Rap-Id-Wrap Building on Bergen St.

What's going on with this place? Can I buy it? How much do you want for it?



Bergen Street (Prospect Heights). Brooklyn, New York.
Sunday, August 7, 2005 | Copyright © 2005 Frank Lynch.

I bet the loading dock would be handy. You could turn it into a porch. 8)

Subject: Re: Rap-Id-Wrap Building on Bergen St.

dailyheights wrote: What's going on with this place? Can I buy it? How much do you want for it?

Many's the time I've walked past there with visions of a lotto strike and a major renovation dancing through my head.

That place would make a wicked bar/air hockey lounge. But no tapas allowed!

Subject: Lack of alcohol vendors is not ProHo's biggest problem.

Does this area need another bar? Needed: barbers/hair salons, dentists, other healthcare providers (ob/gyn?), vets, bodegas that sell fruit and flowers, bakeries, child care centers, studio space for artists, and community bookstores. That's just off the tops of our heads.

--JamesonVandy and meggle

Subject: Re: Lack of alcohol vendors is not ProHo's biggest problem.

JamesonVandy wrote: Does this area need another bar? Needed: barbers/hair salons, dentists, other healthcare providers (ob/gyn?), vets, bodegas that sell fruit and flowers, bakeries, child care centers, studio space for artists, and community bookstores. That's just off the tops of our heads.

--JamesonVandy and meggle

There is NO SUCH THING as too many bars. Besides, I'm talking about what I would do with the space if I owned it, not necessarily what I would like to see go in there.

I'm down with the bookstore idea, though. We also need a good record store in the area.

The building attached to mine is all studio space.

Subject: Re: Lack of alcohol vendors is not ProHo's biggest problem.

JamesonVandy wrote: Does this area need another bar? Needed: barbers/hair salons, dentists, other healthcare providers (ob/gyn?), vets, bodegas that sell fruit and flowers, bakeries, child care centers, studio space for artists, and community bookstores. That's just off the tops of our heads.

--JamesonVandy and meggle

Oh, come on--you could combine practically any of ideas with a bar! :twisted: It would help me get off my ass and go to the dentist, in particular.

I love the "paste up" of the guy on the wall there. It is so cool to look at.

Twice a day I walk by this place. The trash in the driveway has been piling up for nearly a year - bottles, shopping carts, plastic bags, broken appliance parts. A mattress.

I was just thinking the other day what a kick-ass abode it would be. You've got a ready-made garage, a porch, a ton of street-facing upstairs real estate...

How about this: why doesn't DailyHeights buy it and turn it over. We all throw down a few grand, we pitch in for a couple months to clean it up... and then, what, turn it into a coop? a record/bookstore? a crack vial distribution center?

My girlfriend is in her final year of dental school... we could make her an offer! She might go for the dental/libation biz plan. I'll tend bar.

Does anyone have the street address? With that, we can do some research.

A few months ago someone who lives on that block told me that a developer owns it and has planned a multi-story condo there. If true, what a surprise.

I can't remember the address, but I know my route, and it was somewhere in between Carlton and Flatbush. (I also took this shot on Bergen.

I hope I'm not being gauche to remind, but there's a Flickr group devoted to Prospect Heights. It's all about the neighborhood, and I really wish that my shots were a smaller proportion. So if you have a good dinner at Aliseo or Garden Cafe, shoot it! post it! A fun night at Soda? Shoot it! Post it! A scraped knee? (you get the picture...)

Oh, sorry, I forgot to say: what I think this neighborhood needs is a butcher.

it is like 5 houses down from me so i think the address should be 540 bergen or something. it is in between 6th and carlton.
i sometime see a homeless person sleeping under the cardboard.

It's 528-530 Bergen Street. It looks (from Propertyshark) as though a guy in S.I. is the owner. Looks like it was sold by
Rap-Id Wrap Tubing & Burlap Co., Inc. in 2003 for one million dollars.
It's not currently zoned for residential use.

