A Market for Little Caribbean

In the cavernous $18 million Flatbush Central in Brooklyn, Urbane Development CEO James Johnson-Piett watched construction workers lower lights for the grand opening and predicted that the venue would become the go-to for Jamaicans, Trinidadians and Guyanese, Haitians, Dominicans—all the Caribbean diaspora—buying food, fashion, art and personal care products and services. The ground floor market in a new glass-and-steel affordable housing complex featured two Caribbean-themed bars, a Caribbean food hall, several dozen immigrant Caribbean vendors offering an array of island goods, and an incubator for emerging entrepreneurs with elaborate community kitchens and maker labs. Uptempo economic development like this has been slow to come to Little Caribbean, the area tucked south of Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Though it abuts fashionable Park Slope and its West Indian nightclubs attract A-listers, Little Caribbean remains the classic American melting pot of immigrants, hustle, dollar stores,