BROOKLYN HEIGHTS

St. George Tower & Grill gets a complete makeover.

Unit-owners will be able to control light and temperature with their voices.

Brooklyn co-op voluntarily tackles massive balcony project.

Money is tied to a promise to remain affordable for at least 20 years.

Alternative approach saves big money on a Brooklyn roof job.

Mitchell-Lama co-ops, under pressure to cash in, might want to stay put.

Albany shoots down bills to lift height limits on city’s residential towers.

Group tries to halt sale and development of Brooklyn Heights Library.

It’s not every day that New Yorkers turn down a cash offer of $130 million. For this reason, the Brooklyn Heights Association has bestowed its prestigious Good Neighbor Award on the shareholders of the co-op at 75 Henry Street, who last month turned down a developer’s offer for their commercial space that would have made each of them at least $120,000 richer.
 
“They listened to the concerns of their neighbors,” presenter Tom Stewart told Brooklyn Paper. “This award is given in recognition of their true community spirit."

Many in the neighborhood were concerned that Anbau Enterprises’s proposal to erect a 40-story condo tower on the co-op’s Pineapple Walk commercial site would block views, increase congestion, reduce property values and otherwise make life in Brooklyn Heights a little bit less worth living.

By a vote of 191-112, the shareholders at 75 Henry Street agreed with those concerns and turned down Anbau’s millions. Priceless.

In a move that goes sharply against the grain of recent history, the shareholders in a Brooklyn Heights co-op have voted against allowing their board to pursue the sale of their commercial property to a condo developer who was offering $130 million.