The site is currently occupied by a four-story vacant warehouse with 44 feet of frontage and distinguished what brokers described as a unique double cut curb, which is zoned for up to 32,489 square feet.

“The major driver in the sale was the site’s prime Chelsea location, the fact that it is vacant, has no encumbrances and is in ready condition for immediate redevelopment,” Eastern Consolidated’s Alan Miller, who represented the seller exclusively with David Schechtman and Paul Nigido, said in a statement.  “Virtually any product type, ranging from hospitality, luxury residential or commercial retail may be constructed on that site.”

“These are real good guys who have been building for decades," he added during a call with The Commercial Observer, referring to Alfa and Park-It Management, which are owned by the Namer and Spindler families, respectively.

Eastern Consolidated’s Brian Ezratty represented the buyer, Arc Building LP. Mr. Ezratty stated that the developers are planning a "high-end residential development similar to their successful project down the block at Chelsea Green at 151 West 21^st Street."

Major national retailers occupy nearby stores, among them Trader Joe’s, Best Buy, Home Depot, Sports Authority, Staples, Modell’s, Men’s Warehouse, and Bed Bath & Beyond.  

The site is also flanked by the O’Neil Condominium building at 655 Avenue of the Americas, the sale of which Eastern Consolidated previously arranged, and the mixed-use and retail building at 675 Avenue of the Americas.

Neighbors include the Chelsea Market, Chelsea Piers, and Google’s New York headquarters.

(Credit: Nicholas Hunt)

Published reports earlier this month quoted the sale at $85 million, but the city officially recorded the sale price at $83.4 million.

Global real estate investment and development company Brack Capital Real Estate announced earlier this month that it would be selling the property, while assuring investors and the media that Denihan Hospitality Group – and Chef David Burke – would continue to manage the hotel’s operations and its menu, respectively.

“We were always incredibly confident in the potential presented in this well-situated location for a one-of-a-kind property and are pleased to see this hotel not only meet our goals, but exceed expectations,” Brack CEO Issac Hera said in a statement making the announcement. “This sale offers a strategic opportunity to continue applying our vision and building our presence in today’s thriving marketplace.”

The buyer – undisclosed at the time Brack made the announcement – was listed on city records in the “care of” Prudential Real Estate Investors, which often indicates the actual buyer of the property, but the investment group could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Hera did not return messages left by The Commercial Observer in time for publication.

The 114-room hotel (formerly the Grand Street Hotel) opened in the summer of 2010, boasting on-site restaurants, a rooftop bar and lounge, a pool, and often hosts local artist galleries. The hotel is one of three under the James branding, the others located in Chicago and Miami.

The bar and rooftop lounge, known as JIMMY, is “a contemporary interpretation of a classic pub with a 1970’s New York twist,” with herringbone floors, a leather trimmed solid wood bar top, brick glazed tile walls, blue upholstery and working fireplaces, according to a website dedicated to the James hotel line.

The hotel is also home to The Treehouse Bar, The Garden and the David Burke Kitchen Bar.

Brack still owns or is developing at least six other New York hotels. The firm is developing two in the Lower East Side and one in Times Square.

The lingerie retailer has signed a 3.5-year lease for an additional 60,000 square feet across floors four and five at its 2 Herald Square retail flagship location, David Sitt, a principal with landlord Sitt Asset Management, told The Real Deal.

The brunette bombshell reportedly quit modeling to protect her marriage and her relationship with God. God spoke to her, “telling her to leave the industry,” the Huffington Post reported.

Though her husband did not ask her to stop modeling, he was reportedly praying for it to happen.

“His prayers have been answered," Ms. Bisutti told the Post.

The model reportedly said that her job was hurting her husband's feeling; and that she was “being paid to strip down and pose provocatively to titillate men;” and that the brand made her feel like “a piece of meat."

The company’s existing lease on the ground floor and a portion of the second floor at the 380,000-square-foot office and retail building runs through 2016, with three five-year renewal options, and the timing of the new lease was meant to coincide with the expiration, according to TRD.

The company will use the additional space for offices, training space and storage.

Sitt Asset Management represented itself in-house, while Richard Hodos, an executive vice president at CBRE Group, represented the tenant.

Mr. Hodos and a Victoria’s Secret spokesperson did not return calls in time for publication.

