By Sarah Ryley
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

DOWNTOWN — Business by business, the metal gates went down on Willoughby and Bridge streets in Downtown Brooklyn, never to come back up. With only a few shops left on these two blocks and plans for high-rises in the works, they’re set to become miniature ghost towns for a few years, like neighboring strips along Myrtle Avenue, Duffield and Gold streets.

According to details provided by developers and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, a public-private non-profit created to expedite the construction of a new Downtown, the high-rises that will replace these modest storefronts will contain more retail than ever, hotels, office space and housing.

The gaping holes to come could be dismissed as the growing pains of a changing Downtown Brooklyn, if not for the despondent business owners left in their wake and frustrated residents forced to travel farther for amenities like laundry and groceries.

Maisha Morales, owner of Gallery Religious Supplies, said that after being evicted from Albee Square Mall last summer, she left a message with the Mayor’s Office requesting assistance relocating. In response, a welfare agent contacted her, she said. “It was an insult. I was so offended.�

Janel Patterson, a spokeswoman for the city Economic Development Corporation, said, “If the business owners are choosing to sell or relocate now, that is their decision. When and if appropriate, the city will reach out with relocation assistance and other programs the city has available to assist them.�

Morales said she now pays $7,500 a month for her shop on Willoughby Street, compared to $2,500 in the mall, now a massive construction site along Gold Street slated to become City Point, Brooklyn’s tallest tower. None of the business owners interviewed on Bridge and Willoughby streets said they had received any government assistance relocating.

“Nothing can be done. It’s in the hands of God now,� said Jalloh Ibrahim at his hats and handbags shop on Willoughby Street, one block away from City Point. He said the store was given one week to shut down.

United American Land, owned by the Laboz family, plans to build a 594-square-foot tower on that property, which fronts Bridge, Willoughby and Duffield streets.

Several tenants of another group of properties fronting Bridge Street, also owned by United American, said the developer offered them money to break their lease early. No information was available on that project as of press time, and an employee at United American said the owners are on vacation and unavailable for comment.

The thorn in United American’s side could end up being Chaudry Hashmi, owner of Party Land on Bridge Street. Hashmi said he has three years left on his lease, and refused Laboz’s offer to break his lease early. According to city records, the property Hashmi rents is listed on a mortgage document as part of the Conway Building project. That building would contain 144,000 square feet of retail and 72,000 square feet of office space, according to information provided by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.

Across the street, Merril Brown, co-owner of Hair Station, said she was also given a month to vacate, with three years left on her lease. “[The landlord] gave me a hundred-page lease, and then he called me and said, ‘look at paragraph 67,’� she said. Like many business owners, Brown said she poured a lot of money into renovating her store, only to have leaky pipes dislodging the tiles.

Plastic jugs are used to store water for when the pipes are not working, which she said happens frequently, in case a perm needs to be rinsed.

That property is owned by SLJ Realty, part of a company that also owns the urban clothing brands Phat Farm and Apple Bottoms, according to city and state records. Though an employee confirmed the company owns the property, calls for more details on the project were not returned. Next door on Bridge Street, Stahl Real Estate Company plans to build a 435-square-foot building with 250 condos, retail and office space. Construction is already underway.

If all those projects begin construction, the entire block of Bridge Street between Fulton and Willoughby streets would be a construction site for several years.

Residents in the Ingersoll and Walt Whitman Houses are already experiencing the brunt of progress. Since last year, three development sites have claimed all their neighborhood amenities along Myrtle Avenue, between Flatbush Avenue and Fort Greene Park, including a supermarket, drugstore and Laundromat.

“It’s a hardship. It’s really a hardship,� said Ingersoll tenant Dorothy Berry. Elderly and handicap people are especially suffering, she said, because without laundry machines in the buildings, they have to push their clothing several blocks farther uphill.

Red Apple Real Estate, owned by Gristedes entrepreneur and potential mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis, is developing the largest project on Myrtle Avenue, 500 units of housing and more than 200,000 square feet of retail. Winick Realty director Amanda Scoblick, who is handling the leasing for the project, recently told the Eagle a supermarket and Duane Reade would be among the new tenants.

During the interim, Theo Moore, an organizer with Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE) said the group is working on getting a supermarket to sponsor shuttle buses for residents.

Councilwoman Letitia James said Catsimatidis offered this service early on, but the residents seemed disinterested.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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