The New York Times Says Montague Street Is Back

Montague Street has had a vacancy problem for about as long as anyone can remember. The New York Times wrote about empty storefronts there in 1986. Now the Times is back with a different story: nobody wanted Montague Street, and now everybody does.

Here's what's in it.

The vacancy numbers

According to Kate Chura of the Montague Business Improvement District, vacancy on the street is now around six percent, down from at least 20 percent during the pandemic. The turnaround started in 2022, when L'Appartement 4F and Books Are Magic opened. Those were two of the things neighbors asked for in a December 2020 Brooklyn Heights Association survey. The other items on that list, a fishmonger and a butcher, haven't shown up yet.

What's coming

• First Bloom. Cookbook author Alison Roman is opening a shop at 144 Montague, in the old Bentley's shoe store space. It will sell coffee, groceries and prepared food during the day and wine at night. She looked at six spaces on the street before picking this one.
• The Bossert. SomeraRoad bought the Hotel Bossert for $100 million in 2025, three months after it went into foreclosure. It's being turned into The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Brooklyn Heights, with 61 condos expected to be finished in 2029. In September, Landmarks approved a 15th floor.
• Danny Meyer. Union Square Hospitality Group will open its first full-service Brooklyn restaurant on the Bossert's ground floor.
• One Montague Place. A 50-story tower just outside the historic district, also expected in 2029. Plans include a pool, padel courts, a BONDST restaurant and a jazz club for residents. TD Bank has leased the corner store.

The spaces that are still empty

The rents are still steep. Emma Straub says she pays more than $20,000 a month for Books Are Magic at 122 Montague, double what she pays on Smith Street. The former Starbucks at 112 Montague has been empty for more than a decade, with an asking rent of $30,000 a month. The old AT&T store at 160 Montague has been empty since 2023 and is listed at $20,000 a month.

Our take

The street is busier than it's been in years, and the bookstore, the bakery and the diner proved people here will show up for good local businesses. But condos and luxury towers don't fill storefronts by themselves. Old-timers like Lassen & Hennigs (open since 1949) and the original Häagen-Dazs (1976) got through the bad years. Whether the next wave of shops can afford to stick around is the question to watch.

Read the full story in The New York Times.