Gothamist

A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.

Gothamist

WNYC Listen Live

Donate

 

 

Arts & Entertainment

Iconic Grand Prospect Hall Sold For $22.5 Million


By

Jen Chung

Published Jul 15, 2021


Share

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail


Never miss a story

 Email address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .

Photo by Gretchen Robinette /Gothamist


By

Jen Chung

Published Jul 15, 2021


Share

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail


We rely on your support to make local news available to all

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

The Grand Prospect Hall, the over-the-top Park Slope event venue, was sold in a $30 million deal involving 12 neighborhood properties, according to The Real Deal.

The reception hall was sold by owner Alice Halkias for $22.5 million to Gowanus Cubes, an LLC operated by Angelo Rigas. Eleven other parcels made up the remaining $7.5 million of the deal.

Halkias and her husband Michael, who passed away last year, were the stars of their homespun commercial—set to soaring music (and parodied by Saturday Night Live)—promoting the hall's glamorous spaces, with Alice Halkias declaring, "We make your dreams come true!"

The four-story Victorian structure, built in the late 1800s, was entered into the National Historic Register in 1999 as having social and cultural significance, with its late 19th-century revival of French Renaissance style and huge theater, "arranged and decorated in the tradition of America's great 19th-century ethnic halls."

Read More: A Photo Tour Of Brooklyn's Dazzling Grand Prospect Hall

The Halkiases decorated the hall with remnants from other buildings—14 of the hall's crystal chandeliers were from a Greenpoint church, while another in the front entrance area was from the original Loew's King Theater; columns that were originally thrown in the trash; ceiling tiles from shuttered eateries. In 2015, Michael Halkias told Gothamist that he received offers from developers to turn the hall into condos every day, "I get letters, I get phone calls."

The Real Deal reports that the properties total 73,104 square feet of built space, "Controlling the assemblage gives Rigas, an electrical contractor, the option of constructing a substantially larger building at the address... His father, Gregory Rigas, built several projects in the area, including the 80-unit rental tower 574 Fourth Avenue, near 16th Street."

Tagged

park slope

real estate

brooklyn

grand prospect hall


Jen Chung

Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

Read more

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


MORE arts-entertainment

Will Barnes and Noble in the East Village spell doom for smaller shops? It's complicated.

Independent booksellers are grappling with whether the big-box chain is a threat or an ally in the fight against Amazon.

By

Sonia Rao

Published Oct 16, 2026


Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?

We went to the Spiciest Supper Club singles night to take the temperature of New York City's dating scene.

By

Elizabeth Shwe

and

James Ramsay

Arts & Entertainment

Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?

We went to the Spiciest Supper Club singles night to take the temperature of New York City's dating scene.

By

Elizabeth Shwe

and

James Ramsay


How the NYC Marathon has changed in the last 50 years

By

Hannah Frishberg

A visit to Art of Play, the Brooklyn store in an animatronic bird beef with Kelly Clarkson

By

Sonia Rao

The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?

By

Lindsay Lee Wallace


Never miss a story

Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.

Sign upEmail address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .