December 30, 2019
Last of the Neighborhood Flea Markets Closed December 28th
A decade ago, NoMad was covered with flea markets on the weekends. Curious shoppers from the casual tourist to the most discerning shopkeepers scoured one market after another on Saturdays and Sundays finding very special treasures, the likes of which can only show up in a New York City flea market.
The markets also provided a nice weekend income for parking lots, which were busy during the week but vacant on weekends. Slowly these lots closed as investors were willing to pay more and more for hard-to-find development sites.
Certainly one of the most treasured flea markets was on the north side of 25th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue. Its vendors always had exceptional pieces—if you arrived early enough, and it was the sole remaining market for several years now. It marks the end of an era and the disappearance of yet another dimension that has made New York so interesting to so many different types of people in the past.
The New York Post, WQXR and the website Gotham to Go are reporting this last of the flea markets closed on Saturday, December 28th, with the operators noting that they had lost their lease.
There may be many reasons for the loss of this lease, but owner Alan Boss said “I was told in no uncertain terms we don’t want a flea market there.” Boss said he even offered landlord Larry Lipman more money, but was refused.
According to The New York Post, the “property is owned by an LLC of which billionaire real estate developer Lawrence Friedland is principal. He could not be reached for comment.” Jon Levine and Melissa Klein have an extensive story on the closing here
It does make one wonder what plans there are for this site, although nothing has been announced yet.