Brownstoner is Brooklyn's most read
website about real estate, renovation
and neighborhood news. Read More»
490 Fulton Facade Reaches Completion
The scaffolding has come down at 490 Fulton Street, and the renovation of the Fulton Mall building is looking just about complete (from the outside, anyway). Following the announcement that Filene’s/Sym’s filed for bankruptcy protection, there’s been no word about what’s going to become of the 40,000 square feet the retailer was supposed to take at 490 Fulton, but an Express is slated to open in the building this spring. On the jump, a photo of what the property looked like last fall, before the renovation began.
Fulton Street Filene’s Basement a No-Go? [Brownstoner] (more…)
01/09/2012 2:40 PM
Comment
City Point’s Shiny New Facade Now on Display
The first phase of City Point, the big retail development on the Fulton Mall, is scheduled to open in the spring, and we now have a good sense of how the exterior of the building is going to look. The siding that’s been put on the building is quite a bit shinier than the renderings indicated (click through to see one). There’s still no word on whether an anchor tenant has been secured for the project. This phase of City Point is 50,000 square feet, which is only a tenth as big as the second phase is supposed to be. GMAP (more…)
01/03/2012 12:00 PM
Comment
Walkabout: Brooklyn’s Abraham & Straus
(Photo: Abraham and Straus, 1904. Brooklyn Public Library)
In today’s fragile economy and cultural hurly-burly, holiday shopping has lost its charm and whimsy to price slashing, in your face, heavy duty bargain hunting. Christmas shopping is no longer the time to lovingly and carefully choose the perfect gift for a loved one; it’s a time to knock someone out in order to score a flat screen television for a bargain basement price, and make a profit for cash starved retailers. When I was a child, (dinosaur alert!) the classic hunt for a perfect present for a parent or sibling took place in a department store, one of those magical places where a child would be enraptured by what seemed to be an immense store full of glittery and bright Christmas decorations, fanciful wrapped boxes of presents stacked everywhere, and Santa Claus in the toy department. All amidst departments that sold anything you could possibly imagine, staffed by kind people who were there to make your dreams come true. This was true even in the small town I grew up in, where the stores were not really immense by any stretch of the imagination, but nowhere was it more true than in New York City. (more…)
12/13/2011 10:30 AM
Comment
Carroll Gardens Barbershop Opening Burg Location
Persons of Interest, the barbershop that opened on Smith Street about a year ago, is going to have a second storefront in Williamsburg. The new digs will be on Havemeyer at Metropolitan. GMAP
11/28/2011 2:00 PM
Comment
New Women’s Boutique Open on Court Street
Pink Pepper, a women’s boutique, has opened at 201 Court Street between Bergen and Wyckoff. It’s the first retail venture for owner Nicola Salky-Johnson, who describes the clothing for sale as contemporary, and says the offerings run the gamut from t-shirts to cocktail dresses. Prices go from around $50 up to $400. On the jump, a shot of the interior. GMAP (more…)
11/21/2011 2:00 PM
Comment
Flor, Modular Carpet Tile Maker, Opening on Atlantic
Flor, a company that makes modular carpet tiles, is opening a new store at 307 Atlantic Avenue, between Smith and Hoyt, this evening. The business, which used to only do online and catalog sales, opened a flagship in Soho earlier this year. The opening party is tonight, you can RSVP here.
Flor [Official Site] GMAP
11/17/2011 2:00 PM
Comment
Surf’s Up on North 3rd Street
A reader got in touch to ask whether there was news about doings in a ground-floor space on North 3rd and Wythe, a storefront that has sat empty for awhile but is now being renovated. Turns out it will be the new home of Mollusk Surf Shop, one of the former Monster Island tenants. According to the surfing gear’s blog, the shop may open sometime this month. GMAP
11/03/2011 2:00 PM
Comment
Fulton Street Filene’s Basement a No-Go?
