Brooklyn Bridge Park is going to the dogs — and to oenophiles.
Two new shops, a wine store and a doggy day care center, are moving into One Brooklyn Bridge Park at the gateway to the residential, commercial and open space development along the Brooklyn Heights waterfront.
The swanky 449-unit condo will welcome pet boutique Brooklyn Bridge Bark, which will be across the street from Pier 6’s dog run, and Waterfront Wines and Spirits to its Joralemon Street entrance as its first retail additions. Plans are to open this summer.
Developer Ian Levine has tried to attract a supermarket and a restaurant to the former Jehovah’s Witnesses printing plant site since 2008.
Those efforts sputtered, but residential demand in the condo complex grew. Brokers sold 101 units in 2010 alone, part of a population boom that increased the population in Dowtown by 2,900 percent in the past decade.
Now, the retail is filling in, too.
Winick’s Diana Boutross, who signed both deals, told the New York Observer that she has received interest from day spas, bicycle and sports shops, and clothing stores and she hopes to add a large supermarket and maybe two restaurants as well.
Parkgoers can’t wait for the new dog-friendly store to open up — as long as the owners know what they’re doing.
“It’s not easy to run day care programs, it has to be really good,” said Martina Parker, who owns two dogs. “There is actually a dog day care in Dunbo and its always full, so I see this as a good business.”
But not all residents are happy that condo complexes with new retail stores are abutting the park.
The need for commercial operations inside the 1.5-mile Brooklyn Bridge Park became an inevitability after state officials mandated that the $350-million park generate enough revenue to cover its $16-million annual maintenance budget. But some residents have sued to keep several proposed high-rise condo towers out of Brooklyn Bridge Park, while other community leaders say that residential development would prevent additional concessionaires from flooding the park.
