The historic Greenpoint Savings Bank at 807 Manhattan Avenue opened in 1906 and was the work of the architecture team Helmle and Huberty, who also designed the Williamsburgh Savings Bank.
The neoclassical structure has long been a staple in the North Brooklyn neighborhood. It achieved landmark status in 1982.
However, the Capital One branch that resided inside the building closed during the pandemic, leaving the building’s future uncertain. Slate Property currently owns the bank building and an annex structure that is attached to it. The developer plans on restoring the annex and converting it into luxury condos.
Located at 1080 Lorimer Street, the annex will hold 29 units when it officially opens. Additionally, the developer is working in partnership with architecture firm PKSB to ensure that the renovations will preserve and respect the history of the building.
The completed annex will mimic the aesthetic style of the bank, with gray tiling echoing the iconic dome roof.
“Our goal for 1080 Lorimer was to preserve the history of the building while creating a one-of-a-kind residence that can’t be found anywhere else in the city,” said Slate Property Group founder Martin Nussbaum. “I’m confident we’ve done just that.”
The annex building will offer duplexes and three-bedroom condos. The property’s website currently lists prices that range between $995,000 and $3,500,000. Residents of the annex will have access to a rooftop lounge and courtyard that will offer unobstructed views of the bank building’s dome roof.
Despite the renovations coming to the annex, the future of the bank building proper on Manhattan Avenue is uncertain. Since the Capital One branch closed last year, the building has remained vacant and the property’s owners are yet to share details on any plans to fill the space.

Rendering courtesy of Slate Property Group, PKSB, Quinn PR

On Friday, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and other officials from the Brooklyn Diocese unveiled a new statue of Mother Cabrini at St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church on Hicks Street in Carroll Gardens.
The monument comes off the heels of a years-long effort to construct a statue in honor of Cabrini, an Italian-American nun and activist who was the first U.S. citizen canonized as a Catholic saint.
“It’s a real replica of her presence here so that people can remember what she did in her life,” Bishop DiMarzio said. “She reached out to the people on the margins of society, and that’s our job today. Her courage was great because her faith was great, and even when Mother Cabrini was met with rejection, she never returned anything but love.”
Bishop DiMarzio performed a blessing on the new statue, which depicts Mother Cabrini helping two young children.
Born in Italy in 1850, Cabrini immigrated to New York in 1899 and set to work founding a great number of hospitals, schools, and orphanages throughout the city. She is credited with helping many Italian-Americans find their footing, and her work lives on through the continued humanitarian efforts of the church in New York City.
The idea for a new statue of Cabrini first arose in 2019, when the saint received the most votes in New York City’s “She Built NYC” public art campaign. However, the de Blasio administration did not go through with constructing a statue built in her likeness, prompting harsh backlash from Catholics and Italian-Americans.
Governor Andrew Cuomo reacted to the controversy by dedicating a statue to her in Battery Park on Columbus Day, yet church officials still felt that more action was required. The Diocese of Brooklyn launched a fundraising campaign of its own and raised over $40,000 to build the statue of Mother Cabrini in Carroll Gardens.
“Despite the slowdown caused by the Coronavirus, we are so proud Mother Cabrini’s statue now stands on Summit Street, an area where she once served those in need,” said Diocese of Brooklyn deputy press secretary John Quaglione.

Photos courtesy of the Brooklyn Diocese.

Last Tuesday morning, 1 Willoughby Square opened its doors in Downtown Brooklyn, officially making it the tallest office building in the borough.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, representatives from JEMB Realty Corporation, and officials from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) attended a special ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the milestone.
“The opening of 1 Willoughby marks a huge turning point in our recovery,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said during the event. “Over a year ago, as the city shut down to save lives, we could have only dreamed of celebrating the opening of a brand-new office tower.
“We got knocked down but we got back up,” he added. “Here we have positive proof that New York City is open for business. ”
“We are confident that it will add to the growth of Downtown Brooklyn,” said JEMB representative Morris Jerome. “As we are coming out of this pandemic, it is our sincere hope that the tenants of this building will help local small businesses emerge from the pandemic.”
The building is 34 stories and offers approximately 500,000 square feet of office space. The building is the work of architecture firm FXCollaborative, who first proposed the project in 2014. The firm is also moving 100 members of its own workforce into the completed building, making them the property’s first tenants.
The space includes a gym, locker rooms, showers, employee lounge, and private outdoor space for tenants. In the future, the building will include a 332-seat public elementary school on its first six floors.
FXCollaborative’s proposal for 1 Willoughby Square originally included an ambitious underground parking facility and public park space. However, both of these elements were abandoned during construction due to a lack of funding.

