Failed Downtown Brooklyn Food Hall Space Still In Limbo: Report

DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN — The fate of a large retail space on Adams Street has been left in limbo after a failed food hall ended up in a dispute with its landlord about the future of the 8,000-square-foot storefront, the New York Post reports.

Owners of the 345 Adams St. spot had tried repeatedly to make the Hill Country Food Park work since they first opened in November, but the food hall ultimately closed down just six months later.

But when the food hall flopped, the battle started for the owners, Muss Development to get the space back in their control.

Documents that the Post obtained show that Hill Country brought on a new investor, Feenix Venture Partners Opportunity Fund, as the negotiations to surrender the lease were going on.

Feenix is now trying to buy the lease out of bankruptcy even though no official Chapter 11 filing has been made, according to a July 12 letter between Hill Country and Muss.

But at the same time, Muss is trying to evict Hill Country if it doesn’t pay $73,655 in back rent, according to a Brooklyn Civil Court filing.

"Until the mess is resolved, Muss can’t market the prime location to another tenant," the Post report says. "If Feenix took control of the lease through bankruptcy, it could likely do what it wanted with the space, subject to a judge’s oversight but without Muss’ approval."

Both Muss and Hill Country, though, claimed in comments to the Post that the food hall is in fact surrendering the reins to a new operator. They did not comment specifically on the dispute, but each said there will be big changes coming soon to the space.

“Hill Country had the perfect vision for activating the space but unfortunately after several attempts and many different concepts, they told us they were unable to make it work and would give us back the space," the Muss representative said. "We look forward to bringing in the next great concept.”

To read the full New York Post report click here.