Brooklyn Heights Blog

The empty retail space at One Brooklyn Bridge Park (360 Furman Street), the former Watchtower building that has been converted to luxury condos, will soon be filled if the efforts of RAL Companies and Affiliates, who are charged with marketing the space, are successful.

The Real Deal: More than two years have passed since developer RAL Companies & Affiliates began marketing the 75,000-square foot retail space in its waterfront condominium conversion One Brooklyn Bridge Park…and it has yet to secure a tenant.

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[However,] [w]ithin the past 45 days, two local “seasoned” restaurant operators and one high-end market that “caters to grocery needs and prepared foods” contacted RAL about the space, [Ian] Levine [COO and CFO of RAL] said. He declined to disclose the retailers’ names and would not specify about possible lease pricing.

According to the article, two factors have been identified as working against a commercial lease. The first is the present almost total lack of foot traffic on Furman. RAL hopes this will end when Brooklyn Bridge Park opens this winter. However, only Piers 1 and 6, at opposite ends of the Park, are slated to open then. The only foot traffic this is likely to generate on Furman consists of those who may wish to walk from one open end of the Park to the other, a distance of over half a mile, along the street. The second is the slow sale of residential units in One BBP, residents of which may also be customers of whatever retail locates in the ground floor. RAL is counting on price reductions on these units, perhaps along with car give-aways, turning the tide.

“Health emergency” or not, the landlord at 132 Montague evidently reacted quickly to our post about the messy condition in front of the downstairs space at that address. While there are still a few cigarette butts and other scraps of trash in the space, the bottles and decayed rags are gone.

Earlier today we received an anonymous tip from a reader: “Will someone please take a look at the mess in front of 132 Montague St. and report on it? It’s an absolute health emergency.” Your correspondent grabbed his camera and hoofed it two blocks eastward, until he came to the ground floor space formerly occupied by a laundry that suffered a fire on February 1, and is now a vacant storefront with a “for rent” sign:

There was some trash strewn in the area below the stairs, and a sign hung from the fence at sidewalk level:
Another photo and more text after the jump. Read more »

BHB’s Sarah Portlock writes about Brooklyn Heights resident/City Council D33 candidate Doug Biviano’s Montague Street headquarters in the latest issue of The Real Deal:

The Real Deal: When political newcomer Doug Biviano wanted to increase his visibility as a City Council candidate, he looked no further than one of the most prime retail strips in his Brooklyn Heights district: Montague Street.

While in more flush times a new political candidate’s war chest might not have had enough cash to pay for such a premier, high-traffic location, Biviano took advantage of the strip’s nearly 10 vacant storefronts and the area’s dropping retail rents.

And he is not alone.

With the New York City primary elections next month, and the general elections this November, candidates for mayor, City Council and other citywide offices all need space for their campaign headquarters.

The Montague Street Business Improvement District (”BID”) held its annual meeting at Eamonn’s yesterday evening. BID Executive Director Chelsea Mauldin (photo at left) said the BID must respond to the economic crisis by providing more services to businesses on Montague in, among other things, marketing and technology. As an example of marketing assistance, she cited a program the BID developed with Pratt, in which design students have worked with one merchant on Montague to create a new image, including sign, logo and cards.

The BID will try to address the vacancy problem by promoting “pop-up stores” for which landlords will extend short-term leases either for a specific event–in this connection she mentioned master pumpkin carver and Heights resident Hugh McMahon, who would like to set up a temporary space before Halloween–or as a trial for a possible longer relationship. Read more »

The Brooklyn Heights Association sent out an email blast to its membership on Friday urging members to speak out against Two Trees’ Dock Street DUMBO project.  In the email, the BHA points to historian David McCullough’s Newsweek article “Paving Over History” as “inspiration”  to urge City Council members to vote against the plan.

The BHA’s full email after the jump. Read more »

In a bid to raise much-needed cash, Forest City Enterprises could be selling The Heights — that is, the movie theater and Barnes & Noble complex on Court Street.

The news comes from the subscription-only Real Estate Alert newsletter via Atlantic Yards Report. Here’s the article’s (free) snippet:

Forest City Puts Mix of Properties on Block (03/11/2009)
Moving aggressively to raise cash, Forest City Enterprises is looking to sell full or partial stakes in 10 apartment properties, four retail properties and the office portion of a large mixed-used complex.

We have a call in with Forest City’s press office, and will keep you posted.

Miss the old Montague Street? “Degrade your property values!”

Up next is our interview with Tracy Walsch, owner of Heights Books, who recently made the decision to move to Boerum Hill (120 Smith St., between Pacific and Dean streets) from her longtime spot at 109 Montague St.

(For more in the series, check out our Montague Street in Crisis page) Read more »

What IS happening out there?

Montague Street is a rapidly shifting shopping thoroughfare — in the last few weeks, at least eight “For Rent” signs have gone up in windows along the five-block stretch from Clinton Street to the Promenade, and we now have word that, nationally, Ann Taylor Loft is closing over 100 outposts. Even for the stores staying put on Montague, there are myriad signs noting sales and other incentives to entice customers to come in and shop.

Clearly, the nationwide economic crisis is affecting our Main Street — but, at the ground level, how is the economy affecting these shop owners’ bottom lines? What’s going to happen to Montague Street?

There’s been some talk of what’s going on, so Brooklyn Heights Blog went out and spoke with Montague Street stakeholders about these concerns and where how think the future will play out. We now present, Montague Street Crisis: Mall or Mauled? First up is our interview with Chelsea Mauldin, executive director of the Montague Street Business Improvement District.

Next, hear from Lassen and Hennigs owner Chris Calfa, Heights Books owner Tracy Walsch, and Housing Works manager Jennifer Jinks.

Please send us your suggestions of other shopowners you’d like to see interviewed. And, follow the series at our Montague Street in Crisis page.

Read more »

The hip café and music venue Tea Lounge could come to Brooklyn Heights later this year, pending building permit and liquor license approval, its owner told the Brooklyn Heights Blog today.

Jonathan Spiel, who also owns Tea Lounge cafés in Park Slope and Cobble Hill, has his eye on a 4,000-square-foot hotspot at in the St. George Tower building, and hopes to bring in his concoction of a daytime café-turned-full bar and music venue at night to the neighborhood.
Read more »