BOERUM HILL — Home furnishings megastore Pier 1 Imports is bringing the retailer’s only Brooklyn location to Atlantic Avenue, the building’s owner and developer said.
The 48,750 square-foot property at 252 Atalantic Ave., developed and owned by Renaissance Realty Group, will open Pier 1 Imports on the entire second floor, said Adir Cohen, the realty group’s director of leasing and acquisitions, in an email. Retro Fitness, a national gym chain, will sit in the building’s cellar space.
Pier 1 Imports has not announced its new Brooklyn store but “members of the Pier 1 Imports team routinely review new and existing markets to locate new stores as part of our ongoing expansion plans,” Chrissy Madison, the store’s public relations coordinator, said in an email.
The 13,500 square-foot ground floor of 252 Atlantic Ave., named “Atlantic Galleria,” remains unoccupied, although developers are in talks with more than half a dozen national retailers, Cohen said.
"We are reluctant to sign a lease for the remaining space on the ground floor as we believe more retailers are now focusing on Brooklyn with the same priority as they focus on Manhattan, and we think we will land a tenant that complements the other tenants at Atlantic Galleria and fits the neighborhood,” he said.
The building is in the middle of construction and will be completed in 2014.
It is unclear when Pier 1 Imports will open for business.
The burgeoning commercial center, which already hosts a Trader Joe's and Urban Outfitters, has also attracted fashion giants like Splendid and J. Crew.
The property was initially planned as a seven-story residential building but developers eventually opted for a retail market, which “fits the neighborhood and what the neighborhood is lacking,” Cohen said.
