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By Lauren Gill

Brooklyn Daily

Brooklyn is no longer Manhattan’s back office!

Developers are erecting high-end office buildings across the borough, and real estate experts say big companies are now rushing to relocate inside them so they can tap into the local talent pool — bucking Kings County’s image as a place to stash away support staff in cheap digs.

“Brooklyn checks a lot of boxes now that the space is there,” says Michael Berg of commercial broker Jones Lang LaSalle, which just released a report documenting the white-collar building boom. “More young, creative talent is concentrated there.”

The borough will gain another 5.2 million square feet of cubicle space by 2019, the company estimates — the equivalent of almost two Empire State Buildings — with most development concentrated in Dumbo, Downtown, Fort Greene, and Williamsburg.

Demand is so high, some developers are ditching their plans for luxury residential towers to create swanky office complexes instead.

In October, Glacier Global Partners abandoned a condominium project inside a Dumbo waterfront warehouse to fit it out for businesses. And the next month, Jemb Realty announced it was scrapping a planned apartment building Downtown — which boasts some of the lowest vacancy rates in the city — to create a 40-story commercial building.

Jemb claims businesses are now beating down its door to snag space in its Albee Square West building — the first new office tower to rise Downtown in more than a decade — when it opens in 2018.

“They want us to build faster and they’re very excited to get in there,” said president Jacob Jerome.

Jerome says around 80 percent of the businesses looking at the building are creative companies hoping to move out of the overcrowded Manhattan market to the borough many of their employees call home.

“People want to live and work in Brooklyn,” he said.

Berg claims an unnamed Fortune 500 company was previously sniffing around Empire Stores — a converted warehouse in Brooklyn Bridge Park that his firm is representing. It didn’t sign on, but he predicts another huge company will migrate to the Borough of Kings in the near future.

“I think in the next 12 to 18 months we are going to see a big tenant,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a creative tenant.”

In a sign of the times, banker Morgan Stanley is rumored to be moving its back office out of Brooklyn Heights’ tony One Pierrepont Plaza, the same building that houses Hillary Clinton’s campaign headquarters, in search of cheaper digs.

One local business booster says leaving Brooklyn would be sheer lunacy, but claims he has a long list of companies waiting to take its place.

“If a company leaves Brooklyn they’re crazy,” said Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce president Carlo Scissura. “There’s plenty of others waiting to jump in.”

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Brooklyn Daily

It was Comic Con for history buffs!

A George Washington portrayer made an appearance at the New Utrecht Reformed Church Parish House for the first president’s birthday on Feb. 11, and some hard-core tricorne hat fans came dressed up in revolutionary attire “as if in Comic Con,” their mom said.

“My sons decided to be part of it, because they love history and they love their country,” said Bonnie Lynn said.

Sons Matthew Sterling and Michael Fame came in period dress to hear long-time Washington impersonator Michael Grillo tell the first president’s autobiography in character.

The historian discussed the Battle of Brooklyn — the Revolutionary War battle in which British forces routed Washington’s troops and the general had to flee across the East River in 1776 — as well as his victorious return to New York in November 1783 and his inauguration in 1789.

Grillo, who is also a education director at the Van Cortlandt House Museum in the Bronx, hacked down the myth that Washington’s birthday (celebrated today on Presidents Day) was Feb. 22 — it’s actually Feb. 11, Sterling said. The date shifted when the country switched from using the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar, he said.

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By Troy Mauriello

Brooklyn Daily

A team that trains together wins together.

Bishop Loughlin girls’ basketball coach Chez Williams used an unconventional approach to team-building during his squad’s 69–56 road win over Christ the King on Feb. 13 — he had players ride the train together to their host’s Queens campus.

“I think, being together like that, it helps,” Williams said. “That’s the only thing I’m superstitious about … coming to games together — I believe you play better.”

The hocus pocus paid off — Loughlin rolled to an easy win over the parochial powerhouse, securing second place in Brooklyn-Queens and a first-round bye into the diocesan semifinals.

“Beating them today was wonderful,” said senior guard Ellease “Toucan” Billings. “It just sets the tone for us going into the playoffs.”

Four of five Loughlin starters scored in the double-figures against Christ the King, with Billings leading the way with 16 points. Junior guard Lynette Taitt had 15, freshman guard Laysha de la Santos added 14, and Reid — Loughlin’s leading scorer — had 12. The balance was exactly what Williams was looking for.

“I said before the game, ‘It’s not important that one girl has a good game — it’s important that all of you have a good game,’ ” he said.

