A GROWING GUATEMALAN COMMUNITY
Also: Kisses, a stabbing, Mixteca expands, a development project, Black businesses, ditching booze and more!
There is no dedicated news coverage of Sunset Park — but Sunset Park makes news. This FREE weekly(ish) digest curates all the headlines from all the news sources that touch our neighborhood, which is one of the most vibrant in Brooklyn.
In this issue
Sunset Park’s Guatemalan population growth spurs new businesses
Mixteca expands: A new chapter for immigrant services
Suspect in Trump assassination plot complains about conditions in Sunset Park jail
Man, 66, stabbed in the back, punched in head during street attack
Daryl Hagler saves Watermark Capital’s Sunset Park development project
Gen Z is ditching booze for sober-centric hubs in NYC
‘She Did That’ Bazaar and other Black businesses take over Industry City
APPLY NOW: Environmental Research Fellowship
A couple kisses that sealed the deal
Sunset Park’s Guatemalan population growth spurs new businesses
BY NEW YORK CITY NEWS SERVICE: Along Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, the smells of tacos and fried rice mix with those of Guatemalan tamales and pepián stew. The commercial area, dominated by Mexican and Chinese businesses, is now infused with the flavors of a growing Guatemalan community that is transforming the neighborhood one storefront at a time. To serve this growing population, Juan Chuc and his brothers, Miguel and Rafael, opened a second Totopan Bakery on Fifth Avenue. Miguel opened the first store on 20th Avenue in Bensonhurst four years ago, when many Guatemalans from Sunset Park had to make the 30-to-60-minute trip to shop. Now they don’t have to go that far. “Instead of them going there, they stay here,” Juan Chuc said. “We’re going slowly but surely.” … READ MORE
Mixteca expands: A new chapter for immigrant services
BY WPIX: In the heart of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, a small but mighty organization is on the brink of a significant transformation. Mixteca, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting immigrants, has recently secured $2.5 million in funding for a new headquarters, marking a pivotal moment in its 24-year history. On a busy Wednesday morning, Patricia Basurto, a participant from the Mexican state of Guerrero, sat shoulder-to-shoulder with other community members in Mixteca’s cramped 2,000-square-foot space. Basurto, who speaks Mixteco, discovered the organization during a visit to Sunset Park when she was struggling with depression after having a baby. “I was so depressed at the time. I just had my baby, I didn’t feel good and I came here,” Basurto recalled. “They helped me a lot.” … READ MORE
Suspect in Trump assassination plot complains about conditions in Sunset Park jail
BY NY POST: An alleged Iranian agent accused of plotting to assassinate Donald Trump and other US pols is complaining about conditions in Sunset Park’s notorious federal Metropolitan Detention Center — including how he can’t get salt and pepper for his vegetarian slop. Asif Merchant, 46, has been holed up in solitary confinement at the federal lockup in Sunset Park since he was nabbed last July over the alleged murder-for-hire plot to take out current and former government officials. … the notoriously strict jail is also home to disgraced rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs and accused UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione. … READ MORE
Man, 66, stabbed in the back, punched in head during street attack
BY 101 WINS: Police released surveillance footage of one of the suspects wanted for stabbing a man in the back and punching him in the head during a street attack last month. At approximately 1:15 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 9, a 66-year-old man was walking in front of 250 53rd St. in Sunset Park when he was approached by the two suspects who engaged him in a verbal dispute. … READ MORE
Daryl Hagler saves Watermark Capital’s Sunset Park development project
BY PATCH: Real estate investor Daryl Hagler has successfully secured a $42.5 million loan to support the construction of Watermark Capital’s ambitious 28-story, 497-unit residential project at 6128 Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood. Situated on a former rail yard, this high-profile development was on the brink of foreclosure before Mr. Hagler intervened with his strategic financing. This move has provided a lifeline to Watermark Capital, helping them avert the impending foreclosure attempt by Rialto Capital Group, a Manhattan-based real estate investment and asset management firm. “I’m proud to be part of a project that will not only revitalize this significant site in Brooklyn but also contribute to the area's economic growth by providing much-needed housing units,” said Mr. Hagler. “The development of Sunset Park is more than just a construction project; it’s a vision for the future of Brooklyn. … READ MORE
Gen Z is ditching booze for sober-centric hubs in NYC
BY NY POST: Gen Z is drinking alcohol far less than previous generations, a trend that has been holding steady for the past four years, data shows. Instead, young adults are getting their social fixes at sober-friendly gathering hubs and alcohol-free bars that have been sprouting up throughout the Big Apple in recent years to accommodate what some are saying is a sign of changing times. “I think our generation is very aware, like a lot of us are activists and I think that awareness influences our drinking habits,” Aedin Weisenberg, 22, told The Post last week as he painted a figurine at Brooklyn Game Knight in Sunset Park’s Industry City. “You’d think we drink more with all the stuff we’re hearing about the world constantly! You’d think we want a distraction but I think our phones are distraction enough so we don’t need as much alcohol.” … READ MORE
‘She Did That’ Bazaar and other Black businesses take over Industry City
BY AMSTERDAM NEWS: While most are still winding down from the holiday season, Black-owned businesses are thriving in Black spaces. Brand strategist and executive producer Renae Bluitt held her “She Did That” 2024 Holiday Bazaar event last month at Sunset Park’s Industry City in Brooklyn. The annual holiday Black marketplace, powered by Shea Moisture, was a one-day shopping experience featuring over 500 visitors and 60 plus Black-owned retailers from different parts of the country. “Every year, we bring in previous merchants and every year it’s my intention to introduce the NYC market to new, elevated Black woman owned brands,” said Bluitt. … READ MORE
APPLY NOW: Environmental Research Fellowship
BY GREEN-WOOD: Are you an early-career researcher in the natural sciences? Here’s your opportunity to make Green-Wood your field lab! Apply to our Research Fellowship in Urban Environmental Science for the chance to conduct ecological research within a historic landscape in Sunset Park. Green-Wood’s 478-acre arboretum and cemetery serves as a living laboratory, featuring over 8,000 trees and varied microhabitats, offering researchers the unique opportunity to study environmental research in an often overlooked and understudied urban green space. The fellowship is open to emerging investigators in the field of environmental science and will run from March 3 to February 28, 2026. Awards are up to $10,000. Click here to learn more and apply. Applications close on January 31.
A couple kisses that sealed the deal
BY THE NEW YORK TIMES: When Olivia Christine Snyder-Spak matched with Elias Jeremy Stein on Hinge in September 2021, she was a decade into online dating but had never found an ideal partner. “I had probably gone on at least a few hundred first dates, sometimes even doing two in a day,” she said. … On Halloween, they went to Green-Wood Cemetery in Sunset Park. “The spookiness of a cemetery seemed fitting, and the fact that Eli felt the same way was a big sign that he was going to be a great teammate, down for whatever,” Ms. Snyder-Spak said. … READ MORE
CALENDAR
Saturday, Jan. 25: Ultimate Camp Fair & Activity Expo
Friday, Jan. 31: Deadline to apply to Green-Wood’s environmental research fellowship
Sunday, Feb. 2: First-ever ‘Plant Powered Kids’ Festival
Ongoing at Green-Wood Cemetery