Activists Propose Alternatives To Save Historic Red Hook Building

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — Developers who have started tearing down a historic grain storehouse should instead try to preserve the building and turn it into a brewery, market or manufacturing space, according to local activists.

The Gowanus Landmarking Coalition has released three ideas for restoring the S.W. Bowne Grain Storage warehouse as alternatives to the current owners plan to tear down the building, which was first built in 1886 on Smith Street.

The ideas, developed by three different architects, propose turning the building into a manufacturing facility, a maker space, a brewery or a public market as a way to preserve it. They are the latest effort in the group's fight to have the building declared a landmark, which picked up steam over the last few months as the owners, the Chetrit Group, started demolishing it despite orders from the Department of Buildings not to do so.

“We are calling on the Chetrit Group to put its demolition plans aside and instead to rehabilitate the structure through adaptive reuse,” said Brad Vogel, of the coalition. “This building should be landmarked and revitalized—like other historic brick warehouses along the Brooklyn waterfront—not destroyed.”

One of the alternatives, created by Severn Clay-Youman, shows the grainhouse converted into a brewery, maker space and commercial space. Another, submitted anonymously, would keep part of the building as a manufacturing space but add a market inside. The third option was developed by Gate Pratt, though details were not immediately available about what it would include.

Advocates say that it is unclear what the owners have planned for the property, which is currently zoned as a manufacturing site, or why the building needs to be torn down.

The property is one of several that is on the coalition's priority list of proposed landmarks, along with other groups who have asked it be protected, like PortSide New York and Resilient Red Hook, the group said.

The coalition is also asking for other architects with ideas for how to preserve the building to submit their alternatives. The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission has said it will review Gowanus sites by June 2019 in light of a rezoning plan currently being considered for the neighborhood, the coalition added.

“The owner is angling for a spot rezoning and we’re glad (Councilman Carlos) Menchaca has made clear that will not happen on his watch," said Simeon Bankoff of the Historic Districts Council, a Coalition member. "Finding a revenue-producing use for the existing building is eminently possible.”

The Department of Buildings issued a stop-work order for the building last June after the developers started to demolish it without a proper permit, a DOB spokeswoman said. The developers were eventually given a demolition permit earlier this year, but had not gone through the required process to remedy the first violation and have the stop-order lifted, she added.

Inspectors found during three inspections in March that developers were continuing demolition despite the stop-work order.

Most recently, inspectors visiting the site in May did not find that work was being performed in violation of the stop work order. But, the builders were given two other violations, one for the failure to maintain a sidewalk shed in April and and another for failure to maintain the building's facade in May.

The stop-work order is still in effect, though it was partially lifted to allow for sidewalk shed repairs after a panel from the shed fell, the spokeswoman said.

The activists have also said they worry about the property given that an investigation into a fire at the building in June is ongoing. FDNY has said the fire appears to have been intentionally set, officials told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Menchaca has previously argued that the fire seemed suspicious given that it happened around the time activists first started to raise questions about the buildings demolition.