Overall, Loughlin controlled the game’s tempo. The Lions faced an obvious height disadvantage, which Christ the King tried to exploit with St. Peter’s-bound center Ashlie Howell, but the Lions used stingy defense and speedy guards to create turnovers and, in turn, transition baskets.

“They know we’re a very small team,” Billings said. “But we kept the composure. We kept boxing out, getting rebounds.”

Loughlin took a 14–10 lead after the first quarter, and every time Christ The King looked made a run, the Lions responded with a spurt of their own. Christ the King tied the score at 15–15 midway through the second quarter, but Taitt went on a six-point run, setting the momentum that Loughlin rode to a 34–25 lead at halftime.

The Royals managed to cut the deficit down to just six in the third quarter, but the Lions responded with a 10–2 run over the third and fourth quarters to grab a comfortable 52–38 lead. Christ the King didn’t get closer than 10 in the fourth.

The Royals, who were playing their fourth game in five nights, got only 19 combined points from its Division I-bound senior guards Sydney Zambrotta, Kaela Kinder, and Dominique Toussaint, who will head to Louisville, Virginia Tech, and Virginia respectively next season.

Loughlin is 1–1 in games where the squad rode the train together, but Williams is confident the transit gambit will help them as they approach the playoffs, he said.

“Whatever works,” Williams said with a laugh. “If it’s taking a train, taking a bus, whatever works.”

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By Lauren Gill

Brooklyn Daily

Love will keep them alive.

Brooklyn’s longest-lasting married couples celebrated their enduring love at a lunch at Borough Hall’s annual Golden Couples event on Friday. The yearly Valentine’s shindig celebrates pairs who have been betrothed for 50 years or more, and attendees say they were wowed by the borough’s devotion to keeping the flame alive.

“It was just perfect, very beautiful,” said Shiela Ganoz, a Sheepshead Bay resident who has been married to her husband Anton for 64 years.

Host Borough President Adams gave a champagne toast to honor the nearly 200 couples in attendance, who enjoyed with food, dancing, and each other’s company.

One attendee said he had a blast chatting with the other pairs about their secrets to continuing matrimonial bliss, revealing that he has stayed together with his wife for more than a half-decade by always remembering why they fell for each other in the first place.

“Love and respect each other and don’t forget the first week of marriage,” said Crown Heights resident Esiah Ingram, who met his wife Mary in high school and has been married to her for 59 years. “I don’t think my life would be any sweeter than being with her.”

This was the fourth year the pair honored their love at the lunch, and Ingram said he can’t wait to celebrate his diamond anniversary and beyond in the years to come.

“Make every day seem like the last,” said Ingram. “We’re looking forward to 50 more years together.”

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By Carlo Bosticco

Brooklyn Daily

This show is steamy — in more ways than one.

The Third Rail theater company, known for transforming unexpected spaces into performance venues, invites visitors on an interactive voyage to a 1970s Hawaiian seventies resort.

While waiting to enter “The Grand Paradise,” I leafed through a “Time” magazine dated 1973; where I learn that consuming white sugar is the healthiest diet for a growing child. This kind of lurid, retro attitude is captured perfectly in the rest of the production.

The second the doors to the “resort” open you step into a fully-fledged world with mysteries awaiting behind every door, and mermaids pirouetting in a clear water tank. The “staff” of the resort is not so much attentive and friendly as predatory: every interaction with audience members is erotically charged and suggestive, though not intrusive.

When the five protagonists “guests” arrive, each carrying personal baggage (the metaphor is clear), “Grand Paradise” cracks open, with resort staff leading the “guests” and visitors into other rooms singly and in groups. Sometimes we observe the narrative as voyeurs, but at other times we are invited to join in the revel. The experience is different for every visitor.

During the course of the evening I received a massage by a male cast member (who pointedly invited me to momentarily hold a cucumber), snuck in a bedroom in the dark with a flashlight and stole a frock from a guest’s suitcase, and made a magical cocktail at the bar.

But following the plot can be a confusing task, since we are rarely left to choose the story we wish to see. And sometimes we got locked up in a room and made to assist to dance sequences that do not establish narrative as much as express inner turmoil.

The moral seems to be “one size fits all” — liberate yourself from the shackles of your expectations and find freedom through sensual pleasure, and the monologues are pretty on-the-nose on that theme. But the general oiliness of the staff-members can come across as malevolent rather than helpful, and I was waiting the whole night for a murder to happen and break the tension. Just like the staff, the show teases continuously, but the climax never quite comes.

