“I like escaping the office and coming down here,” said MetroTech worker Alicia Upchurch, 27. “Not having it in this neighborhood will be depressing.”(1)
The market is now closed in favor of commercial/residential development (City Point Development), which will feature posh housing and a Century 21 store. The market is the love-child of community developer Urban Space, and cultural mavens Jennifer Louise Lyon and Joann Kim-Nunez. As far as executives from Urban Space would say the market will reopen at another location, though its not yet finalized. Many who signed leases with the market are devastated and not sure about the future of their business. “We weren’t doing well at the beginning because nobody knew we were here,” said Jessica Chen, owner of Kooj, which sells handmade bathing suits for $60.
“We’re finally doing well and have returning customers and now we have to move,” said Chen, 25, who signed a three-year lease for her space. (2)
“I have to figure out how to save my business,” said Maxcine DeGouttes of Stitch Therapy, who probably won’t move her yarn shop to DeKalb’s new site. She worries the market can’t survive in a less-densely populated locale. “They think that if you build something people will come,” said DeGouttes, who relocated just six weeks ago from a Park Slope storefront. “This isn’t the movies. This isn’t ‘Field of Dreams.’ ” (3)
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