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Author Topic: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building  (Read 20493 times)

Offline francis

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #60 on: February 02, 2015, 07:00:30 PM »
Businesses need to make a profit. It's fine that people gather and meet and..... Spend a couple of bucks. I'm sure that even small business owners don't like when you occupy a seat and spend the whole day with just one cup of coffee. What  I would really like to see is a food coop in the Brunson building. I think it would provide a strong sense of community and a place to gather.
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Offline moxybyproxy

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #61 on: February 06, 2015, 11:29:04 AM »
I decided to take the initiative to research a few places that I would love to see in the Bruson Bld and then contact them for interest.  I focused on chains that I wouldn't mind patronizing.  I know a lot of you don't want chains, but whatever.  If we're going to end up with chains, I would be far from upset with having the following in our nabe.  I emailed Pret a Manger and Hale and Hearty to see if they wanted to expand into JH - they politely said no.  I also looked up Au Bon Pain, Potbelly, Panera, The Hummus and Pita Co, and Crunch gym - they are all individually-owned franchises so no dice.  I got a standard email back from NYSC and Bally's saying they would forward my email to the appropriate department.  Surprisingly, the email I sent 24 Hour Fitness did not go through, even though I sent it via their website. Oh well.  Anyone want to share their experiences contacting stores/eateries they want to see here?  This is such a great thread!
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Offline aleafb

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #62 on: February 06, 2015, 11:38:06 AM »
I contacted the yoga room, which has two locations is Astoria in LIC and Walter's which has two locations in Ft Greene and Williamsburg.
Both said they had no immediate plans to expand, but were glad to have it on the radar. The yoga room in particular said that was exactly how they had ended up expanding into LIC, which is interesting. And both also said they thought their business would do well here. Walter's said since businesses weren't opening until next January he thought it was something he could consider more seriously later this year.
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Offline Shelby2

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #63 on: February 06, 2015, 11:58:32 AM »
I also filled in the form on the NYSC site where you can suggest locations.  I noticed that the Ballys by the Kew gardens/Union Turnpike stop in Queens is now a 24 hour Fitness, so if they are expanding,  they might be good to continue to pursue.
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Offline ljr

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #64 on: February 06, 2015, 03:18:55 PM »
Good work! I tried Bareburger, but they are also a franchise operation and nobody replied to my "We'd love to hear from you please email us!" email to them via their website. What is Walter's? Another yoga place? I've never heard of it.

Someone just told me about a really great-sounding place in Forest Hills called End of the Century--supposedly a chain also in Manhattan. A bar that makes all natural, unusual cocktails and they also serve food. I was planning on looking that up.

Maybe I will try and reach out to people in the Pilates world, and see if anyone wants to open a little studio with Pilates machines. I used to live in Washington Heights and we had a little place there (4 or 5 machines in a small storefront) that did so well it expanded to a larger space and they now offer massage too, I believe.

The difference is probably...the commercial rents! From what I have heard, the landlords here place the rents very high and are happy to leave the stores empty and take a tax write off while they wait for someone to come along and pay what they are asking.  That might make a Pilates studio impossible here because it is not a highly profitable business. Anyway, like all of this, it's worth a try.
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Offline Londonjo

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #65 on: February 12, 2015, 01:17:29 PM »
To me it seems obvious that a great solution would be to find an entrepreneur like my relative in London, Gillian Harwood, who many years ago founded this wonderful place: www.busworks.co.uk.

I can imagine the whole building offering small work spaces (office, studio, workshop), food outlets, shops/stalls including crafts, “incubator”, with a comfortable central space for eating, talking, laptop work. The kind of place anyone could drop by and find someone they know, or felt OK to talk to strangers, a “public house”. It should welcome seniors, and include a small indoor swimming pool with warm changing rooms. And a play corner for small children. Don’t want to put E77 or JuJu out of business, both could benefit from more space and could open a second outlet.

Problems about the per sq ft rental costs for restaurant space are answered by the food court model. My family can never agree which local restaurant to choose, so we often end up in Astoria in a jovial fish place.
 
There is much argument about who is actually moving in to the neighbourhood and also who already lives here. My impression is there are lots of new people. There really should be a survey, if there isn’t one already. I believe there are many people who work from home or travel to Manhattan to their own workplace.

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Offline ljr

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #66 on: February 12, 2015, 10:29:00 PM »
Londonjo--where is the "jovial fish place"? Sounds...well, jovial! A word I rarely encounter. Perhaps you are British? Interesting idea, kind of a more downscale Chelsea Market? Could it possibly bring in the big bucks the landlord is looking for? I just don't know how the huge rents being asked for can be dealt with.
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Offline QueensLand

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #67 on: September 12, 2015, 08:10:12 AM »
Just wanted to follow up on this thread from last spring, since the Bruson Bldg (75th St/37th Ave) is still undergoing renovations.  An article about a mini-mall in Bushwick was just published in DNAinfo yesterday, and it made me think that perhaps the Bruson owners should try hiring Jenel Management instead of Sabra Realty…Maybe, just maybe, they'd seek more creative additions to the neighborhood (besides their proposed fast food joints) -- http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150911/bushwick/bushwick-shoppers-world-be-replaced-with-mini-mall
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Offline dssjh

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #68 on: September 12, 2015, 10:38:33 AM »
the serious ideas that have been floated so far don't sound too appealing to me either, but after a look at what Jenel does in queens, "creative" isn't the first word that comes to mind.

http://jenel.net/properties/22-01-22-24-31st-street-astoria/ (two banks, one pharmacy)

http://jenel.net/properties/3712-3716-junction-blvd-queens/ (two phone stores in one building)

http://jenel.net/properties/161-21-jamaica-avenue-queens/ (an applebees and, yes, a phone store)

it's hard to tell, but it seems like the current developer is carving out a couple of spaces larger than what was there before in terms of footprint.
« Last Edit: September 12, 2015, 10:43:48 AM by dssjh »
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Offline Shelby2

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #69 on: November 14, 2015, 01:31:48 PM »
It looks like we have the first confirmed tenant for the newly renovated Bruson Building -- Habib Bank.

I'm surprised that there's been no news of other tenants.  I guess we will just have to wait to see what happens.

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20151113/jackson-heights/bruson-building-welcomes-back-habib-bank-as-first-confirmed-tenant
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Offline European

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #70 on: November 14, 2015, 05:06:27 PM »
Yesss! Habib Bank, just what we needed!
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Offline Matt

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #71 on: November 14, 2015, 06:04:29 PM »
It's nice to see that the owners are welcoming back some of the tenants that lost their space in the fire.

We are not gaining a bank, so there is no reason to complain. They've been in the neighborhood for years.
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Offline hfm

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #72 on: November 15, 2015, 01:17:05 PM »
Quote from: European on November 14, 2015, 05:06:27 PM
Yesss! Habib Bank, just what we needed!

To be fair, they were there when it burned down.
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Offline eddie

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #73 on: November 15, 2015, 07:08:54 PM »
Quote from: European on November 14, 2015, 05:06:27 PM
Yesss! Habib Bank, just what we needed!

I guess the Pakistani restaurant didn't work out for him...
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Offline dssjh

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Re: Town Hall Meeting To Discuss The Bruson Building
« Reply #74 on: November 15, 2015, 09:46:28 PM »
i didn't realize that Mr. Iqbal had invested in restaurants as well.
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