Goldman Sachs Backs Brooklyn Flea's New Food Market

If helping to secure supplies of blood orange-infused donuts and 1960s manual typewriters can be called “doing God’s work,” as Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein once described his calling, then the firm is on the side of the angels in Brooklyn. Last April, Goldman’s Urban Investment Group put up $25.6 million to renovate a former Studebaker service station on the edge of the Crown Heights neighborhood. The 150,000-square-foot space will eventually house, among other things, a food and beer hall run by Brooklyn Flea.

Goldman’s partner in the venture is Brooklyn Flea co-founder Jonathan Butler. Since he and business associate Eric Demby staged their first event in a schoolyard in April 2008, Brooklyn Flea has grown into a collection of weekend indoor and outdoor markets where vendors sell vintage items, crafts, and all manner of edibles. The venues, all in Brooklyn, draw more than half a million customers each year. To date, more than 20,000 people have applied to be vendors. On a weekend when the weather’s nice and throngs of young couples and families mingle amid stalls peddling terrariums and strawberry-rhubarb ice pops, the business can gross up to an estimated $60,000 from alcohol sales and the $120 to $225 daily fee vendors pay for its 200 stalls.