BY DEBORAH KOLBEN
DAILY NEWS WRITER

http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/310081p-265328c.html

Naaaay!

And that’s straight from the horses’ mouths.

Thirteen horses were evicted from their century-old home this month
by a condo developer who plans to knock it down and put a high-end
high-rise in its place.

“I hear the horses out my window – I even know some of their names,”
said Mike Cramer, a college professor who lives across the street.
“That’s why I moved into this building. I can’t imagine condos there.”

Williamsburg developer Moshe Feller bought one of the two buildings
used by the Kensington Stables and an adjacent tire factory on Caton
Place off Prospect Park.

He wants to knock them down and build an eight-story luxury condominium with 107 apartments and underground parking.
The $20 million building would have a garden, floor-to-ceiling windows and a two-story lobby.
Stable manager Fran Levy said the move is creating a hardship for the old stable.
“We have no room; we’re being squeezed out,” she said.
Thirteen horses were moved to the crowded main building several weeks ago.

The stable was forced to cut a riding program for disabled children because it no longer had room for an indoor ring.

“Closing that barn has sent a chill down the whole equestrian community,” said Lumi Rolley, 37, who rides there every week.

Neighbors worry that the new building will stick out on the block of
old apartment buildings, two-story homes and empty industrial buildings.

But the architect says the contrast would work well.

“It’s modern, clean, airy and light,” said architect Karl Fischer,
who also designed the massive Gretsch and Schaefer buildings in
Williamsburg.

Some residents feel under siege by developers now buying up land in the quiet neighborhood.
Web designer Mandy Harris lives around the corner and just started an
Internet site to let people know what’s going on with the stables.

“I’m afraid the neighborhood will become a canyon of high-rises,” she said.

Originally published on May 17, 2005

http://brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2005/05/more_destabliza_1.html

It’s
not a good week to be a stable. Or someone who lives next to one for
that matter. Alongside its report on the demise of the Bond Street
stable, this week’s edition of Brooklyn Papers highlights the “enraged”
reaction of Kensington residents to news that a 19th-century working
stable is being downsized to make way for an 8-story, 108-unit
development. The Daily News notes that 13 horses are being displaced by
Williamsburg developer Moshe Feller. Ironically, the stable’s best hope
to continue life as it knows it is to go the development route itself:
If the group can raise funds, it plans to apply for a variance to build
a second stable and riding ring on the remaining stable’s roof.