Developer hopes mini-mall will create nabe

Joseph Hoffman, president of developer Bushburg Properties, hopes that Bushwick’s new mini-mall, the Loom at 100 Thames Street, off Knickerbocker Avenue, will make the neighborhood a stronger retail destination. The 20-store mall held its soft opening May 9, and the place was packed, said Israel Hirsch, a vice president at Bushburg. Hoffman wants the mall to be the cornerstone of a neighborhood that is part Williamsburg, part Bushwick. Only about 30 percent of the mall’s storefronts, which range from 600 to 1,000 square feet and rent for about $1,500 per month, have been rented.