It’s looking like plans for a 40,000-square-foot Filene’s Basement/Syms on the Fulton Mall may not be realized. Yesterday Syms and Filene’s filed for bankruptcy protection, saying stock would be liquidated and nearly 50 stores would close. The Downtown Brooklyn outpost of the retailer was supposed to open early next year at 490 Fulton Street, a building that Crown Acquisitions bought for more than $60 million in 2010 and has been gut renovating. Obviously this is not great news for Fulton Street, since it means another big vacancy for the corridor at a time when quite a bit more retail space is appearing in the form of CityPoint, which has yet to make an announcement about any tenants. The most recent news about 490 Fulton was that Express has signed a lease for a 10,000-square-foot store in the building. GMAP
11/03/2011 9:00 AM
Comment
Area Kids Coming to Fort Greene
Area Kids, the local children’s toy and clothing chain, is opening its next location on Fulton Street in Fort Greene. According to Loretta Gendville, the store’s owner, it will be the ninth Area Kids. The storefront, at 741 Fulton between South Elliott and South Portland, used to be home to Supernova Boutique. GMAP
10/24/2011 2:00 PM
Comment
Tio Pio the Latest Victim of Cursed Downtown Corner
Why are businesses having such a tough time making a go of it at 117 Court Street, on the corner of State? Maybe because the rent’s too damn high, according to a tipster who passes on word this morning that the building’s current tenant, Tio Pio, is moving out. The restaurant opened in December and now follows a couple of other businesses, Danny’s and F. Martinella’s, in not lasting very long in the space. Thoughts on what might have more staying power here? Update, 10/24/11: Tio Pio’s owner got in touch to say that while changes to the business are in the works, there are no plans to close at present.
Tio Pio Open [Brownstoner] GMAP
10/21/2011 12:00 PM
Comment
PetSmart Opening Soon on Atlantic Avenue
The big PetSmart going into one of the retail spaces at 225 Pacific, the condo development on the corner of Boerum Place and Atlantic Avenue, looks like it’s going to be in business soon. As of this weekend workers were setting up shelves in the shopping aisles, and a reader noticed that PetSmart’s website says the grand opening will be on November 12th.
Dog Days for Atlantic Ave [Brownstoner] GMAP
10/19/2011 2:00 PM
Comment
490 Fulton Street Gets Glassy
The transformation of 490 Fulton Street continues apace, with new glass windows being installed. (Check out a close-up shot after the jump.) A Filene’s Basement/Syms hybrid and Express are already lined up to lease space in the building.
Express is Joining the Fulton Street Ranks [Brownstoner] GMAP
(more…)
09/29/2011 2:42 PM
Comment
Is This What the ‘Walmartization of NYC’ Would Look Like?
As far as attention-grabbing reports go, Alliance for a Greater New York’s “Walmartization of NY” is a doozy: The organization finds Walmart would have to open 159 stores in New York in order to replicate its average share of the grocery market nationally. The report projects that Brooklyn would have the most Walmarts of the five boroughs, with 48 stores. Three of those stores would be superstores, 10 would be Walmart Markets, and 35 would be Walmart Express stores. The point of the study? “Our estimates show these 159 stores would drive out nearly 4,000 net retail jobs and result in a loss of over $353 million in total wages a year for all remaining retail workers. In fact, our analysis shows that one Walmart Supercenter in East New York alone could cause 105 surrounding businesses to close.” (Speaking of East New York, there’s still no word on whether the store there is a done deal yet.) Walmart’s reaction to the study: “‘The special interests today issued what amounts to a fairy tale press release that’s billed as a study, I guess in hopes of scaring residents,’ said [spokesman] Steven Restivo. Walmart countered with its own numbers on Tuesday, claiming city residents were on track to spend 10 percent more at Walmarts located outside of the five boroughs in 2011 than in 2010.”
The Walmartization of NY [ALIGN NY; PDF]
Opponents Say Superstore Wants To Open Dozens Of NYC Outlets [NY1]
159 City Walmarts? [NY Daily News]
09/22/2011 9:30 AM
Comment
Taking the Pulse of Bed-Stuy
The Journal has an article this morning that looks at home values and retail openings in Bed-Stuy, characterizing the latter as particularly impressive. Openings in the past year have included Italian restaurant Sud Vino e Cucina, doughnut shop Dough, and the cafes Cinnamon Girl, Brooklyn Stoops and Daily Press Bed-Stuy. One of the co-owners of Daily Press Bed-Stuy, who has lived in the neighborhood for five years, has this to say: “There’s a changing demographic that would appreciate more of a higher-end coffee shop, but there’s also a lot of [longtime] residents there who appreciate what we’re doing… The neighborhood has changed so much just in the past five years, it’s amazing—every time you blink there’s something new.” Meanwhile, the median sales price of homes in Bedford Stuyvesant during the first half of 2011 was $373,500, according to data from StreetEasy, which is a 24 percent drop from the same period in 2008 but an increase of 8 percent as compared to the first two quarters last year. However, there was more sales volume last year and this year than in 2008, which bucks a citywide trend.