The global media company has leased 68,000 additional square feet of pristine space at 120 Park Avenue on the heels of a client data breach that has reportedly infuriated its high-profile owner: Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

(nymag.com)

The three-floor expansion includes a 22nd floor wraparound penthouse with views of the Empire State Building, according to the New York Post, which over the weekend reported that the Mayor is “fuming” over the alleged scandal.

The company came under scrutiny after allegations that reporters within its news division used client subscriber data accessed through database terminals to break stories.

The mayor was apparently unaware that the news-gathering side of the business “still had access to business-side functions two decades after the company was launched,” according to the Post – though it was unclear why such a crossover of business lines ever existed.

Among the allegations, JP Morgan Chase has suggested that its log-in information was used by Bloomberg reporters, giving them insight into employee firings and travel, and helping break news stories, including the London Whale, which reported on the flubbed trades that cost JP Morgan billions of dollars last year.

While Wall Street banks and global central banks wait for answers, The Commercial Observer’s calls to Jones Lang LaSalle’s Paul Glickman and Diana Biasotti, the building agents at 120 Park Avenue, were not returned, making it unclear whether the move was at all related to the scandal, or if the new views would provide any solace for the situation.

Bloomberg first took 400,000 square feet at the 600,000-square-foot tower in 2011 and the new lease brings the 26-story office tower to 100 percent occupancy, the Post said.

The company is headquartered at the 55-story, 1.4-million-square-foot Bloomberg Tower at 731 Lexington Avenue, which is among the top 20 tallest buildings in the city.

Bloomberg LP was co-founded in 1981 by Mayor Bloomberg and makes up roughly one third of the $16 billion global financial data market.

The Las Vegas Convention Center (Credit: LeVar Thomas)

But when an estimated 33,000 real estate professionals converged upon one million square feet of Las Vegas Convention Center space this week, marking the highest turnout since the peak of the market in 2008, real estate professionals agreed that the original vigor of the event was back.

“In great years there was a lot of energy and vibrancy, and we’re back up to that level again,” said Noel Caban, a retail broker with Winick Realty Group.

Weeks and even months of preparation culminated in streams of business professionals from all facets of the industry making the trek out to sunny Las Vegas to take advantage of the annual opportunity.

This year’s turnout, a projected uptick from last year’s rebound, is a testament to the relative strength of the retail market, highlighted among New York City’s prime retail corridors, where rents have risen dramatically. New developments springing up around the city have sparked interest among national and international retailers.

Retail is picking up across the nation, which many experts attribute to the rebound of the housing market and accompanying bump in home construction, which in turn has boosted consumer confidence.

“The attendance numbers are absolutely a good barometer of the health of the industry,” Mr. Fox said.

Professionals representing all facets of the industry came from across the country and around the world to be at this year’s event. During the day, they line up, perhaps like bowling pins, behind the booths and exhibits representing more than 1,000 companies, spread across a seemingly never-ending maze of commercial real estate grandeur.

“It’s a big mob scene,” said Douglas Elliman’s Faith Hope Consolo, who estimated that as many as 40,000 people would actually show this year.

The event is a chance to step away from the desk, the phone, the office—the incessant, work-till-you-drop pace of the city—to meet face-to-face with clients and pave the way for future deals.

“You go with a lighter heart, to be social in a nice environment and to get reacquainted,” said Adelaide Polsinelli, a retail broker at Easter Consolidated, who made out a list of retail condominium owners and retailers she hopes to catch up with this week.

But in many ways the event is not the flamboyant spectacle it’s often made out to be, rather a place to get down to business, with the added advantage of getting all the right players in the same room—from presidents to principals, brokers to building owners, architects to construction people—and access key national players. In other words, it’s a perfect recipe for making deals.

“It’s extraordinarily effective,” Mr. Fox said. “There are the chairmen and presidents of major development companies; chairmen and presidents of major retailers. You don’t get to see these people too often during the year.”

“Say we’re trying to place Best Buy in a location here—but the head of the company is in Minneapolis,” he said. “Here, you get the two brokers, the Best Buy people together, all the other players, and bingo, you have a meeting.”

For Ms. Polsinelli, the 2,500-mile trek to Vegas every year for the city’s retail brokers is a special pilgrimage to perhaps uncover and birth a retail gem that could one day define a career.

“I’m going to discover the next Starbucks, the next Wal-Mart, the next Urban Outfitters,” the industry veteran said. “Ideally I’m going to meet those new entrants into our market. I’m looking for that obscure retailer that wants to have a presence in an area where they are unheard of but ready to make an impact.”

