Largest available "flagship" retail space near Barclays Center finally gets (ground-floor) tenant: Walgreens, not a food/drink emporium

Here's the backstory on the mural

Once proposed as a bar/nightclub, and more recently as a retail flagship, the long beckoning largest available retail parcel near the Barclays Center now has a ground-floor tenant: Walgreens, the pharmacy and general convenience store.

See new rendering, below. The retailer is expected to open in the third quarter of next year--more than a year from now, according to the Commercial Observer.

At 604 Pacific Street, a three story building touted as "Brooklyn Flagship," Walgreens is leasing 8,300 square feet, according to info from Schuckman Realty, which represented the landlord, shared with the CO. That leaves 20,000 square feet available.

Though the space has been marketed in the past to highlight its proximity to the arena, in this case it seems likely more to take advantage from general increased foot traffic rather than evening arena crowds.

Big plans in the past

That said, the Brooklyn Flagship web site, billing the location as "THE CROSSROADS AT BROOKLYN," offered 10,000 to 45,000 square feet on three levels. In the back, at 421 Dean, is Byklyn Yard, an outdoor cycling studio.

As of 2012, the building said American Mattress and Furniture Warehouse behind the "For Rent" sign.

Before the arena opened, in 2011, Eater, citing the Brooklyn Paper, and this blog reported on plans for a gastropub and sports bar--which came to naught.

In 2013, I noted plans for another eating/drinking/sports complex. That year, as in some other years, a Ricky's popped up for Halloween.

Ownership information

The building has been long owned by Henry Weinstein, who owned several properties in the Atlantic Yards footprint's southeast block, and challenged the project. 

The Commercial Observer article stated, "The property is owned by the limited liability company CREIF 212," but my reading suggests that the LLC has an ownership interest, rather than control over the deed.

Weinstein had a $1.5 million mortgage with Bordeaux Capital, located at the law firm of Fink & Zelmanovitz in Flatlands, Brooklyn, whose partners had a 9/21/18 Declaration of Restriction regarding any decision made by Weinstein regarding the property, then was terminated in 2020. 

That mortgage in 2020 was assigned to Maguire Pacific LLC, located on West 39th Street in Manhattan. In March 2021, Maguire Pacific and another LLC at the same location, Maguire Montague, assigned the promissory note, mortgage, and other loan documents to CREIF 212 LLC, with offices at Castellan Real Estate Partners on 42nd Street. (The transaction also involved another property on Montague Street in Brooklyn.)

The Maguire entities both have the signatory Marvin Azrak, a commercial real estate investor with the family-run Maguire Capital Group. The CREIF 212 signatory is Joel Hammer; Castellan Real Estate Partners states:

Castellan’s lending platform aims to provide flexible debt solutions to real estate owners and expands our core business by providing an opportunity to invest senior in the capital structure.

We focus on bridge loans secured by first position liens on U.S. real estate assets with the goal of providing current attractive yields with a strong emphasis on principal protection.

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