Columbia Street Faces Fading Prospects
Long-held plans to transform Columbia Street into Brooklyn’s next hot retail destination appear to be faltering, according to an article in today’s Times. Shopkeepers on the waterfront strip say continued construction projects, a remote location, and an absence of the hard-to-pin-down alchemy that has transformed drags like Smith Street into shopping destinations have conspired to…
Long-held plans to transform Columbia Street into Brooklyn’s next hot retail destination appear to be faltering, according to an article in today’s Times. Shopkeepers on the waterfront strip say continued construction projects, a remote location, and an absence of the hard-to-pin-down alchemy that has transformed drags like Smith Street into shopping destinations have conspired to keep Columbia Street from living up to its potential. Smith Street has everything, said Freddy Saint-Aignan, who opened up Sugar Lounge on Columbia Street a couple years ago. With all the construction, there is no place for parking. We have no access, no subway, no buses. At night we have no lights. At some point, one hopes, the construction on Columbia Street will end—think it’s possible it’ll yet become Brooklyn’s next Smith Street when that happens?
Two Years Later, a Street Still Waits for Its Promised Gentrification [NY Times]
Columbia Street photo by mr.seymour.
the neighborhood has its own charm and vibe.
why must it become glitzy “Las Vegas” or “Smith St.” to meet someone’s criteria as hip or trendy??
it is an authentic place,
not some writer’s imaginary concept of “happening”.
or background location for “Sex and the City”
(granted, the never ending construction doesnt help bring in visitors)
And it only comes along twice an hour, if that, and if you go out to dinner you will probably miss the last bus back, and many of the Park Slope stops don’t have a schedule posted…
Moonshine is a great bar! The Union Street bus is a good link to Park Slope and Prospect Heights, though it travels only as far as Fourth Avenue after a certain time.
I had thought 5th Avenue in Park Slope had become the new Smith Street.
Sure looks like it to me.
The restuarants there look to be hopping, new stuff opening like crazy, the new bakery, the new oko frozen yogurt place, etc.
It certainly is the most pleasant shopping strip in Brooklyn to me.
i live on tiffany place…yes, the construction sucks…but, no, I don’t want to see columbia street become the new smith street…who needs all those proto-hipsters?
finally a great name for the neighborhood: ‘Left Hook’…I love it…much better than awkward ‘columbia street waterfront district’…thanks, 1:01
12:02
Another vote for Nueva Portal.
The entire sky opens up the minute you cross over the BQE into Left Hook. Its entirely a different feel… like a cold glass of spritzer. Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill can keep Smith Street. I like it here just fine the way it is, minus the construction. Waterfront access would be nice though.
I don’t think that Smith Street is anything for Columbia Street to aspire to. Columbia Street has entirely its own charm, or at least it did before all the construction began, and I would hate to loose that. I love the sleepy neighborhood feel over here, the cool shops, the Australian meat pies, Margaret Palca’s egg sandwich in the morning, the amazingly delicious and inexpensive catfish at the president street deli on fridays. i love the people who chose to live here and the diversity of people. Columbia Street will come around but thankfully I think there is little chance it will ever become like Smith Street. On the other hand, it would be real nice to get a few of the things that the city promised, such as the park the greenway and some access to the waterfront…I think that would go a long way toward bringing a bit more foot traffic over here.