Business East Williamsburg

East Williamsburg’s Moore Street Market to get a makeover

August 20, 2019 Meaghan McGoldrick
Photo courtesy of NYC EDC
Share this:

One of Brooklyn’s oldest public markets is getting a major makeover.

City officials announced Tuesday that they’re pumping $2.7 million into the Moore Street Market, a 15,000-square-foot shopping center at 110 Moore St. also known as “La Marqueta de Williamsburg.”

Dating back to 1941, Moore Street Market houses more than a dozen vendors of all sorts — a fish market, a thrift shop and a barbershop, for example — and offers year-round events like cooking classes, holiday celebrations and even small business seminars.

Subscribe to our newsletters

The funding — allocated by the New York City Council and the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office — will be used for repairs to the facility’s roof, the installation of street-level windows, updates to heating and cooling systems and other enhancements to the East Williamsburg staple.

“Moore Street Market has been a community cornerstone for decades,” NYCEDC President and CEO James Patchett said in a statement. “The market is an important part of our city’s cultural fabric, and with this investment, we can ensure it meets the needs of local businesses and shoppers.”

Patchett thanked City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Borough President Eric Adams and Councilmember Antonio Reynoso for their hand in securing the funding.

Adams — whose office shelled out $700,000 specifically for the roof and window repairs — called the market a “beacon of opportunity” for people all over Brooklyn.

“Its existence is a testament to the power of grassroots organizing and civic engagement in a community that has long lacked access to resources,” he said in a statement, adding that, with this capital funding, “we are making long-term investments in the vitality of a true neighborhood amenity.”

NYCEDC has overseen Moore Street Market since 2015, before which it was owned by the Brooklyn Economic Development Corp., and its future was oft-questioned.

Doubling down on its commitment to keep the space up and running, the agency recently partnered with El Puente de Williamsburg, a local human rights group and the hub’s new “community partner.” The group, whose mission is to promote peace through community engagement, will help coordinate weekly and monthly cooking classes, sewing seminars, reading workshops and more for Moore Street Market, according to NYCEDC.

Frances Lucerna, the group’s co-founder and executive director, said local businesses like those inside Moore Street Market the “backbone” of the community.

“El Puente remains committed to cultivating resources for the Market so that it continues to serve its mission in promoting local businesses that are the backbone of our community and be a cultural hub that not only celebrates our Latino culture, but aims to continue bridging all cultural practices of Williamsburg’s diverse population,” he said in a statement.

NYCEDC will contract a designer to oversee the full scope of upcoming and future renovations later this year.


Leave a Comment

Related Articles

Leave a Comment