Their dreams are coming true!
New apartments set to rise at former Grand Prospect Hall site
BY BEN BRACHFELD
Dreams, desecrated!
Grand Prospect Hall, the
iconic Park Slope banquet
hall that made Brooklyn’s
dreams come true for decades,
will soon be redeveloped into
a 5-story mixed-use building,
featuring 147 residential
units, according to newly
fi led building permits fi rst reported
by The Real Deal.
The building has housed
Grand Prospect Hall on Prospect
Avenue since the late
19th century, and was a popular
spot to socialize for Brooklyn’s
upper crust in the early
20th century before falling
into disrepair for decades. It
was purchased in the 1980s
by Michael and Alice Halkias,
who sought to restore it to the
splendor of its heyday.
And restore it they did: the
hall, and the Halkiases, became
New York legends owing
to their famous and ubiquitous
television commercials where
they promised to “make your
dreams come true.” The banquet
space, decorated in garish,
ornate ornamentation often
found at liquidation sales
or in the trash, hosted countless
weddings, bar mitzvahs,
proms, sweet sixteens, and
other spectacular soirees for
several generations of Brooklynites,
COURIER LIFE, F 14 EBRUARY 11-17, 2022
who came to cherish
the hall.
The building had been
closed since the beginning of
the pandemic, with no plans
to reopen after the death of Michael
Halkias from COVID-19,
when it was sold last summer
for $22.5 million to developer
Angelo Rigas, under the LLC
Gowanus Cubes, as part of a
massive deal that included
several other properties on
the block.
After Brooklyn Paper fi rst
reported that Rigas intended
to demolish the exemplary edifi
ce, locals launched a campaign
seeking to landmark
the structure: while it was on
the National Register of Historic
Places since 1999, it was
not a local landmark, which
could have saved it from the
wrecking ball. The campaign
to landmark the structure
gained signifi cant momentum,
including support from
then-mayor and current-Park
Slope drifter Bill de Blasio,
but Rigas quickly gutted the
historic building’s swanky interior
soon after gaining the
relevant demolition permits,
even as he awaited permits to
demolish the exterior structure.
Ultimately, the Landmarks
Preservation Commission denied
landmark status to the
building, citing extensive
changes to the building’s exterior
throughout the twentieth
century, clearing the way for
Rigas to demolish the building.
The new building is set to
contain 147 residential units
in about 140,000 square feet of
space; New York YIMBY says
that based on the average unit
size calculation of 955 square
feet, the residences will likely
be condominiums. The building
will also have enclosed
space for 180 parking spots.
The new building will be designed
by Hill West Architects,
per the permit fi lings.
The Grand Prospect Hall, pre-scaffolding. Photo by Susan De Vries