New Development Rises At Flatbush Caton Market Site

FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN — Construction workers broke ground Wednesday on the temporarily former site of the Flatbush Caton Market, where they will build an affordably priced housing development and a new home for the Caribbean marketplace.

Developers, elected officials and market vendors gathered at the construction site on Flatbush and Caton avenues Tuesday morning to celebrate the new 255-unit apartment complex slated to rise by 2021.

"The achievement is what we've been doing together," said Brooklyn City Councilman Mathieu Eugene. "This is going to be an asset not only for my district, but for Brooklyn and for New York City."

Caton Flats, as the new 14-story development is called, will be a 280,000-square-foot structure that will house 255 apartments, 16,000 square feet for the Flatbush Caton Markets, an office for The Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry and 10,000 square feet of retail space, officials said.

The market's facilities will also include upgraded amenities which include a bar, café, and shared commercial kitchen, as well as flex space for the community, according to developers.

Developers from BRP Companies, Urbane Development and the nonprofit New York City Economic Development Corporation partnered on plans — which included demolishing Flatbush Caton Market's former space and temporarily transporting the market to a Clarendon Road space— and are the result of years of what Eugene called "a lovely battle" between them and the city.

"All the partners ... they wanted to go fast," said Eugene with a smile. "But that was not the situation."

Vendors from the market, which has been a neighborhood staple since the Carribean Market first opened in 2010, also joined in on the festivities: Peppa's Jerk Chicken, Mint Porch and Jamaican foods and juice purveyor Roger Brown all stopped by to celebrate the new space, as did the newly elected City Councilwoman Farah Louis.

Developers who addressed the crowd promised the vendors the new building was designed with them in mind and promised it would be the market's home for decades to come.

"Do not let anyone whisper in your ear or tell you're not deserving of this space because this is your space," said Urbane Development CEO James Johnson Piett.

"Great businesses will anchor this development and we're here to help you do that."