COBBLE HILL — Smith Street’s Met Foodmarket is slated to become a two-story retail complex after investment groups signed an $18.5 million contract to buy the site.
The 10,000 square-foot property at 205 Smith St. was purchased by retail investors the Jackson Group, Aurora Capital Associates and ACHS Management.
The companies drew up the contract to buy the one-story building last week and plan to finalize the sale later this year, The Real Deal first reported.
“We’re very excited to enter this market and put together a first class retail space,” Jonathan Nachmani, a vice president with the Jackson Group, told DNAinfo New York.
The groups are speaking to several retailers interested in the space but have yet to sign contracts with any of them, he said.
Potential tenants range from luxury apparel retailers to fitness chains, a bank or even another grocery store, he said.
Construction to increase the building’s footprint to 20,000 square-feet will begin towards the end of the year. A second story will be added to the building although the groups have not yet decided whether it will be demolished or renovated, Nachmani said.
Met Foodmarket will not remain in the property after the sale is finalized, Nachmani said. The supermarket's management was not available for comment.
As an influx of residents with high disposable incomes are moving to Brooklyn, national retailers noticing the trend are seeing commercial corridors like Bedford and Manhattan avenues or Court and Smith streets as ripe for commercial development, Nachmani said.
“That’s why you’re beginning to see these retailers creeping into the market,” he said.
“Retailers are saying ‘O.K. I want to be on that block.'"
But Court and Smith Streets, mostly occupied by bars, restaurants and small businesses, won’t be turning into Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue any time soon, he said.
“I just think it’s not that kind of market,” Nachmani said.
Instead, the neighborhoods could transform into the next Bleecker Street with a mix of boutique shops and small businesses.
“The way I’m seeing Cobble Hill evolve is very similar to the West Village,” he said.
