Community Bookstore to be replaced by real estate firm Compass

November 4, 2016 By Scott Enman Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The front of the former Community Bookstore. Eagle file photo by Scott Enman

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Longtime residents of Cobble Hill will remember 212 Court St. as the former home of the Community Bookstore, a warm and welcoming place where visitors could get lost in a maze of timeless classics, dusty toys and vintage records.

Come 2017, newer residents will know that address as the latest location for residential brokerage firm Compass.

“I can confirm that we signed a lease with Compass,” the building’s owner Dr. David Sitt told the Brooklyn Eagle on Friday. “We anticipate they will occupy the location sometime in the first quarter of 2017. We are excited to bring this innovative brokerage house to the neighborhood.”

Compass will be setting up shop just a few blocks from several other competitors, including Douglas Elliman at 189 Court St., Ideal Properties Group at 232 Court St. and Halstead Property at 162 Court St. CORE Real Estate also just opened a new store at 180 Smith St. on the corner of Warren Street, just one block away from Compass’ planned location.

The addition of Compass is the latest development in Court Street’s transformation from a thoroughfare lined with mom-and-pop shops to an artery full of boutique clothing stores, chic cafes and expensive restaurants.

The 1,600-square-foot ground level of the building will be Compass’ third office in the borough and will house roughly 20 agents, according to The Real Deal.

In the summer of 2015, word got out that after 30 years the building’s former owner John Scioli was selling his three-story brownstone, which housed the bookstore on the first floor. Scioli sold his building to Sitt for $5.5 million compared to the modest $500,000 that Scioli initially bought the building for in 1985.

Unlike many retail stores along Court Street that get priced out, Scioli, according to Sitt, was ready to sell the building, retire, and take his tens of thousands of books elsewhere.