Brooklyn Department of Finance to Be Replaced By a Mall

The city announced a plan today to transform part of the Brooklyn Municipal Building in downtown Brooklyn into 49,000 feet of retail space. Which part? The Department of Finance, which is relocating somewhere else to make room for the new mall. The developer is United American Land, and they plan to turn the former DoF into a "lively, pedestrian-friendly, and unique retail space" spread out over the western side of three floors of the building.

According to the press release, construction will begin in 2012 and "the project will create 64 full-time construction jobs and 114 permanent jobs." UAL bought the space for $10 million. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is all about it: "As borough president, I like to think of all of Brooklyn as my own backyard, but it's not often that I can actually look out of my office window and see a future economic powerhouse right across the street."

Yow! But where is the Department of Finance going to go? Back to the cheery press release:

"The Department of Finance is looking forward to offering improved service for customers in our rebuilt Brooklyn space," said Department of Finance Commissioner David M. Frankel. "In the meantime, we encourage all of our Brooklyn customers to take advantage of our recently revamped online services, or visit one of our four other locations."

In other words, if for some reason you need the Department of Finance while this mall is being built, go online.

And what will be in the shopping complex, specifically? Will it be upscale? Middling? We called United American Land to find out, and are awaiting a response. We also reached out to Marty Markowitz just 'cause, but haven't heard back yet.

[rgray@villagevoice.com] [@_rosiegray]

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