Two New Floors, Condos May Come To Former Banana Republic Site

By on July 24, 2017 9:39 pm in 11201, Brooklyn Heights, Commercial Real Estate, Development, News, Real Estate

CityRealty reports that plans have been filed by owner Eli M. Dweck and Marin Architects to add two stories to the building at 133 Montague Street, formerly home of Banana Republic (and, when your correspondent moved here in 1983, of a Burger King). The resulting four story building, if the plans are approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, would have 3,187 square feet of street level retail space and 7,474 square feet of residential space above.

Image: Google Street View

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  • Sen. Bob Forehead

    I’d rather have the Burger KIng back.

  • AndyHeights

    When I first moved to the neighborhood they were planning to open the Burger King and there were many neighborhood protests as it was the “wrong” kind of business for Montague Street, and I always remember the resistance group called themselves the “whopper stoppers”.

    Burger King did open and then close several years later, and the neighborhood was none the worse for it. lol

  • Jorale-man

    What a shame. I wonder if Landmarks will rubber stamp this. It’s one of the most distinguished-looking buildings on Montague and some greedy developer wants to butcher it now.

  • Eddyde

    My mom was one of the “whopper stoppers”. As I recall, one of their main beefs (pi) was Burger King’s plan to cover the entire front of the building with an ugly red plastic facade. They settled on a flag for signage, instead. Also, BK was there for at least 20 years.

  • CassieVonMontague

    It’s one thing to add stories to a 12 story building, like they did with 110 Livingston St. It’s another to double the height of a building. Please make it unobtrusive and sympathetic to the style of the building. I worry it will look like the Frankenstein that bank of America moved into on Court and Livingston.

    As an aside, does anyone else think it’s silly saving the husk of Brooklyn Heights Cinema while building an entirely new building within it? Must be expensive to keep that brick wall.

  • Reggie

    Juvenile joke: Do you know why the Dairy Queen got pregnant?

  • AndyHeights

    Wow. I didn’t remember that BK lasted 20 years there. I was a young guy having just moved into the neighborhood and was so excited to learn that a Burger King was coming and then dismayed by the protests to keep them out! I must confess that I enjoyed many a whopper during their time in the hood! lol Sorry for going off topic!

  • Eddyde

    Because Burger King forgot to wrap his whopper…
    Man, that joke’s as old as the crust in your underwear…

  • Reggie

    Did you rummage through my laundry hamper? What kinda freak are you?

  • Andrew Porter

    Burger King was then owned by Pillsbury, whose HQ was at the office building next to Madison Square Garden. I was one of the people who picketed the corporate HQ, got them to scale back their plans to radically change the building’s entrance.

    I know I bought stuff at the Banana Republic at that address in 2000. Don’t remember the BQ lasting 20 years.

  • Andrew Porter

    I think there will be strong kickback from Landmarks about this. Look at all the other attempts to shoehorn additions in throughout BH. This is also on a major street. Expect this to take a Very Long Time…

  • Bornhere

    I can’t remember when Burger King closed, but I did come across a cached piece from “NY Magazine,” which referenced Banana Republic being in the space as early as 1995. I am pretty sure it’s right. https://tinyurl.com/yd5qhg7b

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton
  • Eddyde

    LOL, I wish I thought of that comeback when I was twelve!

  • Eddyde

    That sounds right. I think BK opened in 75 and if BR opened around 95 that’s just about 20 years.

  • Jorale-man

    It’s odd that BR couldn’t make a go of it in a neighborhood like the Heights. I occasionally go over to the BR outlet store on Fulton and it’s a shadow of the real thing. The next closest is in the new World Trade Center transit hub building.

    Ann Taylor continues to hang in on Montague though; probably a more reasonable rent deal.

  • Andrew Porter

    I’ve looked in through the sidewalk shed. There’s very little of the original walls left. There’s a house on Middagh of which the only thing left is the original dimensions. Everything else was replaced.