The Brooklyn Eagle covers the struggle between local businesses, real estate agents, developers and big chain stores on Montague Street:
Brooklyn Eagle: Some Seek Balance…: When Archstone Smith was looking for a ground-floor tenant to fill prime retail space in its 180 Montague St. apartment tower, Bill Ross, then a principal of his own local real estate firm, knew he didn’t want another bank to move in. There were already several on the block, and Ross said another would take away from the value of the luxury apartments soaring above.
So, Ross offered to sacrifice a portion of his brokerage fee if Archstone agreed to take a relative gamble on a local chain, organic grocer Garden of Eden. As executive director of sales for Halstead, Ross said he took a cut in commission to convince a landlord on the corner of Henry and Montague streets to rent to Ann Taylor LOFT as opposed to Eckerds. (Full story)