Rendering courtesy of FXCollaborative.

Photos by nycmayorsoffice on Flickr.

On June 16, 14 young New Yorkers graduated from a unique masonry and historic preservation program at Green-Wood Cemetery.
Throughout the ten-week curriculum, the students helped to renovate and restore a century-old monument in the heart of the cemetery, an achievement that was also celebrated at Wednesday’s event.
“It’s great that we get this work done, but the most important thing is that we are creating a future for some of these people,” explained Green-Wood Cemetery president Richard Moylan. “Not everyone needs to go to college, and there are some people who don’t know what they want to do yet, but they know they like working with their hands.”
The program, officially called Bridge to Crafts Careers, was organized by the Green-Wood Historic Fund and three community partners: Brooklyn-based workforce development organization Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, the International Masonry Institute, and the World Monuments Fund.
Bridge to Crafts Careers began in 2018, but Green-Wood was forced to suspend the program last year due to the pandemic. However, students who had been accepted into the 2020 class were allowed to complete the program this year.
Graduates from the program earn their OSHA certification and go on to a diverse set of careers, including jobs in tile setting, carpentry, and positions at Brooklyn’s Local 1 of the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers.
“The level of interest every single year that we’ve done this is amazing,” explained Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow CEO Liliana Polo-McKenna. “Hundreds of people are interested in doing this because of the opportunities they see. Even if it isn’t specifically masonry, there are a number of paths they can take.
“And the fact that this partnership is really local makes the program even more special,” she added. “Our office is literally a few blocks away.”
Throughout the program, the students worked to restore the ornate mausoleum of shipping magnate, reformer, and San Francisco mayor Cornelius Kingsland Garrison (1809-1888).
The mausoleum was selected because of the significant deterioration it has experienced since its constructruction over 140 years ago. Students were tasked with replacing old mortar with new historically accurate mortar and performing additional stone repair and cleaning.
“We have all put in so much into this historic structure and we are so happy to share it with you today,” said Neela Wickremesinghe, director of Restoration and Preservation at Green-Wood Cemetery. “It looks just as good as it did when it was created in the 19th century.
“The graduates’ story is now linked with Garrison’s, and I for one think that it is more compelling,” Wickremesinghe added. “You learned a new trade, saved a priceless monument, and gained skills that will help you with the next phase of your life.”
Elimarie Garcia-Cosme from the World Monuments Fund agreed, saying “preservation is near and dear to my heart, and it is critical that we have talented young people entering the field.”
After the ceremony, the Star caught up with some of the graduates to hear their thoughts on the experience.
“Paper and pencil has been my best friend since I was a kid,” said Francis Rosario. “I wanted to do something a little more impactful. I love the hard work that comes with masonry and I am proud to look at the finished product.”
“About ten years ago I was in a woodshop class in school and I was not into it,” explained Aniyah Carr. “I thought, ‘I am a girl, they have a cosmetology class, put me in that instead.’ There were no more seats though, so I stayed in the woodshop class and I fell in love with it. I loved working with my hands and I knew a sit-down job would never work for me.”
Carr currently has plans to work as a tile setter. She attributes the Green-Wood program for giving her the skills to make that dream a reality.
“I live in a brick house, so I’m going to tell my landlord to let me fix up some bricks,” Carr said. “The program taught me to have a new respect for history and the work that goes into preserving it.”

Photos courtesy of Green-Wood Cemetery

With the primary election coming to an end, Democrat Art Chang has been running for mayor and has been overlooked as a candidate. The newspaper decided to sit-down with him to see what he has planned for New York City.

Chang was born in Jim-Crow Atlanta and raised in an all white district in Ohio where he realized how different he is. This inspired his move to New York City, where he presently resides in Brooklyn. “I’ve always kind of been open to changing myself, I came from a domestic violence household,” Chang told the paper in a recent interview. “And one thing that is true about people who grew up in violent families is that it’s a cycle, it happens generation after generation.”

