Staubitz Market’s owner gives us the 411 on Court Street real estate

Eye On Real Estate

September 3, 2014 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Meet Mr. Staubitz — no, make that John McFadden. He's the owner of Staubitz Market on Court Street in Cobble Hill.

Share this:

Everybody calls him Mr. Staubitz — that’s the name on the neon sign out front.

But the man behind the counter at the nearly century-old meat market, which is a magnet for foodies of the carnivorous kind, is really named John McFadden.

He has worked at the Cobble Hill store, which is billed as New York’s oldest butcher shop, for 58 years and owned it for 48 years.

Beyond Staubitz Market’s old-fashioned ambiance and its impeccable cuts of meat, poultry and game prepared with hand tools by skilled butchers, the fact that McFadden doesn’t have a stranger for a landlord — one who asks hefty rents — is a factor in the shop’s staying power at 222 Court St.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t own the building,” McFadden said.

Next door at 220 Court St., the new owner is charging $12,000 per month for the storefront, McFadden said. The new tenant there is going to be home-furnishings shop Cabin Modern, a sign hanging outside indicates.

McFadden was asked if he wanted to buy 220 Court when it was up for sale a while ago, but took a pass. Later, the seller thanked him for not buying it for $1.5 million, McFadden said.

Instead, last November ExRemsen LLC, of which developer Stuart Venner is a member, paid $2.1 million for it, city Finance Department records indicate. The seller was Montgomery Cuevas as trustee of the Cuevas Family Irrevocable Trust, the records show.

Venner is the developer who bought the Court Street Funeral Home buildings at 228 and 230 Court St., a deal that Eye on Real Estate previously reported.

By the way, the apartment rent at Venner’s recently acquired 220 Court St. is $4,000 per month, McFadden said.

In his own building where the meat market is located, McFadden charges $2,500 per month for a two-bedroom apartment. That’s below-market rent, but the occupant is a long-term tenant he wants to retain.

“I can’t be bothered with new tenants,” he said.

McFadden, who lives in Carroll Gardens, predicts Fortis’ development of the LICH campus will cause Cobble Hill to see catapulting real estate values.

“It’s going to explode, price-wise,” he said. “People are going to get blown out by the prices.”

The stretch of Court Street that runs through LICH-Land (AKA Cobble Hill) is home to another old-time retailer, Court Pastry Shop, where the delicate sfogliatelle pastry will make you smile.

Other players on Court Street include farm-to-table restaurant Watty & Meg, whose grilled-vegetable sandwich makes a perfect summer lunch, Café Pedlar, which makes perfect coffee, and Union Market, which sells perfect produce.

Trader Joe’s, in its extraordinary old bank building, is indispensable, fashion retailer Rag & Bone makes shoppers feel très chic and Blue Marble serves marvelous ice cream.