Is There Room For Another Commercial Strip in Park Slope?

The city has to spruce up Fourth Avenue, but Fifth Avenue is worried it might cramp its style.

Earlier this week, the Department of City Planning released plans to create a , but at a Thursday night hearing for the plans some worried that an increase in retail traffic on Fourth Avenue might draw customers away from Fifth Avenue.

“The focus should be on the whole neighborhood, not just one avenue,” said Irene LoRe, Executive Director of the Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District. “Making changes on Fourth would most likely have a negative impact on the commercial viability of Fifth Avenue.”

The city’s plan would add requirements to the existing zoning on Fourth Avenue in order to encourage mixed-use of new developments—and prevent buildings like the controversial Argyle development from turning the avenue into a canyon of building backs and ventilation shafts.

New developments would be required to utilize at least 50 percent of the ground floor frontage for retail, with parking no longer allowed to face the avenue. Retail shops would be required to have largely glass storefronts, to allow for window shopping and “breaking down the barriers between the pedestrians on the sidewalk and activities inside.”

The Park Slope Civic Council and many others have long pointed to the garish new condominium developments on the avenue as one of the main setbacks in fostering a social community environment. At Thursday’s hearing, many community members issued praise for the plan—only wondering what took the DCP so long to step up to the plate.

But LoRe said that while she’s all for the beautification of the avenue, the neighborhood simply doesn’t have the capacity to support another avenue of commerce.

“I just honestly think that there’s not enough population for all this retail,” said LoRe.

LoRe pointed to the of this year’s winter, which caused several storefronts to shutter on Fifth and Seventh avenues in the just the first few months of the year.

“There’s only so many people who are going to go out on a Tuesday night in February, regardless of the weather,” she said.

LoRe urged that the city issue a study of Park Slope’s commercial districts, to see if another one might be warranted or even viable.

“The only way to determine the needs of the neighborhood is to first do the studies required,” she said.

Some disagreed with LoRe, though, arguing that more shops would only make the area more attractive to consumers.

“The more people that come to the area, the more people will come to your store,” said Lou Sones, a CB6 member and the owner of The Brazen Head, a bar on Atlantic Avenue. 

Another CB6 member theorized that the new commercial district would relieve rental pressures on Park Slope, and make storefront rents more affordable for store owners.

“While there is research to show that increased density of commercial space can improve financial outcomes, there are tipping points where and area can become over saturated,” said LoRe.

“In a food court, you are not going to find two pizza places,” said LoRe. “They understand the economics.”