In 2007, the conference drew 50,731 people. Attendance dipped to 29,478 by 2009 and to 28,709 in 2010. By last year the number had risen to 32,661, and this year at least 33,000 were expected, an ICSC representative confirmed (this year’s official number could not be confirmed by press time). While well short of peak levels, real estate professionals agree that the market is bullish.

“I expect a lot of deal-making,” Ms. Consolo said.

The Real Estate Board of New York’s spring retail report showed that New York City’s retail scene is hot, especially the prime corridors, which are thriving, logging dramatic increases since the fall. Times Square rents increased 55 percent; rents in sections of the Flatiron District were up as much as 50 percent; and prime Fifth Avenue rents went up 11 percent, according to REBNY.

“It’s not surprising,” said Mr. Caban. “So much of New York has become national tenants who are creating that sort of mall-like flavor. When landlords want credited tenants they don’t want local, they want national tenants with deep pockets.”

Retail is picking up across the nation too, boosted by the rebound of the housing market, with home construction up 28 percent from last year, and highlighted by upticks in nationwide consumer spending (up 0.1 percent in April).

The U.S. economy added 165,000 new jobs last month, and the national Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) rose to 76.4 percent, up more than 20 percent since November 2008. Shopping centers across the nation absorbed nearly 4.5 million square feet in the first quarter, according to a report from Colliers.

“We were all witness to what happened in 2007 and 2008, when everything went topsy-turvy,” Mr. Caban said. “But over the last couple of years it’s been a pretty upbeat feel, and that’s when the better product comes to the surface.”

Keynote speakers at this year’s event include Steven Levitt, co-author of the bestselling Freakonomics; Randi Zuckerberg, former head of marketing at Facebook and founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media; and Gregory Wasson, president and CEO of Walgreens—the latter two reflecting the growing influence of social media on shopping and the “evolution of the drugstore” into a retailer of food and more general merchandise, Ms. Consolo said.

The consensus among real estate professionals is that there’s simply not enough time to party when you’re busy doing business. Firms prepare for the event for weeks if not months, scheduling meetings and preparing materials.

“We spend a lot of time aggregating good product to take to ICSC,” Mr. Caban, who specializes in the outer boroughs, said. “We expose some of the best product out there, and we want to make sure that the deals we have in progress are consummated there.”

The stars of the show representing New York City this year will be the flood of new developments materializing across the city, from Hudson Yards to Brookfield Place to the South Street Seaport’s Pier 17—not to mention Downtown’s newly crowned gem at One World Trade Center.

“It’s really happening. It’s no longer just a dream,” Ms. Consolo said, noting that the national retailers will retain a heavy spotlight, appealing not only to the New York market, but across the country, as economic indicators point to continued growth.

“It’s always H&M and the Uniqlo and the J. Crews and Abercrombies of the world,” she said. “Everybody’s chasing them because that’s what Middle America wants.”

After the day’s exhibits and keynote addresses, real estate professionals are free to roam the streets of a city known for its dry heat and gambling. Tales of misfortune, extravagance, seduction, even indiscretion have precipitated from the shadows of past events.

“After hours we’re pretty big on getting our clients out there and having a good time, because you’re out there working all day long,” one broker said. “We’re having a couple pool parties to get to know people in a less formal environment, cementing relationships and closing deals.”

Late nights will consist of the “typical stuff,” another said. “There will be people going to pool parties with a European theme. “There are naked girls there,” the broker explained.

But for most, the event is a chance to get a serious leg up on the competition—not the blowout it’s chalked up to be.

“It’s all exaggerated—anything you hear,” Mr. Fox said, noting that his firm isn’t sending 20 brokers to Vegas to stay up and party until 4 a.m. “The idea of the event being all party hats and streamers is misconceived. It’s not as sexy as you think.”

Ms. Consolo added, via email, “The show isn’t nearly as scandalous as it was in the 1980s—we absolutely have to produce to justify the costs and time away from the office, and we’re all working hard throughout. This show is fun—don’t misunderstand. But it’s also a physical and professional challenge each and every year.”

But for those so inclined, doesn’t everything that happens in Vegas stay in Vegas anyway?

“What happens in Vegas ends up on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn,” Ms. Polsinelli said. “So everyone will behave.”

With that sentiment in mind, log into commercialobserver.com this week for hourly updates on ICSC.

