Around Brooklyn: Big pharma exec buys Pierrepont St. house for $16M

November 23, 2020 Editorial Staff

A view across the East River from the Brooklyn Bridge’s pedestrian and cyclist pathway. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle

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Big pharma exec buys Pierrepont St. house for $16M

Pharmacy executive and investor Behzad Aghazadeh has spent $16 million on a Pierrepont Street townhouse and carriage house in Brooklyn Heights that he is hoping to combine into a mega-mansion. The townhouse is at 81 Pierrepont St., and the carriage house is behind it. This is the most anyone has paid for a townhouse in Brooklyn. In 2018, actors Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany bought a $15.5 million townhouse near the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, and photographer Jay Maisel also paid $15.5 million for a mansion on Pacific Street in Cobble Hill, according to The Real Deal.

Treyger criticizes city on schools

Councilmember Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Gravesend) released the following statement in response to the return to fully remote learning in the city’s public schools. “All school closing and reopening decisions should be guided by science, safety and equity. The safety and health of our school staff, students, and families must be our first priority. However, this is not March. It has been abundantly clear that we were on a trajectory to meet the 3% threshold, but, because the city once again failed to adequately plan for a smooth transition to remote learning, school communities and families are now scrambling to try to distribute and collect learning materials, figure out what school looks like tomorrow, and arrange childcare.”

Man shoved onto subway tracks

Police have released surveillance video of a man being shoved onto the subway tracks at Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday. The perp can be seen forcefully pushing the 29-year-old victim off the platform on the northbound 4 and 5 platform. The perp had been riding the train with the victim and his girlfriend when he suddenly started screaming, and then followed the couple off the train. The victim was able to get back onto the platform and was not seriously hurt, according to the New York Post.

BP Adams holds Upper West Side fundraiser

Brooklyn Borough President and mayoral candidate Eric Adams held a fundraiser at the Upper West Side bar “Good Enough to Eat” on Friday night. Adams wore a mask, as did most of his supporters. “This is an amazing time, this is a great time and this is a great city and we’re going to do great things for it,” Adams said, according to the Daily News.

Man injured in drive-by shooting

A man was injured in a drive-by shooting in East Flatbush on Wednesday. The 36-year-old man was struck in the leg when someone fired on him from a light-colored four-door car on Clarendon Road near Albany Avenue around 9 p.m. The man was taken to Kings County Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and no arrests had been made as of press time, according to the New York Post.

Frontus hosts career day

Assemblymember Mathylde Frontus (D-Coney Island, Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Brighton Beach, Gravesend) hosted a virtual career day last Sunday for Coney Island high school and college students. Frontus partnered with Abraham Lincoln High School, Rachel Carson High School for Coastal Studies, John Dewey High School and Kingsborough Community College to bring the event to Coney Island. Participants heard career guidance from 19 current and former Coney Island residents representing a variety of professions.

Validate my Tracer

The NYC Test & Trace Corps recently announced the launch of “Validate My Tracer,” a new tool designed to allow New Yorkers to easily verify that the person reaching out to them is a contract tracer with the NYC Test & Trace Corps, in recognition of International Fraud Awareness Week. The tool is now available on the program website. “As more people test positive for COVID-19, our contact tracers are reaching more New Yorkers than ever,” said NYC Test & Trace Corps Executive Director Dr. Ted Long. “Our program has been able to reach 90% of all New Yorkers diagnosed with COVID-19 since our program launched in June, and we are confident that this tool will help us reach even more New Yorkers by earning their trust from the start.”

Birthday party was light on masks, distancing

Photos that have surfaced of a recent birthday party for Carlo Scissura, head of the New York Building Congress, show partygoers in close quarters without masks. Among the attendees were Deputy Borough President Ingrid Lewis-Martin and former Brooklyn Democratic Chair Frank Seddio. Scissura said the event was a “surprise party” thrown by unnamed friends, adding that everyone was given a mask and guests had their temperatures taken before entering. The party took place last week, according to the Daily News.

Amazon to build ENY shipping center

Amazon has signed a lease to build a new shipping center in Brooklyn, one of two it plans to open in East New York next year. The new delivery station is planned for 1255 Flatlands Blvd. and will employ hundreds of people full- and part-time. Amazon said it hopes to open the facility in 2021, but did not give a firm date. The other Amazon delivery station set to open next year is at 2300 Linden Blvd., according to the Daily News.

Man killed in Belt Parkway crash

Around 12:20 a.m. on Sunday, a man lost control of his car on the Belt Parkway and crashed into a tree. Police said the driver of the late-model Infiniti, speeding down the parkway, left the westbound parkway just past Knapp Street in Sheepshead Bay. After the car struck the tree, it was ripped in two. The parkway’s westbound lanes were shut down for several hours as members of the NYPD Collision Investigation Squad examined the wreckage. The driver, age 31, was taken to Coney Island Hospital, according to published reports.

Catholic couple donates hundreds of turkeys

Alphonse Catanese, a Brooklyn businessman, and his wife have donated hundreds of turkeys to needy families each year. When Catanese was a child in Brooklyn, every November his father would load hundreds of turkeys into a dump truck, pick up Alphonse and his brother, and together they would give turkeys to people his father worked with throughout the year in his construction business. Since his father died in 2006, Catanese and his wife have donated hundreds of turkeys every year via Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens. They usually distribute 700 turkeys, but this year, because of the pandemic, they’ve also contributed 200 turkeys to a local church, according to Catholic News Service.

Brooklyn bakery launches Dominican cake mix

For nearly two decades, Brooklyn-based Angela’s bakery has been a New York institution. Now, the bakery is launching its Dominican Cake Mix for online purchase. “For more than 18 years, my family and I have been sharing this Dominican dessert with our loyal storefront customers, adding a little bit of our ancestry and Caribbean flavor to all types of celebrations, and after such a challenging year and people looking for new experiences and flavors, this is our way of bringing our bizcocho dominicano and our island to you,” said Rosangela Rosario, founder and CEO, Angela’s Dominican Cake Mix Corporation.

Compiled by Raanan Geberer.