Brooklyn Today December 13: Ivanka, Kushner Could Profit From Tax Break They Pushed

The Lede

Happy Thursday! The BQE rehab saga continues, we take a tour of the Cobble Hill Historic District, and a new Thai restaurant is coming to Downtown Brooklyn. Plus, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner could profit from a tax break they pushed, we tell you why Amazon didn’t come to Brooklyn, and the city secures $25 million in federal funds to repair the Brooklyn Bridge. Finally, a Belgian restaurant arrives in Bushwick, and we recommend the best happy hour deals in the city.

Imprint

Model Emily Ratajkowski lounges in a half-submerged chair on the January cover of Vogue Australia.

The Rundown

NO MATTER HOW LONG BQE REPAIRS TAKE, PROMENADE WILL BE OUT OF COMMISSION FOR SOME TIME

The city’s DOT has begun to analyze the feasibility of a plan put forth by community groups that might save the landmarked Brooklyn Heights Promenade from being temporarily turned into a six-lane highway. Even if the BQE is not routed over the esplanade, however, DOT says that the walkway, being integral to the BQE’s overall structure, will likely have to be at least partially taken down. “You can’t just brace it up,” Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon said. Brooklyn Heights residents are also facing years of pollution from both traffic and construction particulates, with alternate methods of construction producing varying amounts of both. (via Brooklyn Eagle)

COME SEE THE COBBLE HILL HISTORIC DISTRICT

Old and new together. In Cobble Hill, brownstones built before the Civil War can be found a block away from a site where a glassy skyscraper is planned. We’ll tell you about some of the neighborhood’s prettiest spots — which include a row of former stables and a classy 19th-century housing complex for workers. First, we’ll tell you about the skyscraper. Fortis Property Group is constructing the high-rise residential building on the site where historic Long Island College Hospital stood until its fiercely contested closing a couple years ago. (via Brooklyn Eagle)

AMAZON IN BROOKLYN: WHY THE BID DIDN’T QUITE MEASURE UP

Did Brooklyn ever really have a chance at winning the new Amazon campus? The Brooklyn Tech Triangle may have many assets, including residential space, creative companies, food, and educational institutions, but a comparison of the bids presented to the Seattle-based behemoth looking to house at least 25,000 workers shows that Long Island City, the company’s choice, had some distinct advantages. Not only did Long Island City offer space above a subway station for the first tranche of workers, that building was closer to a move-in than two sites proposed in Brooklyn: the Panorama complex and Dock 72 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. (The Bridge via Brooklyn Eagle)

IVANKA, KUSHNER COULD PROFIT FROM TAX BREAK THEY PUSHED

At an Oval Office gathering earlier this year, President Donald Trump began touting his administration’s new real estate investment program, which offers massive tax breaks to developers who invest in downtrodden American communities. He then turned to one of the plan’s strongest supporters. “Ivanka, would you like to say something?” Trump asked his daughter. “You’ve been pushing this very hard.” The Opportunity Zone program promoted by Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner — both senior White House advisers — could also benefit them financially, an AP investigation found.(via Brooklyn Eagle)

NEW THAI RESTAURANT COMING TO DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN

The owners of Manhattan’s Fish Cheeks restaurant are slated to open a casual Thai eatery within DeKalb Market Hall in Downtown Brooklyn on Monday. The new food stall, known as Chicks Isan, will focus on Thai street foods and entrees from Thailand’s Isan region. The dishes will be a mixture of Fish Cheeks favorites like grilled pork cheeks seasoned with fish sauce and new offerings like crispy rice salad with sour pork. Everything on the menu is meant to be eaten with a side of sticky rice and papaya salad. (Eater via Brooklyn Eagle)

CITY SECURES $25M FEDERAL GRANT TO REPAIR BROOKLYN BRIDGE

The federal government has agreed to pay NYC $25 million toward a $337 million project to repair the Brooklyn Bridge’s approaches and towers. This is the first time such work will take place on the world-famous bridge’s Gothic arches. The grant was secured as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s BUILD program, which funds road, rail, transit and port projects. The bridge, built in 1883, carries more than 100,000 vehicles on an average day. Its crowded promenade carries roughly 4,000 cyclists and 10,000 pedestrians per day. (amNewYork via Brooklyn Eagle)

BENELUX, NEW BUSHWICK BELGIAN RESTAURANT, IS NO-FRILLS BUT FILLING

Benelux, a bistro focusing on Belgian food that opened last week in Bushwick, is simple but satisfying, focusing on bistro classics. “There’s nothing terribly flashy about the Benelux menu, but almost everything I ate here over two dinners last weekend satisfied in exactly the way I wanted it to,” writer Scott Lynch said. Lynch praised two offerings: steak frites, two tender slabs of dry aged top sirloin cooked medium rare and topped by butter; and the Mitraillette sandwich, which is made of roasted ham, cole slaw, pickles and French fries on a baguette with mornay sauce on the side. (Gothamist via Brooklyn Eagle)