“The Grand Paradise” at the Grand Paradise [383 Troutman St. between Wyckoff and Irving avenues in Bushwick, (718) 374–5196, www.thegrandparadise.com]. Through March 31. Tue–Sun at 7 pm and 10:30 pm. $95–$150.

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

These men are in the doghouse!

The Narrows Community Theater is unleashing a hometown comedy about women driven to therapy by horn-dog men. In “Men Are Dogs,” opening on Feb. 19 at St. Patrick’s Catholic School in Bay Ridge, the fairer sex may take center stage, but the show is not just for the ladies, the playwright said.

“It’s good natured man-bashing,” said Joe Simonelli. “But certainly bring the men — they’ll laugh just as much because they’ll recognize themselves in the characters.”

For inspiration, the Bay Ridge-born playwright asked his female friends for their ruff-est experiences with men, leading to stories he said were too good to be made up.

The main character, therapist Dr. Cecelia Monahan, counsels a female literary agent who only gets dates from aspiring authors, and deals with a stress therapist driven to incandescent rage by her terrible outings with men. Meanwhile, Monahan has her own relationship troubles, fending off the delivery man her meddling mother keeps trying to set her up with.

The rocky relationships in “Men Are Dogs” will be familiar to anyone who has braved the seas of dating, and so will the humor borne of heartbreak, said the play’s director.

“A lot of people will relate,” said Dawn Barry Hansen. “When you take a step back, the things that you go through can really be funny after it’s all over, even though it’s not that funny when you’re going through it.”

Members of the Bay Ridge community theater group caught the show when it was produced in Staten Island, where Simonelli now lives, and they imported it to the writer’s old stomping grounds.

And no stage is better for the play than Saint Patrick’s — Simonelli is a proud alum of the school, and got his first taste of the stage during a fourth grade production of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

“It’s nice to come and have a homecoming on the stage that started it all,” he said.

“Men Are Dogs,” at Saint Patrick’s Catholic School [401 97th St. between Fourth Avenue and Fort Hamilton Parkway in Bay Ridge. www.narrowscommunitytheater.com, (718) 482–3173]. Feb. 19, 26, and 27 at 8 pm, and Feb. 20, 21, and 28 at 2 pm. $20 ($15 seniors).

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Brooklyn Daily

Talk about micro processors!

More than two dozen teams of brainy middle schoolers duked it out in a Lego robot-building competition at Xaverian High School on Feb. 6, and 12 teams qualified to compete in the New York City First Lego League championship at the Javits Center on Mar. 12. One school-age robiticist nearly blew a circuit when he found out his team was advancing to the championship, a parent said.

“Louis, my son, really enjoyed himself at the qualifier,” said Eugene Cuoco, of Bensonhurst. “This was the first time in three years he’s been part of the Lego League, and he says it’s the best one he’s done by far.”

The 9–14-year-old students built Lego robots to compete in problem-solving competitions and games. This year’s theme was trash and recycling — each team built an automaton to compete in waste-related challenges and present innovative solutions to real-world waste problems, officials said.

Community groups such as the Girl Scouts and local church groups sponsored the teams of two to 10 students

Louis’s team, the Genesis Incinerators, won an award for Strategy & Innovation and qualified for the championship.

The pint-sized engineers had a little help from adults, but kids did all the heavy lifting, one coach said.

“Ninety percent of the final product comes straight from the kids,” said Queens resident Francis Belizario. “My job is really just to be a fly on the wall.”

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By Allegra Hobbs

Brooklyn Daily

These pony partiers just couldn’t rein in their enthusiasm!

Thousands of fans of the television show “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” galloped into Park Slope’s sparkling Grand Prospect Hall on Feb. 13 through 15 where attendees say they celebrated their shared love of the pastel-colored animated horses by dressing up as their favorite one.

“I was really happy with the positive reaction my costume got,” said Connecticut native Mike Calzati, who dressed up as beloved character Big Macintosh for the annual convention PonyCon.

Calzati commissioned the big, red costume from an online craftsman for the slew of pony conventions he attends every year — after PonyCon, he will make his way to Baltimore’s BronyCon in July.

Plenty of younger fans showed up to the all-ages convention to watch pony-inspired rockabilly band the Shakeups in Ponyville play musical tributes to the cartoon and sing until they were a little horse.

But the event was mostly dominated by adults who just really love the children’s show about magical ponies. Calzati says he attended with pal and fellow grown-up “brony” Frist. The duo met at a different pony convention two years ago, and their friendship is now appropriately magical, he said.

