High Rents Killing Montague Street
With a high concentration of wealthy residents and plenty of nearby businesses, Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights should be a vibrant retail strip but it appears to be a victim of its own overinflated sense of self-worth: Eight storefronts on the five-block stretch are now vacant, victims, The Daily News reports, of too-high rents. “The…
With a high concentration of wealthy residents and plenty of nearby businesses, Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights should be a vibrant retail strip but it appears to be a victim of its own overinflated sense of self-worth: Eight storefronts on the five-block stretch are now vacant, victims, The Daily News reports, of too-high rents. “The common denominator is high rent,” said the Brooklyn Heights Association’s Judy Stanton. “Little businesses will come here if they think they can make a profit, but it handicaps itself with the high rent.” Recent casualties include Heights Books (which is moving to Smith Street), Blue Rose and Spicy Pickle, which by all accounts wasn’t any good anyway. Do you think landlords are going to get a clue?
Montague Street Hitting the Wall [NY Daily News]
Photo by tosca2002
“Montague street needs a good OTB and comic book store.
Posted by: Xander Crews at March 10, 2009 2:50 PM”
The OTB is long gone, but the comic book store is still there, alive and strong (and in the storefront that use to be my great-uncle’s insurance business).
And Biff,
Happy Days may not be high class, but at 3 am there aren’t a lot of options for greasy drunk food on Montague St.
i spent the early ’00s in BH. fresh out of college so i knew the “bar scene” >
annie’s blue moon
montague saloon
park slope brewery
clark street station
emon’s
i remember annie’s always being the busiest of the bunch.. but the cool kids used to trek down to last exit before smith street became hot.
Montague street needs a good OTB and comic book store.
I believe that happy days has received one of the highest amounts of health code violations in the entire city.
“For my the Grand Canyon or Happy Day’s satisfies my diner needs. Clark’s, up Henry St, is great too.”
christopher, I went to Happy Days once and it made Denny’s look like Brunch at the Plaza. Ok, maybe not that bad. But Clark’s is definitel an excellent breakfast place.
Woo hoo the market is up thanks to Citi group. Captain John get those engines started we are flying to Europe for the week end. Citi workers will get those long awaited bonuses. Real Estate agents lets go to Ikea and buy a piece of furniture for 30 dollars and then tell the sucker buying it that it is a valuble work of art.
All this talk has me reminiscing…
… who remembers the record store, the Squared Circle I believe it was called? It was on both floors of what is now Jennifer Convertibles and and the vacant space above it.
Bought my first record, tape, and cd there.
How about the OTB? The one story OTB on the lot now occupied by Garden of Eden and the luxury apartments above it. Now that’s gentrification.
I could go on….
… the porn theater on Court St next to (give or take) Queen Restaurant.
Good times…
Eamonn’s is about the only place on Montague I go to on a semi-regular basis. I prefer Henry St. Ale House and that strip of businesses has got the vibe I want.
Any excuse to be in the Heights for me, but perhaps I’m the exception.
It’s more than rent for the small businesses that are forcing many to close all over the country. Insurance only goes up, property taxes if you pay triple NET, sales are going down for most restaurants and retail, and most other small expenses can increase as well. Brooklyn is not immune.