image via Google Earth

Applications are now being accepted in the lottery for 93 newly-constructed rental apartments at Bedford Arms at 1336 Bedford Avenue, Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The new building’s 93 units are available to households earning between 40 percent and 165 percent of the area median income, ranging from $590/month one-bedrooms to $3,060/month three-bedrooms.

All the details, this way

Images courtesy of Tri-Lox

A new interactive playscape created by design and fabrication practice Tri-Lox brings creative play to the rooftop terrace at Brooklyn Children’s Museum in Crown Heights. Inspired by the unique nests made by the baya weaver bird, Nest is made from reclaimed NYC water tower wood fashioned into an organic form; the woven landscape has a climbable exterior, circular hammock area and permeable interior space, all designed to foster free play and discovery.

Find out what makes this playscape so special

The Center’s historic Hunterfly Road Houses via Wiki Commons

The Weeksville Heritage Center has been added to a list of 33 Cultural Institutions Groups (CIG), guaranteeing the museum will have its basic operating costs covered, as Curbed first reported. After revealing its precarious financial position earlier this year, Weeksville launched a crowdfunding campaign in May to meet the Center’s short-term operating costs. The effort ended up bringing in over $266,000 from more than 4,100 donors around the world. The coveted CIG designation—the first new addition in more than 20 years and the first black cultural center in Brooklyn to make the list—means that Weeksville will be able to enjoy greater stability as it continues to share its vital mission with visitors and the community.

All the details

Rendering by Darc Studio.
In designing a Crown Heights girls’ school seeking an addition to their current campus, design and architecture firm ODA New York challenged the traditional American school building model, taking the future of urban density into account. The resulting design introduces a sixth facade, giving the structure a new set of faces to apply materials and create openings.

More views of the cool new-school design

The Hunterfly Road Houses, part of the Center, via Wiki Commons

The Weeksville Heritage Center is dedicated to documenting, preserving and interpreting the history of free African American communities in central Brooklyn and beyond. Built on the site of Weeksville, once the second-largest free black community in Antebellum America, the center maintains the landmarked Hunterfly Road Houses, which are the last standing historical remnants of that remarkable community, and mounts exhibitions, installations, and community programs. But rising operational costs have left the Center in a precarious financial position, and without support, the organization may have to close its doors as early as July. To meet its short-term operating costs, the Weeksville Heritage Center has launched a crowd-funding campaign in the hopes of raising at least $200,000 by June 30th.

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Via 409 Eastern Parkway

Applications are now being accepted for 56 middle-income apartments at a brand new luxury building in Crown Heights. Facing Brooklyn’s historic thoroughfare, 409 Eastern Parkway sits just one block from bustling Franklin Avenue and two blocks from the Brooklyn Museum, Botanic Garden, and Prospect Park. Plus, the building offers residents more than 17,000 square feet of amenities, including a fitness center, pet spa, children’s playroom, co-working spaces, landscaped roof with bocce ball courts, and more. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 80 and 120 percent of the area median income can apply for the units, ranging from a $1,168/month studio to a $2,759/month two-bedroom.

Find out if you qualify

Image courtesy of NYC Department of City Planning

A proposed mega-project from Continuum Companies and Lincoln Equities on a large, partially-vacant site at 960 Franklin Avenue would include 1,578 apartments that would be divided evenly between market-rate and affordable units, Curbed reports. The developers are seeking zoning amendments from the city for a pair of 39-story towers, each 421 feet high plus 40 feet for a mechanical bulkhead, on a 120,000-square-foot site near the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in Crown Heights.

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Photo via WinterFest at Brooklyn Museum

Brooklyn is getting a new winter festival and market this holiday season full of family-fun events, shopping, wine and beer tastings, and more. Dubbed WinterFest, the pop-up will take over 40,000 square feet of outdoor space at the Brooklyn Museum from Nov. 23 to Dec. 31 and feature more than 50 holiday-decorated wooden chalets with local crafts and handmade gifts inside.

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The historic Elkins House at 1375 Dean Street, an 1850s wood-frame home in Crown Heights, is officially the neighborhood’s oldest house–and  you can rent one of its duplex units from January to April of 2019 for $9,250 a month. The landmarked wood-frame building has been completely renovated with 2,033 square feet of living space including five  bedrooms (two with private balconies) and a private top-floor deck. The home’s newly-converted condos were last seen on the market last spring, with two duplex units–including this one–asking $2.3 and $2.7 million.

Take a tour

Weeksville’s historic Hunterfly Road Houses via Wiki Commons

After the state of New York State abolished slavery in 1827, the country’s second-largest free black community was established in Brooklyn. Known as Weeksville, today the neighborhood falls a bit under the radar, surrounded by more sought-after neighborhoods like Crown Heights and Bed Stuy. But it’s a charming little enclave, lined with many two-family homes and small brick rowhouses, that has done well to preserve its history. And just down the street from the Weeksville Heritage Center is a new 10-unit rental building at 1520 Prospect Place that just opened an affordable housing lottery for three $2,098/month one-bedrooms.

See the qualifications