At an Old Warehouse, a Reversal of Fortune
ONE thing that the owners of the Austin, Nichols & Company warehouse at 184 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, were firm about throughout the long battle over the building’s fate three years ago was that it was not historically valuable. The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, which declared the 1915 structure a landmark, disagreed, but the City Council took the rare step of overruling the commission and siding with the owners.
A lawyer for the owners, the Kestenbaum family, called the warehouse an eyesore. Councilman David Yassky, who helped lead the fight against designating the building a landmark, described the warehouse as “a nondescript white box,” indistinguishable from anything else on the Williamsburg waterfront. When the mayor stepped in to preserve the warehouse, the Council overrode him, too.
Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/nyregion/thecity/11aust.html