“So if you want to break it, you actually have to start with yourself to change. You have to recognize what it is and you have to set a different vision for who you want to be.”

With this mindset, Chang has done many things for New York such as being a co-creator of NYC Votes to improve transparency in the government which is where those famous “I Voted” stickers come from. He is also the creator of Casebook, the first web-based software platform for child welfare. As well as building Queens West in Long Island City and was one of only two waterfront developments to not lose power during Hurricane Sandy.

“I did Casebook and NYC votes, not as an employee of the government,” said Chang. “And if you can make those changes from the outside, imagine what I could do from the inside. I’ll be the leader actually making the decisions about how we actually do these things in the city.”

The biggest personality that Chang expressed is adaptability especially for small businesses. “Internet technology is one of the best ways of having resilience because the stores that I know who actually have online presences before the pandemic, flipped over to ecommerce,” said Chang. “Even if they were selling baked goods, they flipped ecommerce on because they were able to do things like DoorDash and things like that.”

Chang noticed that many small businesses were “Cash Only” and were unable to adapt during the pandemic. He proposes working with the NYC tech industry to create an NYC delivery app as well as create a user-friendly online and mobile service to enable all retailers to post their openings and closings.

Not only were small businesses unable to adapt to the new reality that the pandemic infringed upon them, but the inability to pay rent and support themselves was another problem. However, that’s another problem Chang has a solution for.
“The city controls property taxes and they can do something that’s called forbearance and eliminate the penalties that people pay on property taxes for landlords who are willing to pass advantage through to their tenants because what we want to do is we want to keep people in their homes, right, and small businesses in their stores,” Chang said. “And that’s the primary thing, because it costs us so much more as a society, if we let people become homeless and let stores go out of business.”

In regards to housing, Chang will address the problems with NYCHA by converting NYCHA to some form of tenant ownership, whether that’s social ownership, limited cooperatives, or other structures that can give tenants more control and allow for debt financing to fund the essential repairs.
Chang will commit to meeting the demands of fixing the multilayered problems of NYCHA, with full data review, the use of green materials and green building methods. Such as initiating data-driven programs to make maintenance issues transparent and make maintenance accountable by giving NYCHA residents first right to new low-income housing as a way to incentivize vacancies to make repairs more efficient.
Public safety is one of the issues that has been debated long and hard by other mayoral candidates such as Eric Adams and Andrew Yang in this race. “Cutting the budget is not going to change the NYPD,” said Chang. “I can guarantee you that. Unless you actually change the city’s charter, it will do absolutely zero.”

Chang plans to cut $1.3 billion from the police department’s budget to demilitarize the NYPD, and focus on communities in crisis. The idea starts with re-framing the use of CompStat to be used to signal where we have potential community distress and to direct intensive and coordinated responses from the different components of government that would decrease that community’s pain and lead to healthier communities.

“If you want to actually change the NYPD, you have to get the state legislature to remove the sole disciplinary powers of the police commissioner and only the legislature can do that with the governor,” Chang elaborated. “And then you have to have real accountability which can only happen through the city charter.”

Along with cutting the budget, Chang proposes the creation of two new offices, an Office of Police Accountability that will allow for increased accountability and enforcement of independent review. The second office will be an Office of Police Discipline that will control the release of data to promote transparency and accountability.

Chang told our paper that one of his first acts as Mayor would be to pause every project to have a citywide discussion with constituents and local leaders. “I’m not going to have this patchwork, piecemeal, non-democratic approach that doesn’t have equity and justice at its core,” said Chang. “Where are we putting low income housing? Or how are we greening our transportation and our buildings? Where are we putting in parks?”
With Chang’s experience in transforming and adapting to the changes around him, he will reframe what it means to be resilient. “If I can be the person to bring that thinking into government, then we can do all these kinds of things and that goes for systemic change, coupled with the system’s thinking.”
“I believe that I can change the city tremendously across all these different avenues by changing the design of the city and changing all of our governance structures.”

Rosie Risnler is an artist based in Forest Hills who recently published a new book. Titled “Inspirational Words (& Artwork)”, her new piece is a collection of motivational mantras about life and sketches she’s created over the past few years.

While Rinsler primarily designs greeting cards, this title marks the sixth book that she’s produced over the course of her career. It is the first of her books to include excerpts of writing and explores her personal connection between creativity and mental health.

