Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Photos: Norman Oder On Jan. 4, the publication Park Slope Pulse published Why 30+ Local Businesses closed in 2025 across Park Slope, Prospect Heights, and Gowanus , with a closer look at Bergen Street. "Several owners specifically cited rent hikes along the Bergen Street corridor between 5th Avenue and Flatbush Avenue - a stretch long known for independent boutiques and eateries," the publication reported. "Business owners have also reported similar rent increases along 5th Avenue." As I  reported last year, longtime landlords, the Pintchik family, sold 26 buildings, including 11 on Bergen Street for $102.5 million to the Ostad brothers. of Tristar Management. The total included 32 retail spaces and 80 apartments. Given the original owners' low cost basis, they were known for reasonable rents. That was expected to change, and it apparently did. (The new owners have not, however, added floors to the buildings.)  "Notice to the Customer," reads the sign...

Several of the retail properties near the Barclays Center sold by the Pintchik family (see my coverage from January) to the Ostad brothers of Tristar management are now up for rent, implying that some tenants were nudged out or just decided to vacate. The pitch, as shown in the screenshot at right, is "The Retail at Flatbush and Bergen," with the cover of the slideshow focusing on the nearby Barclays Center, not any of the parcels at issue. Note that the image is a bit misleading, since it suggests that, at the top left (the northeast corner of the area block), there are two medium-height towers rather than one taller one. See photo below left for contrast. Looking more closely The full slideshow is at bottom, but it's worth looking at the slide excerpted below, because it has both some news and some errors of convenience. It also emphasizes the more recent (and bigger name) tenants in the area. The news Coming are outposts of two small chains: New York-based Xi'an F...

Is Vanderbilt Avenue Cursed? , wrote Grub Street's Chris Crowley Aug. 6, with the subheading, "How Brooklyn’s newest restaurant row became one of the hardest places to do business." The article was prompted by the closing of the destination restaurant Olmsted, which closed after nearly a decade. “It’s very flattering that people want to celebrate with us,” said owner Greg Baxtrom, “but we fought tooth and nail to be as neighborhood-friendly as possible.”  (I dunno about that, since their web menu comes without prices.) The article says that, since Olmsted's 2016 opening, "Vanderbilt has developed into one of the city’s most visible restaurant rows, filled with small establishments that aim to punch far above their weight," but has recently suffered several closings. Vs. Smith Street and DeKalb Avenue Some liken Vanderbilt to Smith Street, another restaurant row with a lot of turnover, though Baxtrom wonders why it's different from a more sta...

Last week Bloomberg published a predictably reverential article, With the New York Liberty, Clara Wu Tsai Aims for the First $1 Billion Women’s Sports Franchise , which repeats the lore about the Tsais' (Clara and husband Joe Tsai, the Alibaba billionaire) savvy willingness to spend big, beyond the WNBA's salary cap, to make it a magnet for stars, and rebuild the fan base. The article also states, "They also bought the Nets’ home arena, the Barclays Center." Not quite. They own the operating company. The fig leaf of public ownership allows for a tax-exempt site and tax-exempt financing. Hotels and restaurants to help Brooklyn? From the article: Through the Liberty and Nets’ parent company, BSE Global , meanwhile, the Tsais are planning a major development initiative in the traffic-clogged area around Barclays. Adding hotels and restaurants, Wu Tsai says, will help draw more fans for the Liberty and Nets while also benefiting Brooklyn more broadly: Only a fraction of ...

Photo: April 2024 Franchises Creeping Along Fifth Avenue Take Flavor Out of Park Slope, Residents and Merchants Say , the BKReader reported April 5, 2024 with the subheading, "Bye bye, Miss American Pie! The homey, community feel of Fifth Avenue near Barclays Center is disappearing." That's a little hard to take seriously.  Sure, there's been a franchise creep, at least along the immediate blocks, with Chip City, Insomnia Cookies, and Cinnabon/Carvel all arriving recently. Shake Shack and Chick-fil-A opened years ago around the corner on Flatbush Avenue.  The BKReader quotee the North Flatbush Business Improvement District as stating that 40% of businesses along Flatbush Avenue between Atlantic and Eighth Avenues are new since 2020, including several chains. Well, that's understandable on such a heavily-trafficked street. Photo: April 2024 But there are counter-examples.  Omakase, weed, and bars On Fifth, there's also been, for example, an "omakase creep,...

