by Brett Yates

NYCHA will soon demolish a row of shuttered storefronts on the west side of Clinton Street between Hamilton Avenue and Mill Street. Three evicted businesses – Frankie’s First Stop Deli, the Red Hook Pharmacy, and Smart Tax – will relocate to a newly rehabilitated structure, also owned by NYCHA, at the corner of Columbia Street and West 9th Street. The commercial building on Clinton Street will make way for a new power plant that will provide heat and electricity to the entire Red Hook Houses development. The construction will take place as part of the $550 million Sandy Recovery and Resiliency project funded by FEMA, projected to fi nish in 2022. Conceptual renderings for the future East Plant show possible ground-fl oor retail below a vast system of boilers and generators. The offi cial move-out deadline is

by Brett Yates

December 12, but store owners, who have known about the plan for months or longer, appear to have cleared out already. Dave Stahl, NYCHA’s construction site director in Red Hook, stated that a “full asbestos inspection” will promptly follow, and his team will then knock the building down over the course of two or three weeks, starting in January. Awaiting repairs, the commercial structure on Columbia Street sat vacant for about a decade before their recent completion, during which time the shops on Clinton Street served as the only open stores within the Red Hook Houses campus. The pharmacy’s reopening date is unknown, but Smart Tax expects to return with a fully functioning offi ce before Christmas. The deli may take longer, as it will need to secure new permits for its cooking equipment, according to NYCHA. For now, the area surrounding the Red Hook Houses has become

NYCHA retail buildings, old and new. (photos by Brett Yates)

something of a retail desert, thanks in large part to private redevelopment plans on Lorraine Street that led to

the closing of a laundromat, a 99-cent store, and the neighborhood’s only bank over the summer.

The Nets have brought back New York basketball

Can you believe it’s been 20 years since there’s been an NBA Finals in New York City? Th e 1999 NBA Finals between the Knicks and the Spurs, headlined by Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, Tim Duncan and David Robinson, was the last time there was relevant basketball in Th e Mecca. For the past two decades – fi lled with nothing but disappointment, from ownership issues to a long list of draft busts, and even the addition of a second team to the fi ve boroughs – basketball in New York City just hasn’t been the same. Now, the Nets are changing that narrative after the most successful summer in franchise history. Th e lack of stars has been at the forefront of issues for New York basketball, with both the Knicks and Nets having made failed attempts to bring the star to the city. Big names like Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce had disappointing, post-prime stints. Th e narrative of true stars not wanting to come to New York seemed neverending, until Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving gave New York a summer to remember. In late June of 2019, 10-time All-Star Kevin Durant made the decision to join six-time All-Star Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn, sparking a new era in New York basketball. Unlike the Billy King and Phil Jackson moves of the past, this delivered a real buzz around Brooklyn, one that brings title aspirations to a city that is in desperate need

By Will Jackson

of a championship parade. Since joining his childhood team, Kyrie Irving has put up MVP-caliber numbers in the fi rst month of the season, despite battling a shoulder injury. Unfortunately, Nets fans will have to wait until 2020 to see Kevin Durant on the court, as he recovers from an Achilles injury suff ered in the 2019 NBA Finals. However, that isn’t stopping Nets fans from getting excited for what’s to come. Attendance for Nets home games is up from 84 percent last season to 92 percent this year, and merchandise sales are through the roof. Th e media is now putting a lens on Brooklyn, more than doubling its nationally televised games from last season. Barclays Center has quickly turned into the place to be, with a Chick Fil-A and Insomnia Cookies opening across the street last month. New York City is transitioning from being a blue and orange town to black and white. As for the actual basketball side of things, the Nets are exactly where people expected them to be without Kevin Durant: at or above .500, in the middle of the playoff race with lower expectations until Durant returns. Th e Nets have brought back New York basketball: game-winners, three-pointers, alley-oops, dunks and crisp passing. Brooklyn is now a mustwatch team, so if you’ve been in and out of the basketball scene since Ewing left, head to Barclays Center and catch what Sports Illustrated called “the coolest team in basketball.”