Bedford-Stuyvesant Steps Up Its Game [WSJ]
09/09/2011 9:00 AM
Comment
Northern 4th Ave is No Longer Finger Lickin’ Good
Evidently the KFC at 4th Avenue and Warren is no more. A sign on the building notes that folks can get their Colonel Sanders fix at 28th Street and 4th Avenue. GMAP
09/06/2011 12:00 PM
Comment
More Details on Muni Building Retail; Tish Displeased
At a press conference yesterday more information came to light about how a portion of the Municipal Building is going to be developed: Entrances will be carved out of the Court Street side of the building (see a rendering on the jump); developer Al Laboz says he wants the restaurant going in to be “hip,” and the city’s contract with him stipulates that it can’t be a chain with 15 or more locations; a home furnishings store is also supposed to be part of the mix; and Laboz is paying $10 million for the 50,000 square feet on part of the building’s first and second floors. The Times reports that some people who went to the announcement “questioned the need for more expensive shops in a neighborhood that already has a Barneys and is soon to have a Shake Shack,” and NY1 has quotes from Councilwoman Tish James that are critical of the deal. James says the city is “trying to attract or cater to high-end wage earners” at the expense of other neighborhoods like Brownsville and East New York. “At this point in time I say to the mayor of New York it’s not just benign neglect, it’s intentional neglect of communities who need it most,” says James. Meanwhile, while Marty Markowitz supports the building’s development, he’s still upset that Apple doesn’t have plans to open a store in Brooklyn, according to the Post.
Mayor Announces Developer Of Brooklyn Municipal Building [NY1]
City Selling Space in Brooklyn Building [NY Times]
“Cool, Hip” Restaurant Coming to Brooklyn Municipal Building [Patch]
Marty Markowitz Wants to Know Why Apple Won’t Open a Store in Brooklyn [NY Post]
Retail Plan Aims to Aid Downtown Brooklyn [Crain's] (more…)
08/16/2011 9:00 AM
Comment
City Picks Al Laboz to Develop Municipal Building
NY1 and The Post are reporting that the city has selected Al Laboz’s United American Land to develop the retail portion of the Municipal Building. The Post says the Joralemon Street building’s retail mix won’t include Brooklyn’s first Apple store, as Marty Markowitz hoped, but it will have an “upscale restaurant.” It’s unclear from the story whether specific tenants (that aren’t Apple!) have already signed on to take space in the building. Laboz is one of Downtown’s major property owners and is developing the H&M on the Fulton Mall. Construction at the Municipal Building is supposed to start next year.
Sources: Mayor To Announce Brooklyn Municipal Building Developer [NY1]
Pea Pod, Not iPod [NY Post]
08/15/2011 9:00 AM
Comment
Big Makeover Continues at 345 Adams
Muss Development’s overhaul of 345 Adams Street in Downtown is marching forward, and the building’s exterior is about to change markedly as new arches got delivered today. A Panera is slated to open in the building before the year is out—right next to where the arches are being put in—and the developer is still hunting for other tenants. NY1 has some great shots of the its grand interior. Click through for a rendering of how the building is supposed to look when work is finished.
Panera Prep at 345 Adams [Brownstoner]
Panera Coming to Downtown Brooklyn [Brownstoner] GMAP
(more…)
08/05/2011 10:00 AM
Comment
If You Say ‘Apple Store’ Enough Times it Makes it True
Will the Municipal Building actually land an exciting retailer? Who knows! That’s not stopping Marty Markowitz from rattling off a wish list to the Journal that includes Brooklyn’s mythical Apple store as well as a Nordstrom or Nordstrom Rack. Downtown Brooklyn Partnership honcho Joe Chan, meanwhile, says Downtown could use a Crate & Barrel or a CB2. According to the story, the city’s supposed to announce the winning bidder for the 37,000-square-foot space soon. The article also has a cool photo of the available space at 345 Adams Street and says Muss Development is “in talks with restaurants and other retailers” to lease it.
Brooklyn Readies More Retail [WSJ] GMAP
08/03/2011 9:00 AM
Comment
Dekalb Market Opens in Downtown
This weekend Dekalb Market—the outdoor market on the stalled postponed section of the City Point development site—opened for business. The market has food and clothing vendors selling wares out of re-purposed shipping containers, as well as a tented section with tables and benches for eating. Grub Street put together a list of the vendors, which includes coffee, donut, juice, tea, cupcake, pickle and soul food purveyors. The market entrance is on Flatbush Avenue and Willoughby Street, and it’s going to be open seven days a week.
Dekalb Market [Official Site] GMAP
07/25/2011 10:30 AM
Comment
ruth2989
May 29, 2012 | 11:02 AM