Subject: That Building!

I have wanted-yearned for that building for years! It was my first love when I first started going to Freddy's in the mid-nineties. That building and the Firehouse next to Tavern on Dean.

What this neighborhood really needs is a youth center. There are far too many young kids with nothing better to do than get in trouble. If they had a place to go and a channel for their youthful energy, both they and the neighborhood would be better off.

I really hope that this is a priority for the memorandum of understanding with Ratner.

We live nearby. Originally the rumor in the neighborhood was that it was going to be converted to a single family home. That story faded and the big condo rumor became more prevalent.

Although its become a neighborhood dumping ground, we are glad the old packaging guys are gone. They used to block the sidewalk with their trucks. So, its just one less event in the obstacle course we have to run on our way down Bergen to the subway. There are still plenty of exciting challenges, which are most fun when pushing kids in the stroller.
- swirling tornados of litter outside of the acrobatics studio
- fowl-mouthed, smoking and idle NY housing authority employees. If your jeans are tight enough, you may even get some verbal approvals from them
- church vans parked 2 across on the sidewalk outside of the iglesia
- and of course, NY finest -- "to protect and serve" -- blocking all possible passage across 6th ave

bral wrote:
- and of course, NY finest -- "to protect and serve" -- blocking all possible passage across 6th ave

Yeah. What's up with that? Is it in their contract that they can park wherever they want? Has the precinct ever considered a parking garage?
Other municipal employees don't get to park their SUVs wherever they want.

jml wrote: What this neighborhood really needs is a youth center.

I've heard this plea from quite a few neighbors.

Subject: Bergen Street Violation

Was passing by last Sunday. Saw this violation posted on the building:

i want this building! so close to gorilla and bergen bagels, mmMMmm...

We should all chip in and make it the DH clubhouse.

i've seen that place, its big enough to put either a roller rink of a few bowling lanes.

jml wrote: What this neighborhood really needs is a youth center. There are far too many young kids with nothing better to do than get in trouble. If they had a place to go and a channel for their youthful energy, both they and the neighborhood would be better off.

I really hope that this is a priority for the memorandum of understanding with Ratner.

I am sorry, but you are very naive. Do you really think the neighborhood or the people who live here are going to get *anything* from the memorandum. It is as gimmick! Read this board about BUILD and the hundred thousand dollar salaries for the officers and how they are funded by Ratner. Acorn is in his pocket also. They are all in collusion with Ratner. The money will go to his groups but we will never see any of it.

It's gone! I'm sure it was there this morning. Now it's a pile of ruble! When did that happen? Am I halucinating? Condos to come?

Ratner does understand that this area needs places for the youth to go and let out some steam. The other groups that are with the community benefits agreement are not like BUILD and if we the surrounding communities (Propect Heights, Crown Heights, Fort Green, Clinton Hill, Park Slope) make it more known to the other groups that we need more youth centers they will make it happen.

I saw them tearing it down at about 11 am yesterday morning. I spoke with one of the demolition crew and he said they could tear the whole thing down in just a few hours. It was pretty fantastic to watch this giant machine with a claw tearing into the building as snow was falling.

WHoa, this building came down yesterday? WHat a shame! :shock:

sje wrote: WHoa, this building came down yesterday? WHat a shame! :shock:

it was demolished yesterday w/o a permit.

hard to say if there is a permit or not. None shows up on the DOB website but in a complaint from 12/9 a permit No. is referenced:

Last Inspection: 12/09/2005 - - BY BADGE # 2174 WILLIAMS GLEN BROOKLYN
Disposition: 12/09/2005 - - D4 - COMPLAINT ASSIGNED TO BEST SQUAD
Comments: DEMO IN PROGRESS PERMIT 301603101-MACHINERY ON SITE REFER TO
BEST SQUAD FOR INSPECTION

As decrepit as it looked in its former state, it looked like interesting frontage in a structural sense. I can't help but believe that whatever goes up in its place will be much more cookie-cutter.