return to redhook

about the only time i go down to red hook these days is for a run to fairway. while it was once a favorite haunt, these days i find really kind of depressing. about the only good thing happening down there are the weekend vendors at the soccer fields and, for the sake of my health, i try to eat the delicious (and heavily fried) mexican home cooking only a few times over the course of a summer. a recent trip out to the long island ikea got me thinking about the brooklyn ikea (gotta do something while sitting in weekend long island traffic) and how i should perhaps pay red hook another visit.

the first stop was over to the old revere sugar refinery, which is still in the process of demolition. there is no plan for what to do with the parcel of land (that i'm aware of) at this point. there have been a few renderings of proposals, the problem for now is that the land is still zoned as heavy industrial.

12/08/06


07/17/07


they seem to have torn down a whole lot of buildings in the past seven months.

continuing on, i rode my bike along beard street, which has been mostly shrouded by blue construction fencing for the past year or so...


don't worry that "graffiti" was quickly painted over

there were signs for detours, but the roadway was still open and it appeared as if they were reinforcing the cobblestone streets for the massive upsurge in car traffic that will result from the opening of the store. as i biked past, i was able to see workers applying the fireproof insulation to the roof and inner-skeleton of the store. peering through the fence, it appeared to be very close to structural completion.

continuing on, i glanced over at the grain terminal, then turned the corner to columbia street and ducked into the empty lot next door-- which currently functions as an open air graffiti gallery.



i'm not sure if ikea owns this lot or not, if so i imagine that it will be parking or perhaps another big box store-- similar to the bed, bath and beyond that's rumored to be built on the eastern edge of the site.

the trademark blue siding is going up fast, and i suspect that before christmas the store will open.



a few more pictures from my trip to red hook as well as the proposed renderings for the revere sugar site after the expansion.



blue siding


ikea as seen from revere sugar


ugly rendering of proposed revere site

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ikea / brooklyn

the new brooklyn ikea store is rising quickly over in red hook, gowanus lounge reports that they are currently in the process of putting up the distinctive blue siding. personally, i think that this is a terrible location for a big box store and will be regarded as an urban planning disaster in the years to come. it's not near the subway, nor the highway -- so it's going have to be a bus or a car to get down here. early estimates predict over 50,000 cars per week will make the trip. it should also be noted that the main thoroughfare in red hook, van brundt street, has a grand total of 2 stop lights. one at the brooklyn cruise terminal and another further down the block. the later was only erected after various neighborhood groups came together to petition the city after a number of accidents, at least one of which was fatal.

- for some great photographs of the site -- check out nathan kensinger photography

- the recent apartment therapy article on the opening generated some interesting comments

- redhook-brooklyn.org is a good source of anti-ikea material.

- the official ikea site has no information posted yet but does list several job openings.

- lastly this is a proposed 2004 rendering of the site:

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