(newyorkwheel.com)

If the zoning changes and special permits required for the construction of the development (and the giant wheel) are granted upon completion of the review, Brooklyn-based developer BFC Partners plans to break ground on the one-million-square-foot mixed-use complex in the winter of 2014.

The development and outlet mall will reportedly feature 125 designer retail outlets, a 200-room hotel, restaurants, a playground, expansive water views and a sustainable six-acre roof visible from the harbor.

The New York Post gave a sneak peak at the development yesterday morning, while Crain's reported that the wheel would cost $300 million.

The New York Wheel, by a developer of the same name, concurrently entered the ULURP process yesterday.  It is slated to become the second largest ferris wheel in the world and will feature a roughly 100,000-square-foot visitors center and parking garage.

It will rank as the second largest ferris wheel in the world once it is complete, with the recently-announced Dubai Eye slated to become the tallest, rising 688 feet at a cost of $1.6 billion.

The Toronto Sun ranked the top ten biggest ferris wheels in the world earlier this year.

Developers expect to complete the Empire Outlets in 2016.

43-25 Hunter Street, rubbing up against the Citigroup Tower (far left), is set to become the tallest residential building in Queens (Rockrose)

Rockrose Development Corp. is in the process of demolishing seven dilapidated Long Island City warehouses to pave the way for the construction of what will become the tallest residential building in Queens, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The 50-story, 907,000-square-foot, 500-foot-tall building at 43-25 Hunter Street will not only be the tallest, but it will also feature 975 units – more units than any other residential building in Queens, the firm said.

“That means a lot of apartments with a lot of very amazing views of the city,” said Justin Elghanayan, who runs the company with his father, Henry.  “Court Square is zoned very high, but all the areas around it are very low.”

Rockrose will open up bidding to find a subcontractor in the coming weeks, with construction of the property slated to begin in the fourth quarter and completion of the estimated $400 million project scheduled for sometime in 2016.

The property is situated in the Court Square area of Long Island City, where the 50-story Citigroup tower at One Court Square once stuck out like a sore thumb.  But Rockrose has led the way in the methodical transformation of the area’s residential and retail landscape and Mr. Elghanayan believes his new tower will sit well alongside Citigroup’s.

“I always looked at the Citigroup tower and it looked so lonely.  I said, ‘Citigroup needs a girlfriend.’  So in my mind, this building is its girlfriend,” he said.

“You know when you have a couple and one person kind of softens the other person?  I’m hoping that this building will have the same effect architecturally on the Citigroup tower because right now it’s so monolithic and lonely on the skyline.”

The buildings being demolished to make way for the new tower, which will sit on a 47,800-square-foot lot, include 25-25 44th Drive; 43-25, 43-15, 43-11 and 43-09 on Hunter Street; and 27-02 and 27-06 on 43rd Avenue.

The 80/20 rental building (80 percent market rate, 20 percent affordable units) will feature 30,000 square feet of amenity space, including a full-court basketball court, yoga and library rooms, and multiple roof decks.  The architects on the project are SLCE Architects, SPaN Architecture and Mathews Nielson Landscape Architects.

Rockrose is also enrolling in New York City’s Voluntary Cleanup Program, created in 2011 by the Office of Environmental Remediation to facilitate redevelopment of underutilized sites with low to moderate levels of contamination.  The program achieves standards that protect human health and the environment, while keeping projects on schedule and offering developers up to $125,000 in grants towards remediation, said the OER’s director, Dr. Daniel Walsh.

“This program demonstrates that a developer has done everything necessary to make these sites among the safest in the city,” Dr. Walsh said, noting that roughly 100 sites have been approved since the program’s inception.  “We want to keep finding ways to encourage developers to take on these types of projects.”

Rockrose’s Linc LIC in Court Square (Credit: Al Barbarino)

This summer, Rockrose is also kicking off leasing at its newly constructed, 709-unit Linc LIC building in Court Square; and the firm has plans to construct the Eagle Loft at 43-22 Queens Street, an approximately 700-unit warehouse-to-residential conversion; and is retrofitting a number of retail spaces located within a stone’s throw of one another in the square.

“It’s just bringing more critical mass to the area – more people and more bodies to match the growth of the neighborhood,” Mr. Elghanayan said.

Rockrose spearheaded the development of Long Island City over a decade ago after it purchased a 40-acre site along the waterfront from Pepsi and began its construction of soaring glass and concrete towers that are now synonymous with the neighborhood’s waterfront.

