Photo by Jessica Toplliver
Brooklyn’s DeKalb Market’s community farm sits behind the salvaged shipping containers which now house restaurants, retail shops and a radio station.
Downtown Brooklyn, N.Y’s Fulton Mall is now the home of DeKalb Market, an entrepreneurial, creative group of businesses made entirely of 160-square-foot salvaged shipping containers. Twenty-two companies, including restaurants, a farm coffee shops, retail shops and a radio station, have re-appropriated the containers thanks to Urban Space Management, a container-construction company famous for its blooming public spaces and temporary markets.
Allison Robicelli, who sells her signature cupcakes at DeKalb Market, says, “It’s amazing how this is all coming together. It’s creating a new history for Brooklyn.”
DeKalb Market is open seven days a week and includes a farm tended by eight local organizations, thanks in part to Build It Green of Long Beach, N.Y. Behind the garden will be a kitchen and a classroom. Organizations keeping the farm up include 3rd Ward, the Brooklyn Grange, Atom’s Eco, Malcom X Grassroots Movement, Family Cook, New York City College of Technology and Newton Farm Cooperative.
Market Spokesperson Jessica Tolliver says, “We are excited for the market to be a community hub for retail, art and design, as well as a functioning green space.”
The ambitious Urban Space Management has more than 30 years of experience working with local governments in urban regeneration initiatives. The company renews the economic state of run-down and under-used areas by developing, investing and managing new retail, community and workshop spaces. It is responsible for the Greenwich Market, Container City, Container City, Chelsea Farmers Market, Elephant and Castle, in London, U.K., Green Station, in Bath, U.K., Sneinton Market Square, in Nottingham, U.K. and Union Square Holiday Market, New York City, N.Y., among many others.
Visit DeKalb Market online for more information.