“I was dressed up as a pony, and he was dressed up as a pony, but we didn’t really talk at first,” said Calzati. “The next time, he noticed me and we started talking and we became friends.”

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By Julianne Cuba

Brooklyn Daily

Double dutch, anyone?

About 500 PS 197 students got to skip class to skip rope and raise money for the American Heart Association on Feb. 11 and 12. But the Midwood school’s Jump Rope for Heart Event didn’t just help out the heart-disease prone – students got a leg up on leading healthier lives too, an organizer said.

“The kids get to exercise and stay in shape and just have an all-around fun time,” said physical education teacher Marc Goldstone.

Kids donated a minimum $5 to get into the gym for a morning of cardio and fun. The school’s goal this year was simply to beat last year’s fund-raising total of $5,800 — but educators are still counting up to proceeds, Goldstone said.

The younger kids — pre-K through second grade — took over the gym on Thursday and worked their way around a hula-hoop obstacle course and down a faux ski slope made with jump ropes taped to the floor.

The older kids — third through fifth grade — got their turn to jump around on Friday, but the special part of the morning was a visit from two local-athlete stars — Jahsen Wint, an Erasmus Hall senior who signed to play football with Ohio State University, and Kayode Ayeni, a St. Francis College graduate who now plays basketball internationally.

“They signed autographs, did tricks, and talked to the kids about doing well in school and always striving to do your best and never giving up,” Goldstone said.

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By Max Jaeger

Brooklyn Daily

He wants them to commute vicariously through others.

Folks in Bay Ridge, Coney Island, and Sheepshead Bay should be happy for their neighbors to the north, Mayor DeBlasio said responding to local pols’ criticism that his streetcar plan focuses transportation improvements on the borough’s hip ‘hoods and leaves Southern Brooklynites waiting on the platform.

“People should support each others’ neighborhoods,” DeBlasio said while touting the project in Red Hook this morning.. “And if we have a whole group of neighborhoods here that have not had enough service that are now going to get more service, I think we should celebrate that.”

Southern Brooklyn pols have charged that Hizzoner’s $2.5 billion trolley plan connecting waterfront industrial and tech hotbeds in Sunset Park, Dumbo, and the Navy Yard to distant Queens ignores millions’ of Southern Brooklynites’ transit needs, including the rebirth of Brooklyn’s express F train service.

“We’re not asking for a fancy street car, we’re not asking for pie-in-the-sky ideas and luxury items, we’re asking for service that was taken from the people of Southern Brooklyn, and we’re fighting for that to be restored,” said Councilman Mark Treyger (D–Coney Island). “Lets focus on the nuts and bolts of basic governance.”

Straphangers will have to take up their collective beef with the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the mayor said.

“We for a long time have encouraged the MTA to invest in the outer boroughs — particularly the under-served areas of the outer boroughs — and there’s still allot of work to be done on that front,” he said.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is funded through the city and state. But the mayor plans to fund his streetcar through increased property tax revenue resulting from economic development he says the trolley would spurn — a move that requires no oversight from Gov. Cuomo or transportation authority honchos, he said.

Building the tram in areas that the administration believes are poised for growth gives the system a foothold for expansion, the mayor said.

“This is to me is a good and noble experiment — it could open the door to light rail in other parts of the city,” DeBlasio said. “This happens to be a place of particularly concentrated population and economic growth — and a particular ability to get that new revenue that would pay for that light rail. There’s a set of conditions here that may be different than many other places, but if it works here, it’s going to be easier to do light rail in other places that could use it as well.”

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By Julianne Cuba

Brooklyn Daily

Some people would give their right arm for a pair of hot sneakers — and a Brooklyn teen did just that.

A 17-year-old Canarsie resident lost his right arm after he robbed an East Flatbush man at gunpoint for pair of Air Jordan sneakers and the mark mowed him down with his car on Feb. 12, police allege.

The teen responded to his 39-year-old victim’s Craigslist post advertising the shoes for sale, police said. He got into the East Flatbush man’s gray Honda Pilot on E. 86th Street between Avenue L and Avenue M at noon — then allegedly pulled out a black revolver and demanded the shoes and a wad of cash, a police report states.

The teen fled with the kicks, but his victim hit him with his car, lopping off the kid’s limb, police claim.

