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Since 1978 • (718) 260–2500 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2020 6 pages • Serving Brownstone Brooklyn, Sunset Park, Williamsburg & Greenpoint Vol. 43, No. 17 • April 24–30, 2020
Helping hand
By Jessica Parks
Brooklyn Paper
A duo of do-gooders put their
computer skills to good use amid
the coronavirus outbreak, creating
a searchable resource with up-to-date
information on the city’s food banks
and testing sites based on one’s zip
code for their fellow city dwellers.
“It’s a search engine that shows
the closest free testing, free food
banks near you,” said 23-year-old
Timur Seckin, one of the founders
of Covidaid.nyc.
Seckin and his colleague at the nonprofit
EndoFound, Chanel Schroff,
were surprised to find a disturbing
lack of accurate information available
on testing sites and food banks
— which many Brooklynites are relying
on amid a sharp rise in unemployment.
“There is an online database that
has the food banks, there are at least
like three of them but they don’t have
the update hours,” Seckin said. “Their
hours were all totally wrong, it was
surprising.”
Determined to fill the void and help
their community through the crisis,
the ambitious duo, who met as classmates
while studying at Berkeley, began
aggregating the missing information
— placing hundreds of calls
and scouring the internet and social
media to locate services.
“We called nearly 250 food banks
across all five boroughs,” Schroff said.
“And sometimes we would have to call
multiple times because they would be
closed, we didn’t know the hours. That
was probably the most time-consuming
aspect at the beginning.”
Since the site launched on March
22, Schroff and Seckin have listed
hours, contact information, and service
offerings for more than 250 food
LOW BLOW
By Ben Verde
Brooklyn Paper
A group of north Brooklyn dogooders
has ramped up their neighborly
efforts during the coronavirus
pandemic, becoming a lifeline
not only to their neighbors in need
but also to the staff of hard-hit
Woodhull Hospital.
While keeping up its regular
acts of altruism, the North Brooklyn
Angels have devised a system
which provides the workers at
Woodhull with three square meals
a day from Jimmy’s Diner. This,
in turn, keeps the beloved Greenpoint
eatery — which previously
shut its doors due to the pandemic
— up and running.
The co-owner of Jimmy’s says
their role in helping feed Woodhull
workers has presented them
with the perfect opportunity to
help another group of people: their
previously out-of-work staff, who
now find themselves busy in the
kitchen every day prepping meals
for frontline workers.
“There is definitely a feeling
that they are also helping, they
are also a part of this community
that they are able to give back to,”
Blair Papagni said of her kitchen
staff. “It definitely is this domino
effect of kindness that’s happening.”
Work for the Angels’ “Neighbors
Feeding Heroes” initiative
starts at 7 am at the diner, when
kitchen workers start prepping
Jimmy’s popular egg sandwiches
to distribute to workers coming off
the night shift and beginning the
day shift. That process continues
throughout the day, Papagni said,
with a van driving back and forth
from the diner to the hospital, carrying
about 450 meals a day.
Chanel Schroff and Timur Seckin
developed Covidaid.nyc as a resource
The meals are made with the
busy hospital staff’s needs in mind.
Since frontline workers aren’t often
granted the privilege of a sitdown
meal, the food from Jimmy’s
is made to be compact and
consumable on-the-go.
To make sure healthcare workers
are on their A-Game, Jimmy’s
Diner co-owner Josh Cohen and
local hot sauce connoisseur Noah
Chaimberg have concocted an immune
booster made up of turmeric,
horseradish, and hot sauces. They
plan to distribute the drink —
dubbed “fire cider” — to front
for fellow city residents.
See ANGELS on page 4
What pandemic? Bklyn penthouse sells for record $20 million
RAL Companies and Oliver’s Realty Group
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By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
A group of 28 artists will be kicked
out of their Gowanus studio when the
non-profit Spaceworks shutters operations
in mid-June, forcing the creatives
to move their artworks and belongings
during the novel coronavirus outbreak,
according to one local painter.
“It’s unconscionable to ask us to vacate
our spaces while dealing with this
disease,” said Danie Herard.
The once-charitable Spaceworks offered
affordable spaces for artists at the
sprawling 540 President St. building, as
well as buildings in Park Slope, Williamsburg,
and Manhattan — but the organization
announced on March 31 that they’d
be closing their doors this spring.
One artist who already moved their
belongings out of the space subsequently
contracted COVID-19, leaving others fearful
about entering the building and the
potential moving process, according to
Johnny Thornton, the director of Arts
Gowanus, an arts nonprofit based in the
Gowanus space.
Spaceworks had initially told artists to
pack up their belongings by May 25, but
ultimately extended the move-out window
to June 15 after mounting pressure
from tenants, said Thornton.
“It is a tricky legal situation for everyone
involved, but artists should not be
asked to risk their safety in the middle of
this world pandemic,” said Thornton.
Spaceworks, which is the management
company for the President Street building
that’s owned by local real estate firm
PDS Development Corporation, assured
tenants that they would not dispose of
any personal property without permission,
and that they would waiver rent for
May and return security deposits.
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line docs.
“We want the people who are on
the front lines, who are right there
saving lives, to have the strongest
immune systems possible,”
Papagni said.
And Jimmy’s isn’t in it alone.
They’ve had the support of other
community eateries and institutions
along the way.
