May 19, 2007 / Brooklyn Heights–Downtown / Perspective / Heights Lowdown

Wal-Mart is not dead yet

By Christie Rizk

The Brooklyn Paper

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Is Wal-Mart phoning it in on the Fulton Mall? Some area residents felt that way this week after being asked to participate in a survey about how to improve the busy, yet underdeveloped, shopping strip.

But this was no objective study. In fact, such calls are typically made in an effort to convince the recipient one way or another, rather than to simply request an opinion.

That’s how Brooklyn Heights resident Michael Bast felt after receiving the call last week.

“They asked me how I felt about having a big-box store on the mall or in Downtown Brooklyn,” Bast said, adding that the survey-taker was steering him towards the notion that big-box stores would “improve” the mall.

Some people thought the calls might have come from Wal-Mart, which is known to be scouting a spot on or near the Fulton Mall.

Didn’t Wal-Mart get the message when union leaders, protesters, community groups and residents converged on Albee Square in the freezing February cold to scream “No Wal-Mart!” over and over into a megaphone?

Well, Wal-Mart’s playing it cagey.

“We can’t comment on possible projects,” a Wal-Mart spokesman told me, “but I can say that we are still interested in putting a store in Brooklyn.”

He did say that although Wal-Mart has conducted these kinds of surveys before, they haven’t done one in a couple of years, and they aren’t doing one now.

But with all the development and change happening in Downtown Brooklyn, it’s not a stretch to think that other big-box stores mentioned in the survey — Bast recalled Target and Costco in particular — are keeping their eye on a future mall spot. (Calls to Target and Costco weren’t returned).

The survey could be a way of drumming up enthusiasm for such a store on the mall before doing anything official, like going to the Fulton Mall Improvement Association or Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce (of which Wal-Mart is a dues-paying member, just so you know).

Calling it “progress” and “a new plan” is a great way to make residents a little more receptive to the idea.

Not that it worked on Bast. “I told them I didn’t care either way,” he said.

The Kitchen Sink

Hallelujah! After 12 years of ongoing renovations, the scaffolding at Saint Ann’s School on Pierrepont Street has finally come down. It’s been up so long that residents are going to have to look twice to make sure they’re in the right neighborhood when they walk past the school now. …

You can thank Keyspan for all the torn up streets in DUMBO lately. The gas company is installing new high-pressure lines and upgrading its services for all the new residents moving into the neighborhood. …

Assemblywoman Joan Millman (D–Brooklyn Heights) wants to come to the rescue of DUMBO artists who can barely afford their rent. Millman’s bill to create affordable housing for artists just got a sponsor in the Senate.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper