this is more good news for that depressed block. that block has been an eyesore for over fifty years. it's about time it was reinvigorated. it looked like the wild west.

The caption on the photo above says the hotel at 231 will be "across from the company’s soon-to-open Hotel Indigo."

There are two problems with that. The new hotel at 231 Duffield is next to the spot for Indigo at 237 Duffield. Also, last I checked, Hotel Indigo is not "soon-to-open." The press releases may say that it's slated to be finished by the end of the year, but it looks more like an abandoned lot. The only recent activity, as far as I know, is that the scaffolding around the flattened lot has been taken down, suggesting that plans to build anything soon have been abandoned.

Finally, the City report provided solid evidence in favor of Abolitionist and Underground Railroad activity. The academics who reviewed the research and supplied their published opinions all strongly defended the historical importance of the block. The most dramatic of these was Dr. Cheryl LaRoche, who says that Duffield Street represents "THE most exciting site for Underground Railroad research in the country."

Duffield Street is an important new destination for Brooklyn. I hope everyone can come to visit the inspiring history of the Abolitionists who lived on the block. I'm sure the new hotel visitors will be first in line to enjoy this cultural hotspot.