When staffers at the Union Avenue
diner found themselves short
on mozzarella cheese, they put out
a query on a Google group for local
restaurateurs. Within minutes,
Gowanus artists to lose precious
studio space as non-profi t shutters
Painter Danie Herard is one of 28
artists that will have to find a new
studio space. The Spaceworks
headquarters at 540 President St.
(above) is closing down.
Arts Gowanus
eryone overall, but for me and other artists
who are likely to freelance to make
ends meet, this has been extraordinarily
challenging,” Herard said. “Without the
necessary support we will lose the artists
that have contributed to the vibrancy
of Gowanus.”
The landlord cannot legally evict the
tenants, as Cuomo’s 90-day ban on evictions
is in effect until June 20 — even
if the non-profit building management
company dissolves, according to Prospect
Heights-based tenant lawyer Edward
Deignan.
“Tenants are tenants of the property
owner, not the management company,”
said Deignan. “The owner of the property
could say, ‘Just pay your rent to me.’”
But even if they tried to fight an official
eviction in court, many artists are wary
that the landlord could simply lock the
doors and hold their artwork and equipment
hostage.
“We have keycard access, so once we
lose that, what happens then?” Thornton
said.
The artist’s lawyers pointed to the destruction
of the 5Pointz graffiti in Queens,
which showed that, even if artists win legal
battles against a developer, their artworks
might not survive the process.
“What landlords do and what’s legal
are very different things, especially when
it comes to artists,” Thornton said.
Thornton’s lawyers declined to comment
directly. PDS Development Corporation
did not return requests for comment.
Google
“We will be working closely with the
landlord as things evolve,” said Spaceworks
in a statement to tenants.
And beyond the safety hazards of moving
during a pandemic, Thornton worries
that the loss of over two dozen artists
would be devastating to the neighborhood
that’s undergoing rapid changes amid a
planned rezoning of the area.
“Gowanus has already been hemorrhaging
artists, losing hundreds of artist
spaces just in the past three years due
to rental hikes and gentrification,” he
said. “There is a real risk the neighborhood
will permanently lose its unique
character and artistic DNA if this trend
continues.”
The non-profit kicking them out would
also be particularly disastrous for the artists,
many of whom recently lost their income
due to the pandemic.
“I know it’s a difficult time for ev-
Brooklynites launch resource to
fi nd city testing sites, food banks
pantries in New York City — helping
people find the closest facilities, in an
effort to limit travel.
In order to ensure the information is
up to date, the pair painstakingly calls up
each listing every Friday to find out about
any potential scheduling changes.
“Most of the food banks we are finding
are changing their hours of operation
almost on a weekly basis,” Schroff
said. “Some are even closed. So we really
have to call them.”
Unsatisfied with their remarkable
progress, however, the pair plans to
compile a list of places that are donating
personal protective equipment, as
well as facilities where previously-infected
people can donate plasma.
Chanel Schroff
North Brooklyn group feeds the front lines while keeping local business alive
Volunteers at the Angels’ kitchen with food they will be delivering
to North Brooklynites in need.
North Brooklyn Angels
‘Angels’ step up in Greenpoint
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
A high-rolling mystery man
closed the deal on a whopping $20
million Brooklyn Heights waterfront
penthouse on April 14, shattering
the record for the borough’s
most expensive home sale.
The price for the top-floor
condo of the ritzy Quay Tower
at Brooklyn Bridge Park came in
at $20.3 million, as first reported
by Business Insider, some $3.6
million above Brooklyn’s previous
high, when Hollywood star
Matt Damon bought a luxury pad
in the neighborhood for $16.7 million
in 2018.
The buyer’s identity is not publicly
available as the person bought
their new fancy digs through a
limited liability company, but a
spokesman for the Bridge Park
Drive high-rise described the
purchaser as a “financial entrepreneur.”
The well-heeled newcomer
was originally planning to buy
a similar apartment in Manhattan’s
swanky Tribeca neighborhood,
but was attracted by Quay
Tower’s nearby amenities — including
Brooklyn Bridge Park, the
local marina, and the city ferry
stop at Pier 6 that offers a swift
14-minute water-borne commute
to Wall Street, according to the
spokesman.
The transaction, which both
parties finalized virtually amid
the coronavirus outbreak, comes
some 18 months after they first
signed a contract to combine two
top-floor units into a single luxurious
pad.
The combined unit now boasts
five beds, five-and-a-half baths,
7,433 square feet of living space,
and a 1,179 square foot private terrace
with dazzling views of the
Brooklyn waterfront and the Big
Apple skyline.
The no-expense-spared price
tag helped the sale break the record
set by Damon, when the “Good
Will Hunting” star bought the penthouse
apartment in the 12-story
Beaux-Arts former hotel The
Standish on Columbia Heights
for $16.7 million in 2018.
The mysterious new record
holder will now shack up atop
the 30-story waterfront tower
near the western end of Atlantic
Avenue and adjacent to the Brooklyn
Queens Expressway, and the
building boasts 126 condo units
that range between two and five
bedrooms — some of which entice
big spenders with private elevator
entries and suburban-style
mudrooms.
The luxurious tower also features
two rooftop indoor and outdoor
entertainment lounges, along
with a state-of-the-art gym, a children’s
playroom, and a music practice
room — where the Brooklyn
Music School offers lessons for
The penthouse at Quay Tower fetched a record-breaking $20 million on April 14. residents of all ages.
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