May 12, 2007: Vol. 30, No. 19
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The Nova Clutch building in DUMBO is now being torn down by its owner, developer David Walentas.
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del.icio.usA squat little DUMBO building that was coveted by two Brooklyn real-estate titans is about to be demolished by the man who won the fight.
Scaffolding went up early this week in front of Nova Clutch, the car part manufacturer housed in the three-story building at 39 Front St., setting up a quiet end to a building whose recent history was one giant roar.
The two developers, Shaya Boymelgreen and David Walentas, nearly came to (legal) blows over the building last year. Boymelgreen owns the Beacon Tower condos, whose sales office is right next door to Nova Clutch, but Walentas owns several buildings that are back-to-back to the Nova Clutch building.
Walentas had Boymelgreen surrounded, so the epic tale goes, and threatened to erect steel-plate sculptures around the Beacon office building that would have blocked the building’s windows.
But Boymelgreen had his own weapon to level at Walentas — Starbucks. The coffee chain opened a franchise at the Boymelgreen-owned 67 Front St. in 2004, much to the displeasure of the chain-store-hating Walentas.
“I hate that Starbucks,” Walentas told The Brooklyn Paper last November, during the height of his feud with Boymelgreen.
But in the end, what was gearing up to be a battle royale was resolved when Walentas bought the Nova Clutch building from Boymelgreen in December for $8.75 million.
Not that the current occupants care much about this latest act in the operatic struggle.
“We’re moving to Jersey,” said Abe, a Nova Clutch employee.
Two Trees Management, Walentas’s development company, would not comment about what might take the place of the 160-year-old building, which started out as a pasta factory.
Current zoning would prohibit Walentas from building anything higher than the building’s current three stories, or anything residential. But if there’s anything DUMBO is known for, it’s rapid change — and tall residential buildings.
©2007 The Brooklyn Paper
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