In 2009, Rockrose, owned by members of the Elghanayan family, split into two entities (Rockrose and TF Cornerstone), with TF Cornerstone retaining most of the waterfront properties and Rockrose focusing in the Court Square area.

Yahoo signed a long-term lease for the 9th through 12th floors in the 15-story building, joining tech tenants 10gen and Citysearch in the building.

229 West 43rd Street, interior

“For a while now… Yahoo has been looking for a home here in New York,” Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer said, according to the Times.  “We have several hundred employees spread across several offices.  And I'm proud to say that we've found it.”

Rents could not be confirmed, but when 10gen took 29,400 square feet at the building late last year, asking prices ranged between $70 and $80 per square foot, as reported by The Commercial Observer.

Yahoo has roughly 500 employees in three buildings across New York City, at 1065 Avenue of the Americas, 1540 Broadway and 11 West 19th Street.

The Times noted that the company expects to expand its work force in the city to 700 within the next couple of years – but that Tumblr’s 175 employees, who work from offices at 35 East 21st Street, will not move to Times Square -- and that it plans to install outdoor terraces and a cafeteria with” an extensive menu of free food.”

Al Jazeera also reportedly eyed the building as a potential headquarters for its expanding U.S. operations earlier this year, but the news agency may have been turned off when it saw “too many columns."

Brian Waterman, Lance Korman, Jonathan Tootell, Brent Ozarowski from Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented ownership, The Blackstone Group, a company spokesperson said (Blackstone purchased the top 11 floors of the building in 2011 for $160 million).  Martin Horner of Jones Lang LaSalle represented Yahoo, an industry source said.  The brokers on the deal could not be reached for immediate comment.

Update, 5/22/13: Industry sources put the total square footage of this deal at 176,000 square feet.

The 370,000-square-foot property, being sold by the estate of Leona Helmsley, has received at least two separate offers of more than $600 million, including one from industry scions Harry Macklowe and Steven Witkoff, The Wall Street Journal reported.

While the 40-year-old, 46-story hotel charges rates as high as $600 a night, but real estate experts tell the Journal that it is past its prime and would be most profitable if its developers cash in on the neighborhood’s surge in “ultra high-end” residential and the citywide boom in high-end condo sales, with standouts like the reported $90 million contract to purchase a 13,554-square-foot condo at Extell’s One57.

Other examples:  the $1.1 billion sale of the Sony Building, where David Bistricer and Joe Chetrit plan to turn the tower into residential condominiums, a hotel, and retrofit the retail space; a condo tower 146 feet taller than the Empire State Building is under construction at the former Drake Hotel on Park Avenue and 56th Street; and a 900-foot condo tower will replace the former Steinway Musical Instruments flagship store on 57th Street.

Also, nearby 650 Madison Avenue is up for sale, where an 800-foot residential tower could be in the cards.

The Journal noted that a condo conversion at the Park Lane Hotel would be tricky as, among other obstacles, it would require approval from the city's Board of Standards and Appeals – but the owners filed a building permit application to determine the rigor of the process.

RWN will redevelop the 4,114-square-foot space and the existing storefronts, giving one to two prospective tenants 100 feet of wraparound frontage at the corner of the Bowery and Bond Street.

“This acquisition gives us control of the entire western Bowery blockfront between Bleecker and Bond Streets, which assures prospective tenants of 328 Bowery that the retail streetscape will continue to improve here,” said RWN’s Ari Shalam, in a statement.

RKF will exclusively market the two-level retail space, which is located at the corner of Bond Street in the heart of Manhattan’s vibrant Bowery district.  The space is divided among two floors with 2,510 square feet on the ground floor and 1,604 square feet in the lower level.  Changes to the façade will include new entrances on the Bowery and significant improvements to signage.

“The Bowery retail market continues to draw an eclectic and aspirational mix of retailer, dining and nightlife tenants,” said RKF’s Brian Segall, who will lead the marketing effort with Ariel Schuster.  “328 Bowery lies directly in the center of this dynamic submarket.”

RWN purchased the retail condominium from The Big Four, LLC on May 1.  Mr. Segall represented both parties in the sale.

The Bowery has welcomed a growing number of high-end residential and hotel developments in recent years. In response, luxury retailers, restaurants and night clubs have increasingly established a presence.  New entrants into the market include A.P.C., Intermix and Patagonia, joining more established retail neighbors such as Blue & Cream, John Varvatos, Whole Foods Market, and Pulinos.