The wounded youth left his arm behind and tried to hop on a city bus, but the East Flatbush man pulled him off, so he fled in another direction, officials said. Police picked up the teen near his E. 86th Street home at 12:40 pm, and ambulance drivers took him — and his disembodied arm recovered at the scene — to Brookdale Hospital, a police report states. Doctors later transferred the teen to Bellevue Hospital Center, where they attempted to surgically reattach the limb, officials said.

Prosecutors are charging the 39-year-old with attempted murder and the teen with robbery and criminal possession of a firearm, police said.

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

60th Precinct

Coney Island—Brighton Beach—Seagate

Robbed at BB gunpoint

Police arrested two men who they say robbed a guy on Cropsey Avenue on Feb. 6 with a high-powered pellet gun.

The victim was near Bay 46th Street just after noon when thee two pulled out the gas-powered revolver on the guy, police said. They took his cellphone and fled, but officers responding to the call used an app on the victim’s phone to track them down to a B74 bus, according to police.

The officers stopped the bus and arrested the pair, authorities said.

Subway shyster

A shameless trickster stole a teen’s phone at the Bay 50th Street subway station on Feb. 2, police said.

The teen told police he hopped on the train at 20th Avenue. When the train pulled into the station station near Stillwell Avenue at around 12:30 pm, the charlatan asked the victim for the time, but then decided to snatch his phone and run off the train, police reported.

The thief told him to “stay on the train or else” before he fled, according to authorities.

Venmo-no

A Craigslist scammer conned a guy out of a camera and accessories on Coney Island Avenue on Jan. 31, police said.

The victim told police he arranged to met the fraudster between Brighton 10th Path and Brighton 10th Terrace at 4:30 pm, camera gear in hand. The stranger paid the victim electronically through Venmo, a smartphone payment app, and the victim exchanged the goods.

Later on that day the victim received an email through the app that said the transfer was cancelled because the buyer used a stolen credit card, police said.

Pickpocketed

A sneaky thief stole a woman’s wallet from her bag on her way to an elevated subway platform on Brighton Beach Avenue on Feb. 4, police said.

The victim was at the station near Ocean Parkway at 1 pm when she swiped her MetroCard, put her wallet back in her rolling bag, and zipped it up, according to a police report. As she was walking up to the platform, she felt her bag moving, and when she looked back at she saw a woman suspiciously close to her bag, but did not notice anything was amiss until she got to the platform and the thief was long gone, she told police.

The thief got away with $180 in cash and numerous cards she had in her wallet, police said.

Paint job

Someone stole some paint from a building’s office on Surf Avenue sometime overnight on Feb. 1, according to police.

A worker at the public housing office told police he locked up his office around 3:40 pm and returned the next day to find someone had opened the exterior door with a key and kicked in an interior door beyond it.

The burglar also got into his office with a key and somehow removed a padlock on a locker, from which he stole the painting supplies and split, police said.

— Dennis Lynch

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By Julianne Cuba

Brooklyn Daily

61st Precinct

Sheepshead Bay—Homecrest— Manhattan Beach—Gravesend

Beer snatcher

A brute shoved an employee who told him he couldn’t just take a beer for free from an Avenue X store on the evening of Feb. 11.

The robber came into the store near W. First Street at 6:20 pm and took one can of Bud Light out of the fridge, at which point the worker told him he needed to cough up $3 to pay for it, police reported.

The brute, refusing to pay, allegedly shoved and pushed the victim into the fridge yelling, “How can you stop me?” The suspect fled the store with the beer in hand at 6:24 pm, according to the report.

Phantom burglar

A burglar broke into a Bragg Street home sometime overnight on Feb. 7, taking cash and a credit card.

The victim told police he went to work at 5 pm on Feb. 7, and returned to his home near Avenue Y at 7 am the next day. When he got home he discovered someone broke the lock of the house’s back door.

The crook walked out of the house with an unknown amount of cash and the victim’s credit card, police reported.

— Julianne Cuba

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By Julianne Cuba

Brooklyn Daily

Every day is a Snow day at these Midwood schools.

City officials named three area pre-Ks after a local life-long educator Joan Snow on Feb. 12. The teacher and administrator worked in New York City public schools for more than three decades before becoming a superintendent for area Catholic schools — in short, she gave her life to teaching, a daughter said.

“She was very dedicated, and the one thing that she always stressed was that every child matters,” said Mary Snow, Joan’s daughter. “She really took such pride in her job, in teaching children, and also in her staff. My entire family is so honored.”

The education maven, who died in July 2000, raised her family in the very district where she worked — and her kids Mary, Martin, James, and John grew up with an extensive extended family, one of the pedagogue’s progeny said.

