John's Bakery Awning & Signs Taken Down; Construction Begins At 1322 Cortelyou Road

After John’s Bakery (1322 Cortelyou Road, by Rugby Road) closed last summer, prompting an outpouring of memories from neighbors who loved the Ditmas Park institution for decades, many in our community wondered what would be next for the space.

While walking by there in recent days, we noticed many of the remnants of the bakery are gone, with the awning and signs advertising John’s bagels, cakes, donuts and more being torn down. Other construction seems to have begun in the space as well, and several employees at neighboring stores told us the site will become a doctor’s office.

The Ficarra family, who owned and ran John’s Bakery, sold the building to Nicholas Stein’s LLC, named 1322 Cortelyou RD NYC, LLC, for $2.1 million in December. Stein’s listed address is on 24th Street in Manhattan, though the address listed for the LLC is 80 State Street in Albany.

After the December sale, RKF listed the site for $7,000 a month. Eventually, the RKF rent sign disappeared and was replaced with a sign from RSS 1789 Management — which has the same Albany address as the relatively new Cortelyou Road LLC. The real estate agent responsible for the John’s site, only named as “Michael” on the for rent sign, has not responded to repeated calls from us in recent months. We’ve also reached out to Nicholas Stein and will update this if we hear back from him.

As for the construction that’s happening, permits have been filed with the city Department of Buildings for “interior alteration” to the first floor, including installing new toilets and partitions, and “adding mechanical application.”

If anyone knows anything more about what’s happening at the old bakery, let us know! Comment below or email us at editor@ditmasparkcorner.com.