A Specific Look Into Downtown Brooklyn's Albee Square Daniel Cartagena

A specific look into Downtown Brooklyn’s Albee Square Daniel Cartagena Dekalb Market When driving along Flatbush ave one couldn’t help but notice these colored shipping containers stacked upon one another with the words Dekalb Market painted on them. Along with the colorful striped fencing the site made quite an impression. Upon entry one was engulfed into a space that felt alienat- ed from the standard vernacular of New York City. The space was designed as a courtyard that had been surrounded with containers that were had been retrofitted to have windows and doors to create a storefront vernacular. The stores were eclectic and varied from jewelry to clothing and even art. At one end there was equality. The site itself is called Albee Square, the more retail style storefronts but at the oth- it was named after Edward Franklin Albee. Al- er one would find an array of picnic tables and bee was a theatrical manager who, as the gen- food sellers that were all organic and healthy eral manager of the Keith-Albee theatre circuit, using the garden integrated in the site for was the most influential person in vaudeville their needs as well as to show, those interest- in the United States. Albee was president of ed, in how to cultivate and harvest in the city. the United Bookings Office from its forma- Dekalb Market was born out of two key issues; tion in 1900. In 1916 he organized a union, it is a large space in Downtown Brooklyn that the National Vaudeville Artists, thus gaining a has always been at the center of contestation near monopoly on both talent and production and its created a struggle between power and in U.S. vaudeville. Albee dominated vaudeville until 1928, when RKO, a film company, absorbed his circuit in order to acquire the theatres(Britannica 2013). Historically Albee Square has always been a place for the community. A place where people came to see entertainment and culture for decades. Albee Square has been transformed through devel- opment numerous times in which it has always existed as a place for the community to come and interact with one another. In its recent past the area surrounding Albee Square became known for a culture of shopping, a place where you could find anything and at a low cost too. Albee Square was transformed into a mall, one that even- tually became an identity for Brooklyn especially in the hip hop culture. Biz Markie a famous rapper was notorious for putting Albee Square Mall on the map, he frequented the site and also filmed a music video in its large Atrium in 1988. In 2007 Albee Square Mall was demolished but it was months earlier that the businesses were told they had to leave with no time to tell customers. They were also not allowed to post any signage saying where they had moved anywhere on the premises. The demolition came as part of the Downtown Brooklyn Redevelopment Plan. The plan allowed for large developers to come in and buy property as well as propose new large scale projects that would help benefit them. These plans were created to gentrify the area in an attempt to com- pete with Manhattan. The redevelopment plan was one that was not received well by the community. Many people including businesses and residents felt that they were being displaced and that they were not being treated fairly or represented at all in any of the plans. The main argument being that the new developments didn’t try to accommodate the community rather they displace those who have been there for years. Many people couldn’t afford rent and the new buildings going up were all marketed to the wealthy. Albee Square’s fate was handed over to the BFC Partners (Baron, Ferrera, Cappocia Partners), who hired Cook Fox Architects to design a master plan called City Point. This complex was to be built in 3 phases the first is a smaller retail component the second a larger mall section and the third office and residential towers. As phase 1 went into construction, the BFC Partners and Urban Space came to an agreement on allowing a temporary market to be made in the site prior to phase 2 being started. This led to Dekalb Market’s creation, a place that brought mediation to a contested site. The market allowed for the community to rent spaces in the form of old shipping containers and it became a place where individual and small businesses were able to come to sell goods. The market did what De Blasio plans on doing for the city, create jobs and favor the small businesses and startups that cannot afford rent in the city. It also housed a farm and an event space for the community. Dekalb Market thrived from 2010 till 2012 when it was closed early due to the construction of Phase 2 beginning earlier than anticipated. Dekalb Market served as a place that gave back even amongst all the change in the area, it brought together people of all class and race and it served as a place where people could come and start fresh in a place they thought was gone. Walking Tour Brooklyn is home to many food markets. The two I will focus on for this tour in- clude Urban Space and Brooklyn Flea as they are the largest organizers. Brooklyn Flea created Smorgasburg which is a food version of the flea market focusing on people in the community to bring their gourmet abilities to the table. Brooklyn Flea has numerous locations and is open year round in deifferent locations. The flea market in Clinton Hill has become well known to many people who enjoy the idea of shopping for gourmet and new experiences. It caters to gentrifiers and has grown to acco- modate the younger crowd. It takes place in more temporary markets. Urban Space is also the school yard on the weekends and is open more Manhattan based and seems to always for a few hours every summer and early fall. be looking for new ideas for markets. The school yard fills with tents and poeple who come to look at all the things people handmake Theses markets all help bring people and sell. together and although they seem to be more Urban Space on the other hand creates geared toward the more artsy and younger spaces that are much more curated and smaller generation more and more diversity begins to in scale. Dekalb Market was one of their larger appear over time. projects. Urban Space focuses on gourmet and small business entreprenuers who would like to rent space in their more temporary markets. References http://urbanspacenyc.com http://www.brooklynflea.com http://dekalbmarket.com http://bfcnyc.com http://bfcnyc.com/city-point-2/ http://www.mybrooklynmovie.com.

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