Glassy New Retail-Condo in the Works Downtown
The plan to bring a 600,000-square-foot development to Fulton Street is apparently moving forward. In recent weeks, developer United American Land has filed air rights agreements in city records for the block bounded by Fulton, Duffield, Willoughby and Bridge streets. The firm, headed by Al Laboz, co-chairman of the Fulton Mall Improvement Association, intends to…
The plan to bring a 600,000-square-foot development to Fulton Street is apparently moving forward. In recent weeks, developer United American Land has filed air rights agreements in city records for the block bounded by Fulton, Duffield, Willoughby and Bridge streets. The firm, headed by Al Laboz, co-chairman of the Fulton Mall Improvement Association, intends to attract a national retailer to the building, have luxury condos on top floors, and preserve the landmark 505 Fulton Street as part of the project. The above rendering for the property appears on United American’s website, but the company’s principals would not comment on the development. UA’s plan has stirred controversy because United American has been giving longtime businesses the boot in order to make way for the project. GMAP
Rendering from United American Land’s website.
If they needed to finance the purchase as well as the construction there would not be financing available. However, being that they own the land for quite a while and have a very low mortgage on the piece, financing is quite possible, or dare I say probable.
Sure, there are hundreds of thousands of whites in Brooklyn — but it’s a borough of more than two million.
41% in 2000 were white. 39% black. 20% Latino and 10% “other”. In other words, a majority non-white place — as is New York City as a whole. Plus, on the other side of Flatbush Avenue and stretching along Fulton Street are neighborhoods that are 75% African-American.
Now, white Brooklynites could shop on Fulton Street, but many of them live not in Brownstone Brooklyn but in an arc on the borough’s extremities, where they can shop at Kings Plaza that replaced Fulton Street in the 1960-70’s as a retail destination or in outlying shopping malls.
These folks aren’t “brownstoners” or “hipsters” — as nice as these may be — but more like the white ethnic families you find in Staten Island. And they don’t shop at Fulton Mall.
As for affluence, there are plenty of affluent people in Brooklyn, but the median income in 2005 was 39,000, below the national median (around 45,000), and below New York’s (49,000). Probably many of the people characterized above as “lower class” are somewhere around the median.
It’ll be interesting to see how developers combine markets on Fulton. 125th Street is being re-engineered, and appears to be doing pretty well with new and old-timers. Maybe the same will happen in Brooklyn. Only time will tell.
I used to shop for my kids at the stores in the mall and Ihave always shopped at Macy’s (especially when it was A&S). And I am a ‘brownstoner’. Why do you always try to make these things about race. Its just about convenience and the kind of stores you want to shop at for the things you need. I have never forgiven Macy’s for closing the entrance on the subway level. It made it so easy to stop at the store on my way home from work. But not any more – and this is one of the reasons I don’t shop there much now
9:46 is odd and weird period
9:46, Fulton Mall does not reflect the borough’s demographics. it is almost entirely a lower-class African American shopping street. There are lots and lots of white people in brooklyn and there are lots and lots of affluent people of every race in brooklyn. those groups are not represented on fulton street. wake up and see the world as it really is for once.
9:46: It’s not so odd. Brooklyn is mostly black and brown, and all subways converge on downtown. Fulton Mall reflects its borough’s people, whoever “Brownstoners” — a narrow slice of the population — may be.
Fulton Mall is really fascinating. A completely African-American shopping “experience” in the middle of about eight communities where houses, even decrepit houses, sell for over a million dollars. I think it is unique. The uber-rich white new arrivals do not want to upset the apple cart so they prefer to shop on Madison Avenue or Soho. It is TOO WEIRD. it is like having a totally Black downtown in Darien or Tuxedo Park. I think future city planners will study the oddity of Fulton Mall for decades. It has it all: money, race, class, political correctness, snobbishness, apartheid, elitism, racial condensension.
And it’s all here! in little old brownstone brooklyn.
The city point building will host a target and several other big name stores. The amount of space is finite and will spill out onto the fulton mall. When this starts hapening the rent on fulton will rise higher then feasible, all those sneaker stores will split.
I’d expect a Bed Bath and Beyond type of store in the 505 space.
2:08: the issue here isn’t FAR. This block is zoned for 10+ FAR. They certainly could have built higher on that corner to block out the side of the old building, but for some reason chose not to. Maybe they wanted that FAR for the tower on the other side of that site.