You’re not going to see a Starbucks there,” said Backer. “It’s too expensive for them.
Going on record here that whatever goes there will probably suck more than a Starbucks (unless, of course, it’s an Apple Store…).
Bagels and Health Food Give Way to Chain
Advancing the Starbucks Rumor
Speaking of baseless retail rumors, Millenium Health moved out of their space at Bedford and North 3rd this weekend (like their former neighbor The Bagel Store, Millenium is reopening on the Southside). Combined with the Bagel space, this makes for an even bigger potential retail (and rumor) space.
Say Goodbye to the Salvation Army
Brownstoner notes that the demolition of the Salvation Army building at Bedford and North 7th Street is imminent (the site appears to include the stucco building adjacent at 153 North 7th Street too). What will go in its place, though, remains a mystery. Brownstoner has an image of a zoning diagram showing a two-story commercial structure – which could be for a new Salvation Army or could be for another retailer. No clue on what it will look like, either, though a promising sign is that the architect is Fradkin McAlpin, whose portfolio includes the recent renovation of the Brooklyn Brewery.
Cue the Apple Store rumors. Or perhaps the architect is a clue?!
Stores Go to the Edge
The Wall Street Journal has details on the new retail that is coming to the Edge. These include a name for the grocery store we learned about last month (“Brooklyn Harvest Market, which will focus on organic produce” – seriously, who doesn’t focus on organic produce in Brooklyn?), a bike store and a “contemporary Italian restaurant, espresso bar and bakery called Fabbrica, run by Alberto Baudo, owner of the Acqua restaurant and wine bar” in the Seaport district.
Whole Foods Confirmed
Aaron Short – who is clearly on a roll – confirms the Whole Foods on North 4th Street rumor. Commence the all-out Williamsburg-is-over discussion.
Another Whole Foods in Williamsburg Rumor
The empty hulk of a building at North 4th and Bedford is the site of the latest Whole-Foods-in-Williamsburg rumor.
The Post reports that the property has changed hands, with the Backer Group having sold to new owners. The new owner confirms that “several national tenants are interested” in the property (isn’t that always the case?), and the Post says that “sleuths have ferreted out” that Whole Foods is the intended tenant.
This latest rumor has a bit more heft than the recent vague rumors of a Whole Foods on Kent Avenue. The fact that the property has new owners also lends some credence to the idea (the Backer Group had previously floated CVS, Marshalls, Starbucks, Capital One and other national chains for their various properties on this block of Bedford Avenue).
Still, some things don’t quite add up. The Post has the new owner saying that the development will be 150,000 square feet, a third of which will be luxury rentals. According to city records, the whole site (lots 6 and 24) is 47,400sf – at an FAR of 2.0, that only yields a tad less than 95,000sf (maybe I’m missing something with the MX M1/R6B rules). But others are telling the Post that Whole Foods will occupy about 40,000sf, and New York Sports Club another 15,000sf on the second floor. That works out to about two-thirds of the development, in line with the owner’s estimates.
Other numbers that have to be worked out are the size of the market itself. 40,000sf is, believe it or not, on the small side for a Whole Foods – both their Union Square store and their proposed Gowanus Store are 50,000sf or more. And while there will certainly be plenty of foot traffic at North 4th and Bedford, between customers and deliveries, a market of this size will make the vehicular traffic in this corner of the neighborhood even worse.
And I wonder what Williamsburg Food Town (a Backer Group tenant) thinks of all this? (Or Retro Fitness, for that matter, which is just opening up a 20,000sf fitness center around the corner on North 3rd and Berry.)
Apple Store Coming to Forest Hills
Maybe things have changed since Tim Cook took over, but I’m pretty sure Apple still has an NDA the size of the Manhattan phone book (if anyone remembers what that is). Any developer who says that he is in “preliminary talks with Apple” about anything is either a) heavily exaggerating or b) unlikely to hear from Apple ever again.
Besides, the next Apple store is coming to Williamsburg.
(Not that an Apple store in Queens is out of the question. But don’t bet on an iconic Manhattan-style store – Apple has hundreds of smaller stores around the country (including Manhasset and Roosevelt Field Mall), and is always opening new ones.)
Study of Retail Workers Finds $9.50 Median Pay
$9.50 an hour median pay for what for most is part-time or temp work, with only 3 in 10 receiving health benefits.
These are the jobs that are created as better paying jobs with better benefits get squeezed out on the industrial side.
And no, the living wage bill working its way through the Council won’t do anything to make this better.
New Tenant at 475 Driggs
Fushimi gets a neighbor. Something tells me this isn’t going to be the hippest part of the neighborhood.
Retail Report
A few random observations on the Northside (more or less) retail/commercial front:
Kitten Coffee, a roaster located in Bed-Stuy is opening what looks like its first retail outlet at the former Blackbird spot at North 6th and Bedford.
Evolve Motorcycles, a manufacturer of electric motorcycles, is opening a showroom (its first?) at 155 Grand Street (the former location of East Street Gallery and before that Lawanna’s last outpost). The storefront next door is available – the pizza parlor that had been there was seized by the marshals last month.
208 Grand Street (at right, the new building with the best air conditioner grilles in Brooklyn) is getting a restaurant – Sensation – which will serve “new Shanghai cuisine”.
The newly-opened Hotel Williamsburg is changing hands – the potential new owners came to CB1 tonight for a transfer of the liquor license. One of the new owners was involved in the operation of the Barbizon, Ryalton, Paramount and Gramercy Park Hotels, as well as Coco Pazzo on the Upper East Side. The second partner is Meyer Chetrit (coincidentally, the Chetrit Group has just sold 175 Kent to Sam Zell).
Also on the CB1 docket tonight (but not on the Northside), the owners of Traif are opening Xixa, Mexican restaurant, three doors down at the old Aldo’s Coffee Shop space on South 4th Street.