Early Monday afternoon, this text message (which I’ve edited for clarity) hit my phone:

Dear valued customers,

This is Mike, the owner of Clark Pet. Due to the very high rent of Clark Pet store, the store is moving to DUMBO, to my giant big branch store named Pet Promise located at 140 Plymouth St. under the Manhattan Bridge. The store is doing full service grooming, boarding, cat sitting, etc. To book a grooming appointment or to have free delivery, you can call or text 347 – 247 – 4963.

By early Tuesday evening, the store at 57 Clark Street was virtually empty, and Mike was both overseeing and participating in the major clean-up and moving operation.

“The new store is huge!” he said enthusiastically, after some obvious disgruntlement at the $11,000 rent now expected for the Clark Street space into which he moved in 2008.

According to the Pet Promise website, the facility also offers self-washing facilities, if you want to wash your own dog without getting soap all over the bathroom.

The phone number at Pet Promise is 718-852-7208.

Not long ago, the North Heights was home to three pet shop/groomers. Let’s hope Rocco and Jezebel and Pets Emporium can both stick around for a while.

Photo by Teresa Genaro

In February, BHB bid a final farewell to Brooklyn Heights’ long-lived Eammon’s In Brooklyn and the Hallmark store next door, as demo began on the buildings at 172-174 Montague Street.

We were able to catch a glance inside the now-leveled grounds earlier this month as the gates opened momentarily, revealing the future site of the planned highrise condo development that will replace the now-decimated humble two-story building. The 8,150-square-foot property sold in June 2012 for $12 million.

The building has a C5-2/DB zoning designation, giving it air rights of up to 60,000 square feet, since it does not fall within the Brooklyn Heights Landmark District and is not subject to its 50-foot height limit. (CT)

Word is Landmarks didn’t take kindly to broker Massey Knakal’s massive second-floor banner peddling the commercial space at 112 Montague Street (which BHB shared on March 14).

That baby is now a whisper in the wind. Comments in our post confirmed that with regulations limiting the size of commercial signage, the Brooklyn Heights Association contacted the broker, which obviously promptly complied.

The former locale of Starbucks has been empty since May 2012. (CT)

The previous locale of Starbucks at 112 Montague Street has now sat without a commercial tenant since May 2012—soon approaching a year. The coffee shop originally vacated the premises in May 2012 because of roof leaks and plumbing issues, and today, the interior appears in the same condition it was when ‘Bucks moved up the street to 134 Montague.

Broker Massey Knakal is giving the space another push, with a giant new banner that covers the entire second-floor window. The realtor’s webbie listing notes that the property offers 2,500sf on the ground floor and 2,000sf on both the second and basement levels, with “all uses considered.” No price is on the website.

Its listing describes the property as “prime retail space in the much sought after corridor of Montague Street, located in the heart of Brooklyn Heights. Located in an upscale and prominent neighborhood offering historic architecture, Montague Street provides for a short walk to the famous waterfront Promenade, where stunning panoramic views of the lower Manhattan skyline welcomes Brooklyn residents and tourists alike. Montague Street is filled with a rich mix of national and local retailers; providing great food, shopping and community connections.”

It remains hard to believe that there isn’t a suitable tenant for such a primo commercial space… unle$$ it’s truly that prohibitive. (CT)

It was more than two years ago that NYC Mayor Bloomie & BK Borough Prez Markowitz announced a proposal to develop 39,500/sf of retail on the ground & second floors of the Brooklyn Municipal Building at the corner of Court & Joralemon Streets, as city offices were moved to upper floors.

Now, the newly renamed “Brooklyn Heights Plaza” has posted a giant “Coming Soon: Brooklyn’s Retail Future” sign, via Ripco Real Estate, with scaffolding in place to begin converting the space.

The realtor promotes the commercial site as such: “Brooklyn Heights Plaza sits in the middle of the best income demographic for the entire borough. Neighboring retailers include Starbucks, MAC, Trader Joe’s, Urban Outfitters, Barney’s CoOp, Banana Republic and Ann Taylor Loft.” Ripco’s managing brokers are Peter Ripka and Jason Pennington.

As BHB reported in December 2010, the Brooklyn Municipal Building, designed by McKenzie, Voorhees & Gmelin and completed in 1927, was deemed “a fine piece of design” in Francis Morrone’s iconic “An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn.” (Photos: CT/Bottom: Claude Scales)

A Hampton Inn is coming to 125 Flatbush Avenue Extension, according to a sign posted on the construction fence there. A rendering from hotel developer LodgeWorksBrownstoner provides is offered from Brownstoner. The 13-story building will provide 116 guest rooms with scheduled completion in spring 2014. Work began at the site in December, with plans first announced in March 2012. The Hampton Inn joins the Aloft Hotel and Hotel 718 in Downtown Brooklyn.

Two adjacent commercial properties at 76-80 Court Street in Brooklyn Heights have sold for $15,250,000, reports Massey Knakal, which brokered the sale. According to Brownstoner, the buyer and future plans weren’t disclosed.

The building at the southwest corner of Livingston Street, 76 Court, comprises one ground floor commercial unit and office space above. Next door, 80 Court Street also offers a commercial unit on the ground floor with four residential apartments above. The deal worked out to approximately $600 per square foot, the firm said. (Photo: Brownstoner)

The Brooklyn Heights Association is circulating a poll on behalf of the Atlantic Avenue Business Improvement District (BID), asking area residents about the kind of businesses Atlantic Avenue needs “to be an even better neighborhood shopping street. The BID aims to bring in new businesses that will further enhance the mix of retail and variety of stores available in the community.”

Based on your feedback, Atlantic Avenue’s BID “will seek out the best possible tenants to fill vacant storefronts on the Avenue.” The online survey is here. In addition, a new website has been launched with updates on the avenue’s growing business and retail scene. Also follow on Facebook and Twitter. (Photo: Chuck Taylor)

Commercial real estate in Brooklyn remained robust throughout the first half of 2012, according to a report from commercial realty group TerraCRG. Some 563 sales worth more than $1.23 billion were recorded, an increase of 50% in dollar volume over the period last year.

Downtown—which includes Brooklyn Heights in the report—and Park Slope led with the highest dollar volume of total sales ($341M, 78 transactions); while Williamsburg & Greenpoint region were second ($334M, 75 sales). Perhaps more surprising, the neighborhoods of Bed-Stuy, Bushwick, and Crown Heights had the largest amount of trades overall ($195M, 191 sales), also boasting 2.3 times the number of multi-family transactions over any other region of Brooklyn.

The TerraCRG report’s largest transaction in Brooklyn Heights from January-June 2012 was 75 Clinton Street, which sold for $50.825M, over $1,100/SF. As BHB reported in July, the new rental property at the corner of Montague Street (above Rite Aid) is now 90% leased, with 66 of the 74 units spoken for.

South Brooklyn, including the Heights, had the highest dollar volume of all commercial retail sales in the borough during the first half of 2012, with more than $50 million among a mere 11 transactions. See a round-up of the TerraCRG report here.