Question Of The Day

November 23, 2008 by missheather
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic

This is the storefront at 881 Manhattan Avenue. As my colleague over at Brooklyn11222 noted earlier this year this delectable bit of early 1960’s style (and its neighbors to the north) have been vacant for some time. On May 27 she wrote:

…Tonight, getting off the G train, we ran into a local couple who were complaining about the same thing we were, and overheard them say, â€œAnd Duane Reade, here we come.â€ They confirmed that it was going to be a Duane Reade, taking over the candy store on the very corner, the upstairs and the downstairs of the building, and that the buildings between it and the corner of Milton (except for the bank-now-medical-clinic) were going to be torn down and a highrise was going in.

This explains the businesses moving around, and the continual empty storefronts – who wants to move in if youâ€™re going to have to close up shop soon?

Confirmations and/or denials appreciated.

As you can see as of November 22, 2008 there is no highrise —and given the way the economy is going I doubt there will be one in the foreseeable future.

In the meantime this property has become a popular spot for the local homeless population to take a nap. It also serves nicely as an ad hoc garbage can and (as we have seen already) space to post advertisements. Which brings me to this.