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June 10, 2008

Streetlevel: Front and Jay Retail Sits Vacant

front-and-jay-0608.jpg
After serving as a rather pathetic deli, this corner spot at Front and Jay Streets in Dumbo morphed into an Indian restaurant for a few months before getting shut down earlier this year. It's been sitting empty ever since in large part, we hear, because landlord Joshua Guttman is asking an astronomical rent for the space. It is a pretty prime retail location as far as Dumbo goes. What kind of business would you like to see go in this space? GMAP




Posted by Brownstoner at 2:23 PM | Comments (26)
Categories: Dumbo, Streetlevel

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Comments

So whats the rent? sq footage?

Posted by: guest at June 10, 2008 2:34 PM

A gymnasium for cats.

Posted by: guest at June 10, 2008 2:42 PM

bodega

Posted by: denton at June 10, 2008 2:44 PM

Spitzer & Son Massage would be a pefect addition to the hood.

Posted by: guest at June 10, 2008 2:54 PM

It's got Citibank written all over it.

Posted by: guest at June 10, 2008 3:10 PM

2:42 Wins!

Posted by: guest at June 10, 2008 3:15 PM

Real estate office. DUMBO should have as many of these a Court St or Park Slope.

Or a bank.

More banks in Brooklyn!

Posted by: guest at June 10, 2008 3:18 PM

how about a russian bath house.

Posted by: guest at June 10, 2008 3:18 PM

I live across the street and I have to say this is NOT the best retail space available in the immediate vicinity. It is partially subterranean. It has low ceilings. The entry is less than perfect on Jay St. If I were looking to open a business in the neighborhood this would not be the space I would look to rent.

Posted by: pmmtenement at June 10, 2008 3:46 PM

Vietnamese Sandwiches place, Banh Mi PLEASE! DUMBO needs more lunch places.

Posted by: guest at June 10, 2008 4:25 PM

restaurant. restaurant. restaurant. good food. could be Tai, vietnamese, Italian, fondue, middle eastern.... i don't know something good and decent and original. We have so few choices down here.

Posted by: guest at June 10, 2008 4:36 PM

a transport portal to a more happenin neighborhood?

Posted by: guest at June 10, 2008 4:45 PM

I usually roll my eyes when people call you out, Sir Brownstoner, for your absurd yuppie hipster bias, but this time I'm wondering what your problem is. As someone who worked in a low-budget non-profit in DUMBO for years, I really liked that deli and never once found their stupid cheap salads or cheerful staff "pathetic."

I'm sorry you don't have a fetish for the kitchy cachet of a handful of earnest chinese dudes trying to make it work, because then you could have waxed on about their earnest working class charm instead of calling their shop pathetic.

It was clean, the food was fresh, they were nice. I don't understand why that is pathetic. Pathetic is limp lettuce and surly jerks charging too much.

I'm not arguing that the DUMBO I once loved should be preserved on ice for all eternity with a boo hoo here and a boo hoo there, but "pathetic"?

I call bullshit on that.

Posted by: guest at June 10, 2008 5:15 PM

Okay, should we have said "bare bones" then instead of pathetic? They had, like, two small food counters in the entire large space. Compared to the Bridge deli a couple of doors down, it did look pretty pathetic. At the very least, it was an underutilized space without much going on in the ambience department. And it's not a yuppie thing: The Spanish American restaurant across the street is hardly new or upscale, but has tons of character and hopefully will be around for a long time.

Posted by: brownstoner at June 10, 2008 5:39 PM

"Pathetic is limp lettuce and surly jerks charging too much."

Foragers Market in 10 words.

Posted by: guest at June 10, 2008 6:58 PM

barber shop. not a salon.

Posted by: BrooklynLove at June 10, 2008 7:05 PM

a gymnasium for cats, it is.

Posted by: guest at June 10, 2008 7:52 PM

That spanish place smack full of character is also owned by guttman and will likely be demolished in about .2 seconds...

Posted by: YngPlnr at June 10, 2008 8:34 PM

What is the definition of this term "underutilized" that is thrown around so much in these discussions? Is there such a thing as "overutilized"?

Posted by: guest at June 11, 2008 1:00 AM

there needs to be a restaurant that is similar to what Jerrys in Soho was like. Decent, casual,a bit hip and with good, simple food. I Agee that the Guttman corner lot with Pedros on it has tear down written all over it. It would be a loss to one of the last remaning crumbs of authenticity to the area.

Posted by: guest at June 11, 2008 2:53 AM


I think this would be a good place for Biohazard to have a practice space.

Posted by: guest at June 11, 2008 10:09 AM

biohazard practice space / porn studio

Posted by: guest at June 11, 2008 10:21 AM

Underutilized in the layman's term for the pathetic planning term "best and highest use" (of land/building/etc.) which basically means if it ain't making the maximum return, rip it out. And you can use eminent domain to do so if the owner balks.

As Oder of Atlantic yards notes, by applying that standard, Atlantic Mall could be torn down since its land is zoned for taler buildings. Hmmm...

Posted by: cmu at June 11, 2008 10:28 AM

Ok, I totally agree that that deli was awesome. A litle aethetically-challenged, but awesome. The key element was the great salads, good prices, and very nice staff. And there were OFTEN lunchtime lines for those salads. D Space was a classic.

The good news- the same deli moved (for a long time there were two of them...) down the street next to "Jimi's" bodega. They have the same salads and many of the same staff. The big white door.

Seriously, though, the salads are better than bridge fresh.

Posted by: guest at June 12, 2008 3:04 PM

68 Jay Street is a rat infested building. There are visible rat holes all along the base. Yuck!

Posted by: guest at June 15, 2008 8:52 AM

I have heard that Two Trees aggressively tries to keep new restaurants out of DUMBO b/c they are so set on having art spaces. If that is true, it seriously sucks, b/c Pedros is the only decent food in DUMBO and even I can only eat so much Mexican. We are in dire need of more restaurants.

Posted by: guest at June 16, 2008 1:23 PM

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