Whittle me this!
A Greenpoint woodworkers’ collective that has been around since the 1970s is breaking up because its landlord wants to tripled the rent on its space and the coop is yet to find a new place to whittle while they work.
The Brooklyn Woodworkers Co-op, which helped launch storied woodworkers such as original Velvet Underground member and violin builder Doug Yule, must be out of its headquarters in the — you guessed it — Pencil Factory on Greenpoint Avenue at Franklin Street by the middle of April, and members say they are at wits end over the fact that they will no longer be able to share camaraderie and tools with other Brooklyn carpenters.
“It is painful to end something that we have had for more than 30 years,” said Philippe Prelati, whose company Atelier Prelati makes custom doors and other handcrafted wood pieces.
The landlord is raising the rent from $20,000 a month to $55,000, nearly triple the amount, said Prelati.
The coop members shared workspace, tools, contacts, and other more mundane amenities such as garbage services.
Prelati’s team has already found another space on Powers Street near Union Avenue, but there is no room for any other businesses there, and he has already spent nearly $60,000 on new tools to make up for the ones that were shared at the coop.
“This is going to be very expensive,” he said.
Others in the coop say they are upset that the city is not helping them find another space as it did when the cooperative was pushed out of a manufacturing space in Brooklyn Heights in the 1990s.
“Our neighborhood is being taken over by the film industry, which is taking over all the space and pays no taxes,” said Rolf Carle, co-owner of Bjork Carle Woodworking. “What is there for businesses like ours?”
The former Eberhard Faber pencil factory newer tenants include a bar and a coffeehouse.
