Williamsburg Site Closes for Record Sum in 2014

Two mixed-use buildings (formerly occupied by Spike Hill) will be replaced by multi-floor mega retail. Bad news for residents and local business alike.

UPDATE: I originally misread this as just two buildings (the Spike Hill buildings). The sale also includes the Dunkin’ Donuts building as well as three small buildings on the next block south (original home of Earwax way back when). So even more bad news for local retail on Bedford Avenue.

I Just Expected Something More Original

Dunkin’ Donuts is setting up shop in the old Northside Pharmacy space. Halina Jankowski, owner of Northside Pharmacy (which is now on Driggs) sums it all up pretty well: “I just expected something a little more fancy or original or hip.”

And this after years of living in fear of Starbucks.

Salvation Army Demo

Wow – that started quickly.

For those wondering, all signs point to this being another Salvation Army building. Renderings that I saw back in June or so were clearly for the Salvation Army, and knowledgeable people I spoke to at that time had no information to the contrary. You’d think they’d cash in, and maybe they plan to, but I’ve seen nothing to indicate that that is in the offing.

Oslo Burned Out on Bedford!

Yikes – Oslo on Bedford Avenue is no more, gutted by a fire this morning. No one was hurt, and hopefully no one other than the coffee shop is out of a home (this is the base of a six-story apartment building). Very sad news on my old block.

Williamsburg J. Crew Employee Manual Leaked

It appears that my initial skepticism about J. Crew’s imminent arrival on Bedford Avenue was misplaced…

For the Williamsburg location, we have adopted some practices that, while a bit unconventional, will reflect our new community and its values.

J. Crew for the Bagel Shop?

In an article that is sure to be gasoline to the ever-smoldering Williamsburg-is-over fire, The Real Deal is reporting that “upscale clothier J.Crew is among the prospective tenants of a retail space coming online”.

But before everyone gets too worked up over this, it is worth emphasizing the squishiness of The Real Deal’s lede – “among the prospective tenants” – whose prospective tenants? A wish list put together by the broker? Remember that Bedford Avenue (and this site in particular) has had a long history of “prospective” tenants floated for it (including the perennial Bedford bogeyman Starbucks). Further down in the article, the broker says that they “are in talks with and interested in signing [more squishiness, ed.] restaurants as well as fashion and home furnishings retailers”. (Assuming all this is just primping up the property, let’s give the broker some credit for not saying that they are talking to Apple – as a rumor, J. Crew is at least creative.)

In terms of actual news, look further down in the article at what is said and not said. First, and not surprisingly, the broker has a rosy picture of the retail market on Bedford Avenue, noting that retail rents on the avenue are between $185 and $200 psf (that’s at least 50% higher than what a previous tenant was asked to pay less than two years ago – Bedford Avenue is hot, retail-wise, but that hot?).

The broker says that they “are also willing to re-sign tenants currently located at 247 Bedford, which include the bagel purveyor the Bagel Store and the health food shop Millennium Health”. That statement would indicate that the broker has a rather loose grip on the reality of current retail on Bedford Avenue – both the Bagel Store and the Millenium Health have long-since left the building and are happily ensconced in new digs further south on Bedford.

The big question here (and what is not said in the article) is what happens to King’s Pharmacy? They occupy a third to half the retail space in this building, and their lease is probably among those that are up in the next “six to 18 months”. Judging by the mooderific rendering provided by the broker (complete with a Shelby GT parked in front of King’s), I’m guessing that renewing the local pharmacy’s lease is not a high priority.

As for J. Crew, they actually might be a good fit for the neighborhood (their design aesthetic certainly fits in with – or even draws from – local fashion trends, and I seem to recall that their chief designer even lives here). But I bet that they’d go for a smaller, boutique space (a la the Liquor Store or their Soho spot) rather than a shopping center like this. And, if nothing else, a J. Crew at this location would lay to rest (once again) the 15-year old recurring Starbucks-is-coming-to-Bedford-Avenue rumor. We can’t kill it, but we can put another fork in it.

Lingerie on Bedford

Northside Gourmet Deli – which replaced an old-line bodega only a couple of years ago – is gone, and in its place is a second outlet for Brooklyn Fox Lingerie.