Photo by Rhododendrites on Wikimedia

Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery announced on Thursday the opening of a new art installation created by the 184-year-old institution’s first-ever artist in residence. Located within the property’s catacombs, a portion of the cemetery that is usually off-limits to the public, Heidi Lau’s Gardens as Cosmic Terrains consists of sculptures that hang from skylights. The installation opens to the public on Saturday, May 7, and will be on view through July 3.

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Cherry Blossoms at Green-Wood. Photo by David Berkowitz via Flickr

Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery is welcoming in the natural beauty of spring with its own “Hanami,” or flower-viewing festival. After hours on April 20, Green-Wood Cemetery will be treating guests to a night of live music, food, entertainment, and educational programs about the cemetery’s diverse variety of trees and wildlife. Visitors will travel down winding paths lined with 172 blooming cherry trees, among which are the Yoshino Cherry and Kanzan Japanese Flowering cherry trees, two species of cherry trees commonly celebrated in Hanami Festivals, a tradition of enjoying the blooming of cherry blossoms that began in Japan.

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Image courtesy of Michael Roberto on Wikimedia

Brooklyn’s cherished 119-year-old Grand Prospect Hall will be replaced with a new luxury apartment building. The Victorian-era banquet hall located at 263 Prospect Avenue in Greenwood Heights was owned for over 40 years by Michael and Alice Halkias, who captured the attention of New Yorkers through their over-the-top television commercials advertising the hall. As first reported by Yimby, permits were filed last month for a 147-unit apartment building at the site with 180 underground parking spaces, recreational spaces, and a fitness room.

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Listing photos by Martyn Gallina-Jones

Just two blocks from Greenwood Cemetery and a quick walk to Prospect Park, this lovely Greenwood Heights townhouse at 278 22nd Street is asking $2,150,000. A recent artistic renovation created a modern, almost Scandinavian-inspired interior, with lots of light and clean, open spaces. There are three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, and a rear deck that leads to a large backyard.

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Photos courtesy of The Corcoran Group

Just north of Green-Wood Cemetery, on the border of Greenwood Heights and Park Slope, this two-bedroom condo is asking $899,000. The apartment is located at 259 21st Street, a 1905 schoolhouse converted into lofts. The transformation left this unit with original oversized arched windows and 12.5-foot-high beamed ceilings, and the owner’s creative touch added a cool wall of built-in bookshelves that frames both of the sleeping areas.

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Listing photos by DDReps, courtesy of Compass

Perched at the highest point in Brooklyn in Greenwood Heights, tucked into a quiet street surrounded by greenery, this contemporary townhouse at 614a 7th Avenue, asking $2.75 million, would be equally at home in California or the sun-baked tropics. Balcony doors can be thrown open for panoramic views, which include the Statue of Liberty–and the endless vistas of the adjacent Green Wood Cemetery. On the lucky additions side, there’s a curb cut and a garage. Even better: A mural of Basquiat–a Brooklyn native–on the garage door.

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Rendering via BHA

A new study recommends building a cantilevered linear park to run along the Prospect Expressway in Brooklyn, akin to the High Line. Developed by students from NYU Wagner’s capstone program, PX Forward proposes ways to reimagine the 2.3-mile-long corridor, whose construction was led by Robert Moses between 1953 and 1962. As it stands today, the expressway cuts through neighborhoods like South Slope, Windsor Terrace, Greenwood Heights and Kensington, exposing residents to unsafe conditions due to high traffic and noise pollution.

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Here’s a gorgeous single-family home just blocks away from Prospect Park that just hit the market for $2.25 million. Located in Greenwood Heights, the 2,280 square-foot home features multiple skylights, landscaped gardens, exposed beams, hardwood floors, industrial-style finishes, and built-in storage. And, of course, there are those sunken floors giving this pad the ultimate mid-century modern vibe.

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