Previous venue owners Michael Halkias, who passed away recently from COVID-19, and his wife Alice pose inside Grand Prospect Hall. File photo by Bess Adler A GRAND SALE!
Landmark Grand Prospect Hall sold in $30 million deal
COURIER LIFE, JULY 23-29, 2021 21
BY BEN BRACHFELD
One real estate buyer has
seen all their dreams come
true!
Park Slope’s historic Grand
Prospect Hall is being sold as
part of a $30 million real estate
transaction with several
other nearby properties.
The transaction, fi rst reported
on Thursday by The
Real Deal, who cited business
intelligence company PincusCo,
will include the nearly
130-year-old banquet hall and
11 other properties on Prospect
Ave between Fifth and
Sixth avenues, totaling over
73,000 square feet of built
space. Grand Prospect Hall,
the marquee trophy of the
sale, was valued at $22.5 million,
and the other 11 parcels
sold for a combined $7.5 million.
The buyer, Angelo Rigas, is
an electrical contractor who
purchased the properties under
the limited liability company
Gowanus Cubes.
The hall, originally built in
1892, had been owned by husband
and wife Michael and
Alice Halkias since 1984, who
set out to restore the hall to
its original grandeur after it
fell into disrepair in the 1980s.
The two set out to decorate the
hall in opulent splendor, ornamenting
the space with splendorous
items often found at
liquidation sales or literally
in the trash.
The hall’s television commercials
starred the couple,
and became iconic for the slogan
“We’ll make your dreams
come true.” The commercials
spawned a parody on Saturday
Night Live, and a spoof on
Jimmy Kimmel Live with the
Halkiases themselves, who appeared
with Mets slugger Pete
Alonso.
Michael Halkias died from
COVID-19 last May, at the age
of 82. The hall closed at the onset
of the pandemic in March
2020 and has not reopened
since.
“It’s an iconic Brooklyn
venue that really has been
owned and operated by such
a wonderful Brooklyn family
for so long,” said Randy Peers,
president of the Brooklyn
Chamber of Commerce and
a friend of Michael’s. “It was
just a tragedy that we lost Michael
due to this crazy virus.”
The Grand Prospect Hall
building was listed on the
National Register of Historic
Places in 1999. The hall was
the place to be in its heyday in
the early twentieth century,
with notable guests like Al Capone
and Fred Astaire gracing
its ballrooms. The building
also was the location of
the fi rst elevator installed in
Brooklyn, which is still in operation
to this day.
The establishment has
been featured in fi lms like The
Royal Tenenbaums and Cotton
Club, and hosts countless weddings,
bar mitzvahs, proms,
sweet sixteens, quinceañeras,
and other highfalutin shindigs.
Grand Prospect Hall also
frequently hosts community
gatherings, like community
board meetings or local civic
association meetings. The
hall’s future use under new
ownership is uncertain.
“I don’t know what their
intentions are, but we’re hoping
we can keep the building,
maybe it can be used for something
positive,” said Mark Caserta,
executive director of the
Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business
Improvement District,
which has held its annual
“Taste of Fifth” event at the
hall for years. “Maybe events
and concerts, and if they want
to build around it. But that’s
not really up to us.”
Peers said he is hopeful
that Rigas, as a local business
owner, will be mindful of the
venue’s place in Brooklyn history,
and would even be happy
to meet with him and give advice.
But, he says, the loss of
the hall in a redevelopment
scheme would be devastating
for the borough if it were to
come to that.
“If the intention is to turn
it into luxury residential development
with no other commercial
benefi ts or affordable
housing benefi ts, then it’s
probably not going to be a good
thing,” Peers said. “But we
certainly have an open mind,
and Brooklyn Chamber of
Commerce would be happy to
have a briefi ng from the new
owner as to his intentions.”
“Losing such an iconic
venue that has been such a
storied part of Brooklyn history
and many Brooklynites’
personal history — just think
about the countless generations
of folks who have gotten
married there, had sweet sixteens
there, other life events
— it’s a sad thing on a personal
level,” Peers continued.
The Halkiases proposed
building an 11-story hotel next
to the hall a decade ago, a vision
which never came to fruition
in the wake of community
opposition. Michael Halkias
told Gothamist in 2015 that he
received inquiries on a daily
basis from developers interested
in the property.
Rigas was not available for
comment, and Alice Halkias
could not be reached for comment.
A phone call to the hall’s
listed number, featured on its
beloved commercials, was met
with a message that the number
had been disconnected,
and the hall’s website appears
to be down.