Retail landlords near Barclays Center said to be unrealistic, seeking big-box rents

In Real Estate CEO: Barclays-area landlords too quick to chase out mom-and-pops, The Brooklyn Eagle reported Monday, 9/9/13:

While Barclays Center is a positive development for Brooklyn, many building owners in the area are too quick to price their small-business tenants out, hoping for a big payday.
So says Anthony Lolli, CEO of Rapid Realty, a large franchise-based real estate rental brokerage in New York with more than 60 offices...
“They are making the strip radioactive,” he continued. “They’re asking big-box retail rents from small mom-and-pop locations.”
Business stemming from events at Barclays, he said, will spike on certain days, “but it’s not an ongoing business. The problem is that Barclays has great food vendors, and people fill up there.”

While Lolli didn't provide specifics, there have been anecdotal examples, such as a report last month in Crain's New York Business that The Chocolate Room, which has operated its dessert cafe/retail outlet at 86 Fifth Avenue in Park Slope for ten years faces a $13,500 rent, but instead counteroffered $7,000, which suggests the proposed rent was more than double

The Chocolate Room, like many other retailers, hasn't seen an arena-related a spike in business. 

Promotion an issue?

Lolli, in the interview, said, in the Eagle's paraphrase, that "local business owners haven’t done enough promotion to steer Nets fans and concert-goers to places outside."

I think that's a two-way street. The arena is supposed to promote area businesses, as well, in order to stagger arrival/departure times, but understandably wants to keep customers inside.