So the real-estate publication Brick Underground offers a series called  The Newcomers , which recently published  Why we moved from London to NYC: We always wanted to live abroad and fell in love with Brooklyn . Or, more specifically, Prospect Heights and environs. After all, "Brooklyn" is too big to generalize about. Similarly, they say, "You see so much bad press and comments online about New York not being safe, but we have never felt unsafe here."  Well, duh, they're in a pretty safe neighborhood! Londoners Ian and Helen, who work in private equity, rent a $5,030 (with one month free) one-bedroom at 595 Dean Street, the new TF Cornerstone development in the southeast block of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. They chose the location for its transportation options to Manhattan, "nice bars and restaurants," and "real neighborhood feel." They love the building's amenities. (Extra fee, right?) About the bar "We really wanted a nice neigh...

Photos: Norman Oder You gotta respect the hustle--the mutual hustle.  Located on leafy Carlton Avenue an eight-minute walk--but a conceptual distance--from the Barclays Center,  Gertrude' s is a "neighborhood bar & restaurant, inspired by our shared love for iconic New York restaurants, Jew-ish cuisine and the vibrant atmosphere found in European bistros." It's relatively small, and it sure isn't a sports bar. Gertrude's uses the kind of gentrification signage and typeface that some find charming and others find precious. A collaboration But it was in the mutual interest of the Brooklyn Nets and Gertrude's social media savvy management to have two Nets, Jalen Wilson and Noah Clowney, "create," with the help of more experienced kitchen hands, "a classic American smash burger, and a fried chicken sandwich" for a one-night only promotion on Monday, April 7. Curiously enough, as shown in the sign at right, Gertrude's Monday night ...

Recently added to the BSE Global roster of brands is "One Hanson Place," ( link ) which is what they're calling the retail/events condo space in the base of the former Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower just north of the Atlantic Terminal mall, a short walk from the Barclays Center. For now, they're renting it out for events--it's a stunning space--while they "develop an exciting concept for the space." (Maybe a market?) It had previously been rented to the Brooklyn Flea, among other event producers. While one owner paid $18 million for the space--the equivalent of two floors--in 2018, BSE Global paid almost $10.3 million, as reported in November. Naming rights Screenshot from BSE Global Note: it's the Williamsburgh Savings Bank , not Williamsburg, despite what's stated on the new web site, because the bank retained the old spelling . And while BSE Global says it's acquired "One Hanson Place," that name has long been claimed by the c...

A year ago, I wrote ( link ) that, for the first time since news emerged in February 2022 ( link ) that a Savage X lingerie store from Rihanna would open in the long-dormant Triangle Building across from the Barclays Center--as prime a retail location as you could imagine-- there was evidence of the brand's presence. Photo: Norman Oder, April 2024 The building, bordered by Flatbush Avenue, Fifth Avenue, and Dean Street, was then draped in advertising for Rihanna's new Signature Script collection. That, however, did not mean the store would arrive. After all, there were no longer any Department of Buildings permits affixed to the building, and no new DOB permits had been sought since October 2020. Indeed, as I just learned, those signs were apparently installed without permission, and violated signage rules, prompting more than $100,000 in cumulative fines . A hearing date is scheduled for July. Photos: Norman Oder, April 14, 2025 The building also faces a  boiler violation  a...

Blue markings indicate buildings sold. Yellow indicates buildings kept In a transaction transforming the ownership of two retail and residential strips near the Barclays Center, the Pintchik family--longtime investors, landlords, and neighborhood stewards--has sold 26 buildings for $102.5 million. The sale involves 28 retail spaces--most but not all occupied by relatively new businesses--and 84 apartments.  Of the buildings eight are on the west side of Flatbush Avenue between Dean and Bergen streets and four are on the east side. Eleven are on Bergen Street, west of Flatbush Avenue. Another building is on Dean Street, at Flatbush. Among the retail outlets within the properties are Chip City, Versailles, Gino's Pizza, Sofreh Cafe, Babeland, Ride Brooklyn, and Joe Coffee. (See map excerpt at right, and full map below, which adds two other buildings in the sale, further down Flatbush.) Bigger buildings coming?   While the buyers, investor brothers Michael and Edward Ostad, have ...