“I had about 1,000 brothers and sisters,” said son Martin Snow.

Snow’s kids attended one of the centers that now bears her name — back when it was Our Lady Help of Christians School. Officials are naming the E. 29th Street school, as well as Midwood schoolhouses on Glenwood Road and Coney Island Avenue, for Snow.

Martin hoped the centers’ names would inspire a lifelong love of learning in pupils.

“Young kids are going to start off their educational lives asking who Joan Snow was,” he said. “I hope they have that same passion for knowledge, education, fairness, and learning as she did.”

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By Joanna DelBuono

Brooklyn Daily

Thank you Taylor Swift! Finally, someone told that bloated, braggadocios, arrogant Kanye West off. It’s about time. Taylor Swift showed more class in her one speech than Yeezus has shown in his entire career.

From jumping on stage and acting like a fool at past Grammy events to his constant carping, this has-been needs to go back to school and learn the fine art of good sportsmanship, respect for fellow artists, and keeping his big mouth shut. It’s not to say he is not talented, but he ruins whatever talent he has as soon as he opens the large gaping wound under his nose. Close it, Kanye, and let it heal.

Still, slogging through the Grammys had its moments, but I’ll make it quick.

What the heck was that on top of The Weekend’s head? I’m not one to criticize any hairstyle — I’ve made a few coif-related missteps myself — but I draw the line at teased and poofed road kill on the head. Sorry not a look I aspire too.

Did I mention how great Lady Gaga is? If not, here it is — She’s Greaaattt! I have never been a very big fan of the Gaga, but of late, she is allowing her true talents to shine through all the nonsense. And let me tell you, she is one talented and gifted performer. Can I say “I’m gaga over Gaga”?

No longer in need of a meat dress to get attention, this talented songbird nailed the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, and she nailed the tribute to David Bowie at this award show. I am sure that if Ziggy Stardust could have opened up the heavens and given her a big Standing O, he would have. She was that good.

Many have complained (we all know who) that the Grammys lack diversity. Who is kidding who here? Out of all the award shows, the Grammys — and the music business in particular — is the most diverse. The academy of recording arts honors new talent and new genres year after year. Every legend who bit the dust in the past year — and there were many — was honored, mentioned, and had the spotlight shine. There was not one instance that I could honestly say was disrespectful to anyone in particular.

And the live tributes were even more grand. Pop icon Lionel Richie was honored for his decades-long contribution to the industry as a songwriter, singer, producer, and musician — spanning more than 30 years of creating beautiful melodies from his early days with the Commodores to his solo career.

Not for Nuthin™ for all those out there complaining, please stop. You are all big, fat, whinny, crybabies in need of a nap.

Follow me on Twitter @JDelBuono.

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By Alley Olivier

Brooklyn Daily

The sunny Caribbean has plenty of stories about spirits and black magic.

Those stories take center stage — literally — in the play “Zingay,” manifesting in Fort Greene on Feb. 20. The one-act performance will take the audience on a comedic journey of jealousy, violence, and the world of obeah women – those who use folk magic and sorcery. But it is also a reflection on Caribbean tradition, storytelling, and culture, said its director.

“For me, ‘Zingay’ is the story our grandparents told us,” said Faith Armstrong. “I would like the audience to take away how rich the Caribbean culture is, tradition is, and how much of an impact those stories had on us growing up.”

Written by Trinidadian playwright Freddie Kissoon in 1966, “Zingay” was adapted for this production by Armstrong and producer Marlon Gervis. The story follows a married couple, played by Karen Joseph and Curtis Browne, who suspect that someone has cast a type of black magic on their child.

The two clash over whether to seek help from a neighborhood obeah woman — the wife believes in the stories of evil spirits told by her grandmother, but her husband is more skeptical.

“He doesn’t approve or believe in those things, but the wife is very gullible and was raised around that storytelling,” Armstrong said.

“My character is a very concerned mom who is very spiritual and believes everything anyone tells me,” said Joseph.

Despite the comedic nature of the play, some its more serious elements made the show more difficult for Armstrong to get ready than her previous play “Letters from Leonara.”

“This one is more challenging for me because it is a fun play but it’s also somewhat a heavier play,” she said. “I had to work a little bit more to get the cast members into character, there is fighting, jealousy, arguments.”

The prominent role of spirits in the play was also a challenge for some of the mixed Caribbean cast.

“Dealing with the obeah, spirits you will find some people are not comfortable acting certain parts,” Armstrong explained.

