
Nostrand Park beat me to it (and I walked RIGHT by this place this morning, dangit!), but there's a new awing up at 785 Franklin advertising "Veggies: Natural Juice Bar." If you asked me what could stop the Franklin Avenue retail renaissance at this point, I would have to tell you "nothing."
Since I moved here in August 2008, Veggie's is the 16th new storefront to open on Franklin or an immediate side street between Prospect Place and Eastern Parkway (and at least two salons are slated to open soon). The others include, in no particular order: Franklin Park, JamRock Kitchen, Pulp & Bean, Breukelen Coffee House, Lily & Fig, J's Wok (admittedly, they moved from just down the street, but their new place is MUCH nicer), Nairobi's Knapsack, The Pana Store, LaunchPad, Mazon's Discount, A Slice of Brooklyn, Dutch Boy Burger, the dentist next to LaunchPad (the name escapes me at the moment), the MySpaceNYC office across the street, and the Laundromat at Park and Franklin. Two groceries have undergone total renovations in that same span (Nam's and the Franklin Mini Market), as has the J&B Kitchen at Franklin and Sterling, and as far as I know, only three or four places have closed (The Spice is Right, King Accessory, and Homage--which tragically burned down--come to mind).
So much activity in so little time--it's likely the reason that the Franklin Avenue 2-3-4-5 stop was one of the only ones in the area to experience a bump in ridership last year. There's a lot more to say about what this means for the neighborhood's future (Nostrand Park raised the question last week), but I'll leave that to the able commenters (Nat, I'm looking at you!).