Brooklyn Brainery is Leaving Carroll Gardens!

Brooklyn Brainery, the low-cost, community-driven, irreverent-yet-intellectual school that started in Carroll Gardens two years ago is opening a coworking and classroom space in Prospect Heights next month. 

Co-founder Jen Messier said they will keep their Court Street location open until the landlords find a new tenant, but eventually they will move all operations to the new space, a storefront at 190 Underhill Avenue, between St. Johns and Sterling, near Blue Marble Ice Cream. 

According to Messier, the Carroll Gardens space was always temporary—they never had a long-term lease on the space. She and co-founder Jonathan Soma were looking for a permanent spot when they came across the brick-walled, sunlight-filled store on Underhill, which also has a large backyard. 

"We really fell in love with the space,"  Messier said via e-mail. "and we both live nearby in Fort Greene, so it's a perfect combination of close to home and an exciting neighborhood with good transportation." 

To start, the school will offer classes in the evenings, beginning with How to Write a Grant Proposal, beginning January 15, and The History of the Gowanus Canal on January 24. 

Soon, there will also be coworking during the day, a new addition to the school's offerings. 

"It'll be the Brainery you know and love, along with a neat new addition: coworking! The space will be open during the day for all of us freelancers and coffee-shop nomads, a place to work around other awesome folks to learn from and collaborate with," Messier and Soma say about the space on the Brainery's blog. 

Details on the coworking are yet to be fleshed out. Those interested in updates can subsribe to the coworking e-mail list here. 

The Carroll Gardens community will surely miss this resource in the neighborhood. Over the summer, blogger Emily Armanetti wrote that as a new parent, she found the Brainery to be a great outlet for re-engaging with the local community after staying at home. Before that, writer Lily Frances wrote a beautiful profile on how the school sought to connect the community with local experts and artisans.