The show is only scheduled to run for one night, but Joseph has grand hopes for bringing it to a larger stage.

“It’s a lot of fun and I hope we can bring it back and do it on Broadway,” Joseph said.

Zingay at Brooklyn Music School [126 St. Felix St. between Lafayette Avenue and Hanson Place in Fort Greene. (347) 692–9428. zingay.eventbrite.com]. Feb. 20 at 8 pm. $30.

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

Sunset Park has the golden ticket!

Brooklyn Army Terminal just got a lot sweeter — French chocolatier Jacques Torres finally opened the doors of his state-of-the-art chocolate factory on Feb. 1, three years to the day after he started relocating operations from Dumbo and Manhattan to the behemoth Sunset Park facility. The Willy Wonka-esque master chocolatier built the factory himself — but it still inspires awe in him, he said.

“I could never imagine building something like this,” Torres said. “In the morning, when I come in and turn on the lights and there’s nobody here, I cannot believe my eyes — even though I built it myself.”

And chocolate lovers will soon be able to see it all themselves — Torres plans to open the football field-sized factory for public tours and let gawkers buy treats at direct-from-the-factory prices, he said.

The confectioner wants tour-takers to ask about any part of the chocolate-making process so they see first-hand that his operation is the real McCoy.

“We are real and do the real thing — I want my customers to understand that, to smell that, and to touch that,” he said.

Torres had not heard of Brooklyn Army Terminal when he started looking for spaces to expand his operation, but fell in love with it after a friend took him for a tour and lectured him about its storied history, he said.

The campus on the border of Sunset Park and Bay Ridge served as one of the nation’s busiest terminals during World War II, employing more than 20,000 buzzing workers, according to information from the Economic Development Commission, which bought and renovated the site in the 1980s and now leases the four-block-long facility to private industrial clients.

The Sunset Park factory may be Brooklyn’s sweetest new destination, but Dumbo-ites needn’t fear — Torres will keep his Water Street facility open and transform the manufacturing space into additional retail, he said.

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By Lauren Gill

Brooklyn Daily

Straphangers may have to pay a second fare when switching from subways and buses to the streetcar Mayor DeBlasio wants to build along Brooklyn’s waterfront for their ride, Hizzoner admitted on Tuesday.

The news contradicts previous claims from those working on the project that it will offer free transfers between services, which the mayor said he couldn’t guarantee because the city has only just started speaking to the state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority about connecting the two.

“Our goal is full integration and maximum transfers … we’ve got to work that through with the MTA,” said DeBlasio at a Red Hook press conference touting the benefits of the proposed Sunset Park-to-Queens trolley on Feb. 16.

DeBlasio reiterated previous promises that a ride on the $2.5-billion city-funded streetcar would cost no more than whatever a standard MetroCard swipe does if and when the proposed service launches around 2024, but denied claims made by former traffic commissioner “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz — whose engineering firm worked on the original pitch for the so-called Brooklyn Queens Connector and who has been touting its benefits to media outlets — that commuters will be able to step off a train and onto the tram without paying again.

“We see it as being seamless with the MTA, so we don’t see paying a separate fee,” he told this paper.

Local transit boosters say free transfers and integration between the two systems would be essential for winning residents over to the plan — especially those from low-income areas in Sunset Park and Red Hook, who the mayor insists the streetcar will help.

“Having to pay two fares is unrealistic, even for someone who is wealthy enough to afford a monthly MetroCard,” said Eric McClure, a co-chair of Community Board 6’s transportation committee, which encompasses Red Hook and Cobble Hill, where the trolley will traverse. “It would be critical to its success for it to fully integrate with the MTA system.”

But Red Hook commuters may not have much choice in jumping aboard — the mayor also admitted that the new system could encourage the transit agency to scrap the subway-starved nabe’s sole bus service, the B61 — which currently ferries around 30,000 people along the waterfront every weekday.

“If the MTA ended up with any excess capacity there are sure parts of the outer boroughs that could use a lot more bus services,” he said.

The news is another blow for cash-strapped local commuters who learned last year that the ferry service DeBlasio plans to roll out between Dumbo and Bay Ridge in 2017 will also not offer free transfers or integrate with the transit authority’s system. There are also no guarantees of free transfers between the ferries and streetcar, a rep for the mayor’s office said.

Transportation honchos also fielded questions on the key question of whether the streetcar will tangle with regular traffic or have its own light-rail-style lane with right-of-way, but offered only vague assurances that it would be a mix of both.

