Big changes could be on the way for a Downtown Brooklyn restaurant known for some of the best cheesecake around.
According to the New York Daily News, the owners of Junior's Restaurant have put their property at the corner of Flatbush and DeKalb avenues on the market. The owners are planning to sell their location to make way for a new condo building. The property was officially listed last Thursday.
But owner, Alan Rosen, the grandson of the restaurant's founder, is looking for a developer who is willing to negotiate a deal to lease the bottom floor of the new building in order for the restaurant to continue operating. The new building could rise more than 20 stories, according to the Daily News.
"Without a deal, we won't sell," Rosen said.
The 17,000 square-foot restaurant could be worth as much as $45 million to $55 million. A one bedroom in the neighborhood would reportedly run for over $700,000. Rosen said that the Brooklyn location would be temporarily closed for about two years while construction is underway.
Junior's is a family-owned business now in its third generation and reportedly sells roughly 5,000 cheesecakes in a single week. The owners of the iconic emporium that has sold cheesecake and other delights since 1950 hopes to open a second location in the borough in the meantime.
"Maybe then we're closing but by then we'll have alternative locations and then I think closed for a year and a half to two years depending on how quickly they get construction done," Rosen said.
The famed Brooklyn spot has always been a favorite of New Yorkers and has been attached to celebrities, politicians and blue-collar Brooklynites alike. Last October, then-mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio and President Barack Obama visited Junior's.
"It was pretty incredible," Rosen said then of the surprise visit. "We're pretty honored."
Junior's also has locations in Times Square, Grand Central Terminal, the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan.
