New retail complex The Loom will open soon at 1087 Flushing/100 Thames. — Photo by Aaron Short

Let’s start with the name Bushburg.  An amalgamation of Bushwick and Williamsburg, the property management company’s name implies having one foot in two worlds: an ascetic manufacturing-zoned landscape pockmarked by artist lofts and a gentrified, retail-driven culturally dense neighborhood. 

This notion could easily apply to Joseph Hoffman, Bushburg’s president and owner, who commutes north from Borough Park, a modern Orthodox Jewish neighborhood south of Park Slope, to a stretch of Flushing Avenue occupied by commercial lofts, food production companies, and light industry.  A tall man with a dark, rustled beard, wearing a pair of black pinstriped trousers and an immaculate white shirt, Hoffman exudes confidence in his real estate dealings.  He has been developing properties in Bushwick for nearly a decade, interacting with a diverse group of artists, filmmakers, and other young professionals — but he also keeps kosher and abides by other cultural traditions from his Orthodox upbringing.

Hoffman prefers to remain in the background, as marketers and brokers meet with potential clients and neighbors, perhaps thinking artists may make judgments about his culture.  Nevertheless, Hoffman is fastidious when it comes to details that will attract a young professional crowd, such as sleek black and white interior colors and installing vintage industrial artifacts as furniture.

 
The Loom’s lobby on Flushing. Click for more.

Which brings us to The Loom, Bushburg’s four-story industrial loft space at 100 Thames Street, with an entrance at 1087 Flushing Avenue.  The top three floors of the former pillow factory building contain 24 commercial loft spaces that Hoffman has been renting for four years, but he had been thinking about converting the first floor into a retail establishment and neighborhood hangout to make the busy strip of Flushing Avenue more welcoming.

"It’s hard for retail right now but I feel Bushwick needed a hang-out space," said Hoffman. "We’ll wait it out."

Hoffman has spent a year renovating the 25,000 sq. ft. first floor of the building, which will contain 21 individual retail establishments renting between $1500 (for 410 sq. ft.) and $5000 (1460 sq. ft.) per month and includes a film theater space and a large landscaped courtyard for the visiting public. The layout of the space is reminiscent of the Bedford Mini Mall and he has looked to developer Mayer Schwartz for guidance.

"Bushwick is more developed today than Bedford Avenue was 8 years ago and I am in better shape than Mayer was at the time," said Hoffman. "When Mayer bought the place on Bedford Avenue, people said he was crazy.  Now you can’t afford to buy there."

National retail chains such as McDonalds and Strauss Auto approached Hoffman about leasing large swaths of the space, but he rejected their inquiries, instead looking to divide the floor into smaller units for more service-oriented small businesses and start-ups.  When The Loom opens in early July, a hair salon, a t-shirt retailer, a package shipping company, an arts supply store, and a coffee bar will move in to occupy the spaces.  Visitors will find concrete floors, and storefronts bifurcated by walls of glass and steel evoking the former factory’s industrial roots.  The highlight of the space may be the courtyard facing Thames Street, which Hoffman has meticulously outlined with a landscape architect, shipping dozens of crates of shale cobblestones and several trees, even though the area is effectively a public space.

"We want to set this place up as an inviting environment," said Hoffman.  "If you don’t have a job, come use the Internet.  Need a place to chill?  Come chill.  Need to have a meeting?  Come here and sit."

The building, like the company and its owner, occupies two worlds.  Bushburg’s brokers hope to market The Loom as a retail destination where residents and visitors can stop by and hang out, instead of traveling to Williamsburg for basic services.  A recent soft opening on May 16 drew more than a thousand guests who finished fifteen kegs of beer.  Yet the building is bordered by a busy commercial corridor and a garbage disposal unit, and is just steps from Waste Management’s Varick Street headquarters and Boar’s Head Provision’s Rock Street distribution plant. 

Hoffman knows that these businesses are not going anywhere for the long term, but he insists that he isn’t either.  Though he would not disclose the cost for renovating the space — certainly several million dollars — Hoffman has put a lot of effort into making the place feel effortless, just like many Bushwick residents do everyday with their appearance.  Maybe Hoffman, his future tenants, and their customers are not so different after all.

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