Mr. Shalam, Mr. Segall and Mr. Schuster were not available for further comment.

Ms. Krasnow-Renzi previously spent 15 years with Turner & Townsend, where she managed build-out and construction assignments.

She will oversee project management assignments on behalf of owners and tenants, reporting to Edward Walsh, a principal and managing director of project management within the seven-person team based in New York City.

“Joining Avison Young provides me with the opportunity to fold more business development into my everyday practices and to play a key role in growing the firm’s project management services division in New York,” Ms. Krasnow-Renzi said, in a prepared statement.

Her clients in her previous role included KKR & Co., Bloomberg LP, BMW, Gap and Societe Generale, and with her appointment comes the announcement that KKR has signed an exclusive contract with Avison Young’s project management services division for all current and future projects.

She has worked with the global investment firm for 14 years, with build-outs at 9 West 57th Street and 730 Fifth Avenue among the projects completed during that period.

“Project management is a core component of Avison Young’s growth strategy in the Tri-State market, and is an integral part of our aim to provide both landlords and tenants with a full-service, integrated platform that is able to address the entire range of their commercial real estate needs,” Mr. Walsh said, in a prepared statement.  “Shari’s vast experience and extensive relationships will contribute to positioning our team strongly as we build on the momentum we have established to continue the growth of our market share and presence in New York City.”

Ms. Krasnow-Renzi’s past accomplishments include Bloomberg's roughly 400,000-square-foot expansion at 120 Park Avenue; and the build out of the financial firm’s headquarters at 731 Lexington Avenue.

The firm opened its first New York City office in 2012.  Recent hires include industry veteran John Ryan III, Walter Blyzniuk, Anthony LoPresti and Adam Rappaport.

(Credit: Al Barbarino)

The new filing states that 79.6 percent of the iconic building’s ownership group has voted in favor of the transaction, up from the 75 percent reported on April 3.  The Malkins need 80 percent to move forward.

The news comes just over two weeks after a Supreme Court Justice cleared away two major roadblocks that stood in the way of the Malkins and their proposed IPO launch of the REIT.

On May 2, Justice O. Peter Sherwood said he would approve a $55 million class-action settlement between the Malkins and a separate group of investors tied to the building.  That ruling, which has not been finalized, came just days after he ruled in favor of the Malkins’ plan to buy out investors who oppose the IPO for $100 a share.

Those decisions suggested that shareholders would be compelled to vote in favor of the IPO.

Critics have argued that the IPO robs investors of a predictable income stream from the building’s rents, though the Malkins have countered that it would offer greater growth, liquidity and diversification opportunities.

If the Malkins hit the mark, the Empire State Building will join 19 other properties in a new REIT called Empire State Realty Trust Inc.

The college will vacate the first three floors of the 10-story, 245,000 square-foot mixed-use property, doubling its existing space to 112,000 square feet in a move to floors four through seven.

The move clears the way for landlord JEMB Realty Corporation to create a more prominent retail presence.

"ASA College has been a tremendous tenant for many years at Herald Center and we are gratified that they have chosen to undertake this major expansion of their Herald Square campus," said Bobby Dweck, an independent broker who negotiated the deal on behalf of JEMB, in a statement.

A spokesperson for JEMB told The Commercial Observer that asking rents were $60 per square foot.

The college's cooperation was essential for the planned renovation of the building, which will include the new retail leasing opportunity encompassing more than 50,000 square feet, Mr. Dweck said.

Ownership will remove the black glass panels on the first three floors previously occupied by ASA and replace them with transparent panes for a flagship retailer. In addition to the new facade on the base floors, floors four through ten will also be transformed with a set of new L.E.D. panels.

JEMB also plans to create a new ground floor lobby entrance along 33^rd Street, giving the college exclusive use of the elevators servicing their floors; the deal also includes room for future expansion into an additional 48,000 square feet.

"We chose this location because it is a public transportation hub where the subway, buses and other forms of transportation all converge, making it accessible to all five boroughs of New York City and neighboring states as well," said Alex Shchegol, president and founder of ASA College, in a statement.

ASA was founded in 1985 in Brooklyn. It now serves over 6,000 students in 20 programs focused on healthcare, business and criminal justice.

That’s what one boisterous group of local Brooklyn girl scouts shouts in a new video issued in protest of the Brooklyn Public Library’s plans to sell the Pacific Library in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn to a developer.

