![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=158&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=c8263a24bb6f69efeb90d4a9efa94fba 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=315&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=e0662ce3730a41d02305ff956796d038 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=576&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=976e07e9e3bd65d9d823c1d11bc06df1 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=768&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=dfcc4141b5af08551d8fa3faa066fb4b 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1050&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=2125f70b2b5e47f5af2c7e557ee2803c 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1200&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=004b8e1365500bedf05bb8403a0e8bcb 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1440&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=0e6cca78c8b78fd2ed78b2434a07a726 1920w)
Firstly, by employing a former creative director with background in theatre and drama, the developer has supported and evolved the vendors, gradually creating better leases, bringing in better merchandise and independent brands. Edens has created the “Retail +” concept, under which every vendor at the market must be making something which can be tried in place. To create genuine connections, Edens also reached out to the local diverse community – for example by hosting a Latin market and finding chefs and retailers through foreign embassies.
The success of the market has in turn attracted a host of new retailers to the area – an independent jewellery designer’s workshop, boutique apothecary and salon Veer&Wander, and a slick sushi restaurant. Many creative companies have moved into the affordable workplaces around the market. This approach to development is one of collecting retail concepts with stories and supporting their growth.
What’s coming next? Apartment blocks are steadily rising from one of the plots with more coming soon. The ownership of the buildings above the ground floor is separate to what happens at the street level. Edens offsets the costs of the land and the financial risks of small independent retailers by selling the air rights for construction above the ground floor. The retail rents can be kept affordable, attracting innovative new uses, which in turn increases the desirability of the area and the value of the residential buildings above.
Five years from now, the neighbourhood is likely to look very different, grown around the market.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F3.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=158&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=60bfd0e8b4848cfd06b11899de106979 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F3.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=315&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=84e9d7ad08548f7d8fd38f2edbe6f34e 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F3.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=576&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=9857f3be100d6ccce908b9a92a017e92 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F3.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=768&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=7c7f5e5eecb8058d6614d3f2f69fa081 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F3.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1050&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=b399dbd37528fde9ea752c7e11b3577c 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F3.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1200&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=729daaeb0202945be3559fb7b0d4c9da 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F3.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1441&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=a5f520713de3e02193cdad6f661d3400 1920w)
New industry, old city
Brooklyn’s Industry city is a regenerated district of 19th-century warehouse and factory blocks, reinvented as a workplace in 2013 and positioned as “an innovation ecosystem that serves to benefit its tenants and the wider community”.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F4.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=280&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=21927894b535a95fc139884ab23bc8af 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F4.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=560&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=5e113058678129ab16b8bf061bc323d5 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F4.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1024&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=af0c579cbbadecb51d56a22247921ff9 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F4.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1365&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=b8f4f9e6618fe84fead41ad3b1f3e703 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F4.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1867&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=2d2dd696ccfc55e1099f68811295df8c 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F4.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=2133&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=48b69726a0cffa83360b8bc2645fc3c8 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F4.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=2560&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=0ce6f4da39e147300d815922640cd20b 1920w)
Because of the existing buildings’ flexibility and affordability, the district has attracted various businesses – creative studios, small manufacturing plants and craft workshops, alongside more traditional offices. Naturally, the units on the ground floor double up as retail spaces – for example, a Li-Lac chocolate factory and a Teressa Foglia hat workshop.
Introduced as key community-building spaces, there are many bars and restaurants, a food court and indoor and outdoor event spaces. The retail has turned the place into a weekend, family-friendly destination, with events such as film screenings and coding courses, and has brought visitors beyond its normal working population.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=159&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=9565eb8538c9f27d6bd787b9673ce788 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=318&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=d2e74187adb6f7e994047c330105cec9 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=582&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=439605bb641232a9384d163178b5cdc1 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=776&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=7c75c559bb023b98b19b76995b41fba4 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1061&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=ba9a4fdac31eea59e589101786c1b6bb 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1213&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=45c7b06dcf91b80a1661f3a771c08347 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1456&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=0c5c2257e08f58d9c809097ba9576d54 1920w)
The director of SandenWolff Productions, a small video content company in the area, told me that the attractiveness of the place is its affordability and the opportunity for expansion within the same building. While he likes the amenities, the growth of the common areas has also increased his service charge and rent. If this growth continues then small companies like his, which give the place its character, may not be able to afford the costs.
The adaptation of historic buildings and their initial affordability has attracted a diversity of people and activities, giving the place a distinct character. While retail has amplified and enhanced this character, it is also increasing values and driving future growth. Those aspects are usually regarded as beneficial, but evidently, they also threaten the affordability and the character of the place.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F6.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=158&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=07bd0dde8697f21bd81ddc4bf56b48d4 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F6.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=315&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=6192963cf9c1a8768bfee53915540e6c 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F6.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=576&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=88f1527cdff03ad89974cf790826d505 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F6.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=768&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=91e8c5aa6d210d454d41792c32602eec 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F6.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1050&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=1d393056067f92d159dfcc953692a2d8 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F6.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1200&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=c34fa9993affa6523a1a95734abc43ea 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2F6.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1440&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=d1000fb6b5501f3cfe61604d4bcfd22d 1920w)