Noho condo development to displace longstanding outdoor market

With a new building planned for the landmarked lot at 688 Broadway between Great Jones and East Third streets in Noho comes the displacement of a 20-year-old outdoor marketplace. But some vendors said they were never told that they’d have to move, DNAinfo reported.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Mohammad Flah, a vendor, told DNAinfo. “We have a mortgage and five kids. Everything is hard now.”

However, the market’s manager Rachel Pinker said that “everyone knows” about the impending closure and that the market will stay in place for about a year.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission recently approved plans for a 12-story, 14-unit condominium development, which will be developed by BKSK Architects. There will be ground-level retail space. The exterior of the property will have fins responsible for catching sunlight.

The owner of the plot is an entity named Downtown Re Holdings LLC, which purchased it for $8 million in 2008. They did not return DNAinfo’s requests for comment. A BKSK spokesperson said the time at which the vendors must leave will be determined by how long the city’s permitting process takes.

Pinker told DNAinfo that the she is seeking a new home for the market. [DNAinfo] — Zachary Kussin