False Alarm: Starbucks NOT coming to Fort Greene

Eye On Real Estate

November 14, 2013 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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It was quite the tempest in a teapot … er, coffee urn.

A lawyer for Not Ray’s Pizza brewed Venti-sized agita in Fort Greene by announcing at a Community Board 2 meeting last week that Starbucks was moving into the pizzeria’s former space at 690 Fulton St.

“A Starbucks in Fort Greene – that’s jumping the shark,” said a worker at Coffee Annex – one of two indie java joints within a block of the high-visibility corner site, which has a memorial portrait of rapper Biggie Smalls over the door. The other, Hungry Ghost, is opening soon at 781 Fulton St.

Now pizzeria manager Nick Krkuti tells the Brooklyn Daily Eagle he fed the attorney the Starbucks story, which he thought was true – but landlord Sean Meenan, who also owns Habana Outpost across the street, has since set him straight. The storefront will house a year-round restaurant of Meenan’s, Krkuti said he was told. Habana Outpost is closed in fall and winter.

Meenan did not return requests for comment by deadline. Construction workers at the site were tight-lipped about what they’re building. “I don’t speak English,” one said dismissively.

Pizzeria owner Rifat Memeti told the Eagle he had 16 months left on his lease when the landlord told him it wouldn’t be renewed – but he could have another space in the building, at 694 Fulton St., which he has moved into.

“The business is not as good,” he lamented. “Everybody saw me on the street corner.”