Biz Owners Bemoan Rising Rents on Fulton

Fulton Street in Clinton Hill is , but one block is changing faster than all the others.

One side of a stretch of businesses between Washington Avenue and St. James Place has three empty storefronts out of 13 — the result, some business owners say, of a landlord keen to make big bucks off of new tenants.

The Mega Dry Cleaners is the latest to close its doors, and the owners of the business were fuming at their landlord, who they said raised their rent from $1,500 per month to a whopping $6,000 per month in only one year.

“If you want to change the neighborhood why can’t we work together?” said Gloria Arocho, an employee at the dry cleaners. “Why are they taking out all the old people here?”

Now, Arocho and the owner Louis Martinez are scrambling to return clothes to customers, though they could be kicked out any day now.

“They want to bring Park Avenue here!” said Martinez.

It is unclear what the landlord, called Sivan Assets, has planned for the one side of the block that it owns — though the arrival of the popular could hint at the type of specialty stores that may become more common.

“The [businesses] that can afford to stay, they stay,” said a man who answered the phone at Sivan Assets, abruptly ending the phone conversation before giving his name. “Nowadays, there are stores that can’t afford to pay the rent.”

The landlord added that the criticisms from Martinez and others at the dry cleaner were inaccurate.

“The way they operated the business did not meet their needs,” he said.

Still, it seems Martinez isn’t the only business owner who can’t afford the rent.

Two other storefronts are unoccupied, as well.

“I think the landlord just has dollar signs in his eyes,” said one business owner on the block who wished to remain anonymous.

Others worried what the future held for them.

“I don’t know what [the landlord] has planned, really,” said Andrew Thompson, the owner of . “I’m next in terms of who they’re going to approach about rent — but the economy is so bad! Who has that kind of money in reserve?”

Thompson added that he had been on a month-to-month lease since last year.

But the shuttered stores have consequences for all owners on the block, whether they are operating with long-term leases or not.

“It’s bad for business, all that emptiness!” said Papa Diagne, the owner of , the popular Senegalese restaurant at the corner of St. James Place. “[Other owners] have told me they’re shaken up.”

Phillip Kellog, the manager of the Fulton Street Business Improvement District — known as — would not comment on the empty storefronts on the block, saying only that there were “ongoing discussions” among the landlord and business owners.

The man representing Sivan Assets did say that new tenants in the shuttered storefronts could come soon.

“There are a few people interested, we don’t want businesses there for just five, six months,” he said. “Restaurants, clothing stores, we want a little bit of everything.”

An earlier version of this story reported the widespread rumor that the restaurant Soule had  closed for good, as well. It recently reopened and reportedly is in good standing with the landlord, Sivan Assets.