In the winter of 2019, she was waking up every morning with panic attacks and having constant nightmares. In the midst of all of this she had a fall and became so weak that she had to go to a rehab hospital for 6 weeks. Throughout her struggles she continued writing and creating artwork – never losing her passion for art or creativity.

Two years later, through intensive rehab and therapy she said she’s happier than she’s ever been at any point in her life. She also believes that her psychiatrist, Dr. Vivek, saved her life in helping her find the right medication.

The inspiration behind the publication of this book is in how it might benefit people who have had similar experiences with mental health. After seeing the progression of her art and writing as she got better, her therapist, Barbra Williams urged her publish the body of work – saying it could be helpful to people in all walks of life.

“There is always hope,” Rinsler wrote in a letter to the paper. “Mental illness is not a dead-end street and my book is a testament to that.”

For more information, visit rosiesoriginalcards.com

For much of the 20th century, soda fountains were found in drugstores, candy shops, five-and-dimes, and ice cream parlors. Today, the American staple is rarely seen, but you can still get a milkshake, egg cream, or even a Lime Rickey as if it was yesterday in Forest Hills.
Thanks to the commitment of generations of the Citrano family, Eddie’s Sweet Shop on Metropolitan Avenue in Forest Hills still offers a taste of those bygone days.
Formerly Witt’s, it holds the distinction as the longest continuously operating and most intact soda fountain establishment in the city.
Pharmacist Jacob Baur launched the Liquid Carbonic Company in 1888, making it possible for any aspiring soda jerk to purchase a soda fountain. By the 1920s, it was the norm for drugstores to have a soda fountain.
When Prohibition began in 1919 and bars were shuttered, soda fountains were a go-to place for socializing.
“The soda fountain is the most valuable, most useful, most profitable, and altogether most beneficial business building feature assimilated by the drugstore in a generation,” read an article by John Somerset in a June 1920 edition of “Drug Topics.” “The bar is dead, the fountain lives, and soda is king!”
However, with the widespread availability of ice cream, the popularity of soft drinks, and the rise of fast food, soda fountains dwindled in the 1970s.
Richard Delaney lived near Sutton Hall Pharmacy on Ascan Avenue, a staple of his childhood. He praised its warm and cozy ambiance, and said the soda fountain brought people together
“When I was in grade school at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, we got out at three and would have Cokes or sundaes.” he said. “One of the pharmacists, Mr. Drapkin, was especially a wonderful person. Once you started going, you kept returning, since the environment was so pleasant.”
Lucy Brown Karwoski could often be spotted at Woolworth’s at 63rd Drive and Queens Boulevard. She recalled ice cream cones with two scoops for a dime, and up to five scoops for a quarter.
“You could mix your flavors and get sprinkles on top,” she said. “Can you imagine a kid walking home with that many scoops?”
Justine Mastanduno is currently the manager of Kew Gardens Cinemas. She recalled shopping at Woolworth’s with her mom.
“The counter area had a distinct, sweet aroma to it, and I only smell that again when I open the cabinet at our concessions at the cinema,” she said. “I can close my eyes and breathe it in, and I’m instantly transported back to the red vinyl covered stool next to my mom at the Woolworth’s counter.”
She considers soda fountains part of a bygone era of simpler times.
“We would sit, chat, and giggle with whoever we were with, because we were 100 percent present,” Mastanduno said. “There were no phones or apps to take us out of the sweet moments.”
As a child, Joy Kurtz lived near Schattin’s on 76th Road at Queens Boulevard.
“There was nothing better than walking up the block on a warm summer’s evening to get a vanilla fudge ice cream cone with sprinkles on top.”
She pointed out that shops like Schattin’s also sold “all the important stuff,” including bubble gum and baseball cards, newspapers, comic books, and sandwiches.
“All kinds of magazines were inserted into the wooden slots which lined the wall,” Kurtz said. “I can still see the brown phone booth with a seat and a well-worn directory.”
In the early 1950s, Allan Wachtel and his family moved to the new Howard Apartments on 66th Road. He and his brother Bert often went to Randy’s Luncheonette near the former Trylon Theater.
“Randy knew everyone in the neighborhood,” Wachtel said. “Randy, who looked out for my brother and I, would delight in seeing my eyes bulge when he slid the toasted pound cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in front of me. It was all for 70 cents! At the end of the week, my incredible mom would settle up, as they kept a running total.”
At Croft Drugs, which was not far from Randy’s, Wachtel delivered merchandise and prescriptions to customers. At Sam’s near the 67th Avenue subway, he was a soda jerk.
“Sam taught me the art of the egg cream and making a Lime Rickey,” he said. “The action really started around 5 p.m. at rush hour. With each subway train that arrived, we would be jammed with customers wanting Lucky Strikes, Pall Malls, and Marlboros, which were big sellers at 25 cents a pack.”
Marilyn Shurka Silk recalled Sarah & Paul’s on Austin Street and 63rd Drive.
“I bought my sidewalk chalk, comic books, and Spaulding balls there,” she said. “I brought bottles that we found on the LIRR tracks for deposit money, which we used to buy candy and twin popsicles.”
Silk said it was a simple pleasure to share ice cream with loved ones and friends in Alexander’s and Jahn’s on Queens Boulevard.
“We loved The Kitchen Sink dessert at Jahn’s,” she said. “I wish that life was that simple now.”

