"For the most part, Grand Street between Driggs and Roebling is a clean line of low brick buildings, some dating to the 19th century. No. 241, however, stands out like a goth at the high-school prom. The façade is black with a zigzag of windows down the center between rusty exposed beams. This is strange enough, but the place has also been vacant for about 20 years while the rest of Williamsburg has turned into a luxury mall."
"Kurek came to New York from Poland in the early aughts and met Gregory Pasternak, also a Polish immigrant, who had a business buying cheap, derelict buildings across North Brooklyn, fixing them up, renting them out, and then moving on. Design work was fast, and construction was faster - the goal was to make places legal and livable. Then came 241 Grand Street. Pasternak bought the building in 1999 for $90,0000, and this time he took a different approach. He"
241 Grand Street features a black façade with a zigzag of windows and rusty exposed beams, contrasting with neighboring 19th-century brick buildings. The property has been vacant and boarded for about 20 years while Williamsburg transformed into a high-rent neighborhood with luxury retail and expensive condos. A listing prompted neighbors to contact a broker who said an executor for an anonymous corporate owner had initiated the sale. Architect Radoslaw Kurek, whose name appears on recent city paperwork, offered a lengthy account linking the building to his arrival from Poland and his partnership with Gregory Pasternak, a buyer and renovator of derelict North Brooklyn properties.
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