Red Hook BJ's May Be Part of Big Shopping Mall

The Brooklyn Paper has learned that a proposed BJ's in Red Hook would be part of a much larger project than originally believed. Documents obtained by the paper reveal that developer Joe Sitt wants to renovate a historic warehouse on the site of the now-demolished Revere sugar refinery and make the BJ's part of a six story shopping mall, Red Hook's first. Traffic-hating locals will surely find the proposal hard to swallow, but the real worry here is the proliferation of Brooklyn Paper headlines like these: "Hookers to get BJ’s in a mall." Sitt's plan, which he's been quietly passing around to solicit bids from architects, calls for a waterfront esplanade, some residential units, several new buildings for shopping, and plenty of free parking, all right next to IKEA. Watch your back, Paramus!