle, high end and low, traditional ethnic, cool retail, small handicrafts, hip entertainment, etc. Statistically Brooklyn still looks 'under-retailed' compared to Manhattan, says The Real Deal, since Manhattan has 52.2 square feet of retail space per capita, and Brooklyn has only 10.8. But downtown Brooklyn and Williamsburg are starting to compete hard and successfully." We've added 660,000 square feet in retail space in the last year, as opposed to 33,000 square feet in 2006. Nice to see such an optimistic view of the borough. Do you agree with it?
Brooklyn's Retail Boom [Gotham Gazette]
Photo by threecee.

Photo by the real janelle from the Brownstoner Flickr pool.
City Schooled on Pushing Kids Out [NY Post]
Gang Plagues South Williamsburg [NY Post]
Park Slope Woman Evicted After 50 Years [NY Daily News]
Bed Stuy Neighbors There for Each Other [NY Daily News]
Heights Residents Decry Waterfall Damage, Loud Concert [Brooklyn Eagle]