BROOKLYN — The thought of $10 million is tempting, but Kings County Nurseries is here to stay — for now, its owner said.
The site of the longtime family-run garden center went on the market recently for $10.5 million, according to a listing from Douglas Elliman spotted by the Q at Parkside blog. But owner Joe Merola told DNAinfo New York he changed his mind about the sale.
“I’ve been doing this for 35 years and I considered selling it and now I don’t think I’m ready to leave. I have too much of a love for the business and the neighborhood,” he said.
In particular, an outpouring of support from customers in East Flatbush and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens convinced him to stay.
“Without the people in the neighborhood and all my customers, we’d have no success,” he said. “So, we’re going to put a few more years in and keep the ball rolling.”
Merola’s father and two uncles bought the garden center’s lots — two parcels at 625 New York Ave. and 447 Fenimore St. — in 1955, he said. The family has been running the business ever since. Merola, now 51, started working there when he was 16 years old.
“I have a lot of emotional time put into that place,” he said.
The property is zoned R-6, according to the Douglas Elliman listing, which would allow an approximately 20,000-square-foot building to be constructed there. The area, on the border of East Flatbush and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, has seen a boom in construction projects lately, many of them multi-unit apartment buildings or condominiums.
Merola said the real estate company will keep the listing online until Dec. 22, per a prearranged agreement, but he has requested it be taken down after that point. Douglas Elliman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the listing.