“The Brooklyn Public Library has some pretty shocking plans,” says the unidentified, hard-nosed reporter in the video.

Plans call for the 110-year-old building – as well as that which houses the Brooklyn Heights branch on Cadman Plaza – at 25 Fourth Avenue, near Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, to be sold to a developer and moved to the new Brooklyn Cultural District.

Girl Scout Troop #2657, which joined in on the fight against the proposal last month, isn’t having it.

“I feel horrible.  I’m really sad and I’m kind of mad,” says one Girl Scout.

“Why would anybody want to tear down a library so old as this one?” asks another.

They have the support of at least one local politician.

“The community has identified what we would like to see and that is a preservation of the building and the services,” Councilman Steve Levin (D–Boerum Hill), told The Brooklyn Paper in March. “It fits the criteria of what we ought to be preserving, particularly in a neighborhood that is overrun by development.”

But eighteen of the library’s 60 branch buildings were donated by tycoon Andrew Carnegie more than a century ago and are in need of hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs, the library has argued.

“By doing these projects we can continue to make sure that these communities receive cutting edge 21st century library service while allowing us to better use our city capitol allocations to address critical structure needs system wide,” BPL’s Josh Nachowitz told the New York Daily News in January, after the plans were announced.

The neighborhood library takes up about 13,000 square feet of the building’s 60,000 square feet.  The new branch will be at least 2,000 square feet larger and the library has said that it’s committed to having a replacement branch in place before the Pacific branch closes.

View the video in full:

And so it’s without wonderment that some local residents are worried that the excavation of large development sites proposed along the canal could push that same putrid, contaminated water even further inland in the presence of floodwater conditions that occur with some regularity along the canal, prompting several local politicians to send a letter last week to Deputy Mayors Cas Holloway and Robert Steele.

The iconic picture of the Gowanus dolphin (Credit: Richard Drew, AP)

In it, the politicians – Councilman Brad Lander, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and State Senator Velmanette Montgomery – call for a new study that would investigate the adverse impacts of building new developments on the banks of the filthy canal prior to the city's issuing of any building permits.

Specifically, they refer to Lightstone Group’s plan to build a 700-unit rental development along the canal, which was approved by the City Planning Commission in March.

Lightstone plans to “re-grade” its building site by raising the site of the development by two feet to comply with FEMA’s post-Sandy Advisory Base Flood Elevations and accompanying changes to the city's Building Code.  But that could create more flooding for neighbors, the letter argues.

“Constituents who live and work near the Gowanus Canal have expressed concern, which we share, about the potentially adverse impact that large-scale, but piecemeal, re-grading of development sites could have on surrounding properties during flooding episodes,” the letter states.

"We would like to understand if your offices have investigated the potential for adverse hydrologic impacts upon surrounding properties."

Last year, the monstrosity known as Hurricane Sandy caused the canal to overflow, flooding surrounding businesses and homes, and the letter was sent on the same day that heavy rains caused flash flooding in the Gowanus area.

The politicians argue that the ground elevation proposed by Lightstone Group could “well affect the pattern of water displacement during a flooding event.”

“It would be better to bring all stakeholders to the table to develop a comprehensive plan for the infrastructure, flood protection, and land use regulations needed for a safe, vibrant, and sustainable canal area,” the letter states.

As for that dolphin: Until a necropsy revealed that the dolphin had died from causes unrelated to years of industrial dumping that turned the canal into an inhospitable mess, the idea persisted that the dolphin had perhaps been sickened by the canal’s lurid water.

In fact, the state of the water was among the many factors that led rescuers to wait for high tide rather than attempt to save the animal.

“Unfortunately, all we can do is watch and wait for the tide to rise, so the animal can get out on its own. It’s not safe for us to get people in the water,” Robert DiGiovanni, director and senior biologist with the Riverhead Foundation, the group leading the “rescue” efforts, told the New York Daily News at the time.

As a result of years of discharges, storm water runoff, sewer outflows and industrial pollutants, the Gowanus Canal, crowned a Superfund site in 2010, is one of the nation's most extensively contaminated water bodies, with contaminants including PCBs, pesticides, coal tar wastes, heavy metals and “volatile organics,” according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

The heartbreak of the dolphin’s demise enraged others nonetheless.  The New York Post even claimed the dolphin was “killed by government incompetence.”

Calls and emails directed at the deputy mayors regarding the letter were not returned by press time.  An update will follow upon their response.