Local hockey fans support the Islanders in their quest to take home the NHL Stanley Cup

For the second straight year, the New York Islanders are in the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup semifinals and fans in Queens say they have been waiting patiently for the team to achieve their recent success.

“I’ve been hooked on the Islanders since the early-90’s when my father had an employee with season tickets who took me to games,” said Joe DiGangi, owner of Mario’s Meats & Deli in Middle Village, himself an Isles season ticket holder now. “It’s been mostly downs but now it’s our time to boast.”

Before last season, the “Isles” had not reached the conference finals since 1993. They won four consecutive Stanley Cup titles between 1980 and 1983, then failed to make the playoffs through long stretches. In that time, the Isles’ crosstown rivals, the New York Rangers, won the cup in 1994, and the New Jersey Devils have won three cups since 1995.

Starting in the ‘15-16 season and ending with the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, the Isles played some home games at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The move from the aging Nassau Coliseum on Long Island was panned by critics, who cited obstructed views and an arena unfit for hockey. But the short-lived relocation did bring the Isles closer to fans from Western Queens and Brooklyn. Next season, the team will move to the brand-new UBS Arena opening at Belmont Park.

The Isles started winning after the hiring of Barry Trotz as head coach. Since then the team has made the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, rallying their Queens fan base in the process.

Maspeth Federal Savings Bank, headquartered in Queens, has sponsored the Islanders for several seasons. The bank’s logo appears on the boards of the Isles home rink and in advertisements on the team’s website. “We’re so proud to sponsor the Islanders and wish them the very best of luck in their pursuit of the Stanley Cup,” said Thomas Rudzewick, the bank’s President & CEO.

Custom guitar builder Dean Gordon is a lifelong Isles fan. The Astoria resident even created a special “Isles guitar” that was raffled off to benefit the Islanders Children’s Foundation in 2017. “With the new ownership and management, I walk down the street and see Isles gear and fans,” Gordon said, “It’s fun being a part of a team making it’s stamp.”

Rego Park resident Sean McClain, a Zamboni driver, has maintained the Isles’ home ice in Brooklyn and on Long Island since 2016. “Seeing them successful is rewarding for all of us at work who make the ice surface that the pros play on. When the Isles win, it almost feels like we helped,” McClain said.

Katch, a gastropub in Astoria with many TV screens, regularly hosts the Queens chapter of the “Isles Meetup” watch parties. “The atmosphere has been electric,” said Andrew Bilder, who organizes the viewings. “There’s nothing like playoff hockey. I’m excited to watch the team go further alongside some really amazing people in a really awesome place like Katch.”

Ten-year-old Isles fan James Jano of Flushing has made a believer out of his dad, Chris, a Rangers fan for more than 40 years. “This team is showing me something,” the elder Jano, a school bus driver, said. “They have really captivated me to a point where I have actually been cheering for them eagerly. I found it very easy to wear my son’s cap.”

Joe Termine has an Isles flag hanging outside his home in Middle Village. “I’ve been a fan for 42 years and I went to one of the Pittsburgh playoff-games and one against the Bruins,” Termine said. “There are a lot of Islanders fans in Queens–more than most people realize.”