Long-held plans to transform Columbia Street into Brooklyn’s next hot retail destination appear to be faltering, according to an article in today’s Times. Shopkeepers on the waterfront strip say continued construction projects, a remote location, and an absence of the hard-to-pin-down alchemy that has transformed drags like Smith Street into shopping destinations have conspired to keep Columbia Street from living up to its potential. Smith Street has everything, said Freddy Saint-Aignan, who opened up Sugar Lounge on Columbia Street a couple years ago. With all the construction, there is no place for parking. We have no access, no subway, no buses. At night we have no lights. At some point, one hopes, the construction on Columbia Street will end—think it’s possible it’ll yet become Brooklyn’s next Smith Street when that happens?
Two Years Later, a Street Still Waits for Its Promised Gentrification [NY Times]
Columbia Street photo by mr.seymour.