Target Coming to Church Avenue in Flatbush, Replacing Modell’s
Target is expanding its presence in Brooklyn with a new location in Flatbush.
The new 28,201-square-foot location will be at 2101 Church Avenue between Flatbush Avenue and East 21st Street, according to the retailer’s corporate website, taking up the space formerly occupied by a Modell’s Sporting Goods store. Modell’s closed all its stores after filing for bankruptcy in March of last year.
2101 Church Avenue was originally home to the Keith-Albee Kenmore Theater, a vaudeville house, which opened in 1928. The space was eventually converted into a movie theater, which closed after a fatal shooting at the location in 1999. The Modell’s opened three years later.
Target signed a lease agreement with the property owner, Gravesend-based 2101 Church Equities LLC, in August 2020. The LLC is owned by Solomon Cohen, who also owns the small M&s Bargain Hunters variety store chain.The entire building is 52,169 square feet.
In an email, a spokesperson for Target confirmed plans for the store and said the company was “excited to bring an easy, safe and convenient shopping experience to new guests in the Brooklyn community” but had not yet announced an opening date.
“As we get closer to opening the store, we’ll have more specific details to share,” said the spokesperson, Aryn Ridge, “including how the shopping experience will be tailored to serve local guests and the grand opening date.”
Target did not include renderings for the store on its website, but information on the website of the real estate brokerage Ripco, which is currently leasing a separate 9,000-square-foot space in the building previously occupied by Walgreens, shows Target occupying the entire second floor of the building along with a portion of the first floor.
The Ripco brokers representing the vacant space did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Target has expanded its presence in Brooklyn in recent years: an 88,000-square-foot location at the Ceasar’s Bay Shopping Center Gravesend is also set to open March 14th. A Bensonhurst location opened in 2017, and another one in Midwood opened the following year.
Target also has locations at Fulton Street and the Atlantic Terminal Mall in Downtown Brooklyn; the Gateway Mall in East New York; the Flatbush Junction; and on Kings Highway in Homecrest.
Another location, at Kings Highway and Foster Avenue in East Flatbush, was expected to open last year, but remains under construction with no opening date yet announced. Renderings for that building, which is also being represented by Ripco, show a low-rise building with rooftop parking.
The retailer managed to thrive in 2020 despite the pandemic; the company logged more than $1 billion in profits in the third quarter of last year, up from $706 million at the same time in 2019.