in what can only be described as a strange coincidence, one of my freelance jobs asked me to go out to bushwick and shoot the moore street retail market. the moore street and essex street markets were both created in the 40's by mayor laguardia in an effort to ease congestion by removing pushcart vendors from the streets. I think that there were a few more built as well, one in downtown brooklyn, one in flushing and one in harlem. the markets were neighborhood hubs for some time but then became mostly obsolete as more people started shopping elsewhere.
today, the moore street space is full of smaller businesses and vendors, catering to the needs of the neighborhood-- there's a barber shop, a meat market, a fish market, vegetable stands, a small pharmacy and a couple of restaurants.
the future of the market is up in the air, it has been not doing well for some time and the city has stated that it's planning on closing down the vendors by next summer. if the market is indeed closed, according to an employee i spoke with, the plan is to build housing, which will take the form of an addition to the roof.
what type of housing it will be is another story, will it be affordable housing or condos? if it's condos, the question of who will choose to live there becomes pertinent. it's not too far from the L train, but is surrounded on two sides by high and low-rise projects. the neighborhood is not bad, but given the current and future options for condos in north brooklyn one can only wonder who would choose to buy here.
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