“Our goal here is to have streetcars move in traffic, but as much as we can a right-of-way where we’ll be keeping traffic out so we can achieve speeds that are going to make the real travel time savings that we’re talking about,” said transportation department czar Polly Trottenberg.

DeBlasio first announced his support for the Brooklyn Queens Connector earlier this month, jumping on board a proposal created by waterfront developers and businesses, who hope the yuppie-friendly mode of transport will encourage more building and higher property values along the proposed route. Both the mayor and backers claim the system can pay for itself via increased property taxes, though some transit experts have slammed that plan for leaving too much to chance.

A spokesman from the Metropolitan Transit Authority declined to comment on integrating fares, but said it was ready to talk with the city.

“We look forward to learning more about the city’s proposal,” said the authority’s press guru Kevin Ortiz.

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By Julianne Cuba

Brooklyn Daily

Coney Island is about to really be buzzing.

The landmarked Childs Restaurant will reopen as an indoor-outdoor concert venue in July, officials announced on Feb. 16. The city tapped entertainment megalith Live Nation to book shows at the 5,000-seat amphitheater, and the company, which owns Ticketmaster and regularly sends national acts to Barclays Center, is poised to bring big-time talent to the seaside concert house. But one People’s Playground stalwart said he is excited about the prospect of local programming, too.

“We are looking forward to making the traditional Coney Island events, such as the Mermaid Parade, even bigger and better,” said Boardwalk impresario Dick Zigun, whose arts group Coney Island USA will help operate the venue. “Getting ready for the parade will all happen inside the amphitheater. We used to be out on the street with no weather protection, broken sidewalks, glass in the street, had to rent bathrooms. So this is a major improvement for the 3,000 or so artists who are in the parade.”

The venue opens in July, but Zigun is hoping to get a sneak peak during the June parade.

“Since the mermaid parade is in June, we might be the first use of the facility, and I’m excited about that as well,” he said.

The concert hall will feature two 50-foot doors that open onto an adjacent lawn so music fans can rock out in the great outdoors during summer months.

Former borough president Marty Markowitz dreamed it up as a place to house his annual Seaside Concert series in 2013 after Coney Islanders pushed back on his previous plan to put an amphitheater in Asser Levy Park.

The city paid owner iStar Financial $60 million for the Childs building and to restore the 90-year-old structure, which sits on the Boardwalk at W. 21st Street. Construction began last February.

Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, which controls the Brooklyn Nets and the team’s home Barclays Center, will sell off naming rights, and Legends, the Yankees’ concessionaire, will sling refreshments, officials said.

Promoters haven’t announced the first season’s lineup, but Zigun knows exactly who he wants to break in the new stage.

“If it were up to me, Iggy Pop in the first season,” he said.

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By Dennis Lynch

Brooklyn Daily

It was a mayoral mea culpa.

Mayor DeBlasio apologized to Bay Ridge for failing to crack down on chronic illegal activity at 93rd street’s notorious Prince Hotel — which is just feet from a pre-K center his administration is proposing — during a town hall meeting at Fort Hamilton High School on Feb. 16. DeBlasio called the situation at the flophouse “absolutely unacceptable” and promised his administration would finally take action.

“I have to take responsibility for that and apologize to you and the community,” he said. “I guarantee you now — and I’m making a very personal guarantee and all those cameras are running — that there will be enforcement and action on the Prince Hotel.”

The Mayor’s office assembled a task force to investigate alleged drug use and prostitution at the hotel a year ago after local leaders panned the city’s effort to build a three-story pre-kindergarten facility down the block from the establishment, but the task force has yet to take significant action there, locals said.

The property owner has racked up 152 open buildings department violations and owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties as a result, city records show.

A Community Board 10 member who asked about the mayor’s plan for the hotel at the town hall said she was happy to hear the Hizzoner’s promise, but said his words must be followed by action.

“I’m satisfied with his answer and we will follow and we will see what happens — he’ll hear from us and the press will hear from us if he doesn’t [act on the promise],” Doris Cruz said. “The community board made a commitment to pre-K students that there will not be a Prince Hotel problem when that school opens.”

The School Construction Authority purchased the property for the proposed pre-K in October for $3 million, according to the real estate news outlet New York Yimby.

The councilman who moderated Tuesday’s town hall was optimistic about the mayor’s promise to move on the Prince Hotel and extolled how open-style meetings shoot pressing community concerns up the ladder.

“That is one of the best advantages of having a night like this, because issues like that can get directly to him,” said Councilman Vincent Gentile (D–Bay Ridge).

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