Municipal Building: From Marriage Licenses to Lattes?
The clerks and accountants who currently occupy the two ground floors of the municipal building at the corner of Joralemon and Court could be moving out to make room for cafes and home design shops if the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership has its way. The group, which is both publicly and privately funded, thinks converting the…
The clerks and accountants who currently occupy the two ground floors of the municipal building at the corner of Joralemon and Court could be moving out to make room for cafes and home design shops if the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership has its way. The group, which is both publicly and privately funded, thinks converting the 22,000 square feet of space to retail is a “no-brainer,” according to Joe Chan. While City Hall tries to figure out if moving the paper-pushers to a new location is realistic, civic and preservation groups are weighing in. “The place where you once went to get your public documents is now where you’re going to buy your latte,” said the Municipal Art Society’s Lisa Kersavage. “That changes the character. That’s not always a tragedy, but it’s something we all need to consider.” The Brooklyn Heights Association’s Judy Stanton likes the idea of retail but is wary of the Bed, Bath & Beyonds of this world. “I would rather see a lot of smaller shops,” she said. What about you?
Two Floors of Municipal Building May Get Shops [NY Daily News]
Photo by wallyg
12:01 there are 15,000 units coming to the immediate area. more than enough to support anything.
Some ideas:
Grocery store – the trader joes will be packed the minute it opens, we can certainly use two.
Excellent children’s book store – like Books of Wonder in Manhattan
Buy Buy Baby or Babies R Us
I think that a wholefoods, crate and barrel, or william sonoma would be great for the area. I agree with the lack of grocery stores and already have a abundant array of eclectic shops.we need something of consistant quality that is going to add to the neighborhood and draw more positive business/customets to the area.
We don’t need small stores, there are a lot of them around, we need a Wholefoods supermarket, it depends what you buy the prices are good and working people can get healthy lunch there (low fat). Wholefoods supermarket will help a lot in this area, I am paying over Manhattan prices for bad food.
The first two floors of the municipal building are a dump. There are some original details (i.e. marble floors and walls) but pmostly is like all neglected city office buildings. The only good part is the high ceilings.
How you turn this into a mall is beyond me.
There is not enough nearby residential to support any food or big box retailer.
But why so many of you are drooling over an Apple store is even more confusing. Why? What is so special about an iPhone on display? You look at the thing for two minutes, then that’s it. Geez, its not that special.
“A Chilean friend tells me that Argentines combine the warmth of the Germans with the efficiency of the Latins.”
Oh yeah? My Argentine friend tells me Chileans are untrustworthy and insular. The “warmth” of Germans?? You MUST be kidding!
WHOLEFOODS. Yes. Or Dean & Deluca.
I don’t care what goes here, as long as they give the building a thorough powerwashing.
What about a Wholefoods market there, it could help people that works in the area also, they could buy lunch at the Wholefoods.