Downtown Brooklyn vendors are turning old shipping containers into stores - and a stalled construction site into a bustling market.
Dekalb Market is set to launch on the City Point site in the early summer - using 40 salvaged shipping containers from nearby ports to house chefs, artists, clothing makers and more.
“It’s even better than recycling,” said Eldon Scott, president of Urban Space, which is running the market.
Urban Space runs a similar shipping container market in London, but it hasn’t been done before in New York.
In addition to the vendors, the market will host a small farm with six farmers growing vegetables for chefs selling out of the containers to use in their dishes. There will also be a beer garden and a space for music and art performances.
Todd Jones, owner of Cuzins Duzins, will set up his doughnut-making machine to crank out his signature minidoughnuts in one of the shipping containers - years after getting the boot from the Albee Square Mall at the same site to make way for City Point.
A new shopping center is under construction at the site, but it’s unclear when the rest of the project - once slated to include the tallest tower in Brooklyn - will go up. Dekalb Market will stay in place until the developers are ready to build.
“There are always good things that come out of bad things,” Jones said. “I’ve been doing doughnuts now for 35 years. That’s all I ever did. Probably if you cut me, glaze would come out of my skin.”
Robicelli’s - known for its cupcakes but without a physical store since its Bay Ridge location shuttered in 2009 - also will claim a container.
“Now that we have the market, we’ll start to bring in some of the old products we haven’t done in two years. Our brownies are coming back, whoopie pies, coffeecakes and things like that,” said Allison Robicelli, who runs the business with her husband.
She said she was reluctant to start another store after the troubles the last one faced but was drawn in by the idea of the market.
“We’re from Brooklyn. My family’s been here four generations,” she said. “If we’re going to do a retail spot we want to do it in Brooklyn and we want to do it in something that’s hopefully going to be a landmark for Brooklyn … I actually prefer it to a retail store. I think it’s a lot more fun.”
Urban Space is also running a contest to design a container and will let the winner set up shop for six months for free.
With the Fulton Mall drawing more and more national chains, Scott said the market would be a chance for small, homegrown merchants to have a foothold there.
“It’s better to have an active use of the site rather than just having it boarded off,” he said. “We’re excited about bringing in some new, smaller entrepreneurs that wouldn’t normally have come to downtown Brooklyn.”
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We are launching a shipping container home design competition to help provide homes for victims of the Tsunami. Love to connect with you guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEPVPwWSkPI
Michael J. Trout
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