Prospect-Lefferts landlord tells Starbucks to go screw

williamsburg starbucks — Not coming soon to Prospect-Lefferts Gardens

It’s the same old story you read about again and again: local business in “up and coming” neighborhood closes after a rent battle, landlord looks for someone new, a national chain like Starbucks backs a dump truck full of money in her yard and Brooklyn has another chain store. Except this time, according to DNA Info, Starbucks’ plan to move into Prospect-Lefferts Gardens was rebuffed by the landlord of a retail space, who said she’s not interested in renting to the coffee giant and is looking for a local business to fill the space.

Landlord Rong Ge owns 49 Lincoln Road, which housed the restaurant space of the Lincoln Park Tavern before the business switched over to just a bar. Ge says that Starbucks offered her more than $13,000/month for the property, but she told them she wasn’t interested, preferring to fill the space with a local restaurant and giving a coffee shop in the stretch of property she owns, Tip of the Tongue, a chance to thrive.

It’s certainly a twist on the old story of corporate-led gentrification and pricing out of local areas, but we wouldn’t count on this becoming any kind of trend, since when does something nice like this ever happen more than once. In the mean time, let’s just enjoy it, and if you’ve got an idea for a restaurant you think will make money, here’s your chance. You can market it as “The Place Brooklyn Wanted Instead of Starbucks.”