Owner of Brooklyn Spice Taking Over Former Queens Brewery in Ridgewood

He who controls the spice controls 15-39 Covert Street.

Evan Hoffman, the owner of Brooklyn Spice, may not be riding in on a giant sandworm like in “Dune,” but he is setting up shop in the Ridgewood, Queens, warehouse once occupied by Queens Brewery. Hoffman said he would use the space for another business but declined to clarify what it is.

Hoffman signed a seven-year lease, with an option to extend for three years, for 10,000 square feet in part of landlord Abe Franczoz’s building on the border of Brooklyn and Queens, according to Franczoz’s brokers M2 CRE. Asking rent was $24 per square foot.

Franczoz was courted by new ventures like restaurants and a pickleball court, but the landlord wanted a tenant with a long-term track record.

“[The tenant] had an existing business and was successful,” Max Lu of M2 CRE, who represented the landlord with Jamie Pelletier, told Commercial Observer. “Brooklyn Spice Company seems to be one of the main distributors of spice in the area.” 

Hoffmans’ other business, Brooklyn Spice, is currently located less than four blocks away at 294 Cooper Street, which Jacques Wadler and Vincent Lopez of Knickerbocker Realty Group arranged for the tenant eight years ago in addition to the latest deal.

Franczoz acquired 15-39 Covert Street in 2013 for about $4 million, according to property records.

Queens Brewery took over the warehouse in 2015 and eventually opened a taproom in 2018. However, Lu said the brewery eventually “stopped paying rent” and shuttered sometime last year.

The deal was first reported by the Instagram page Traded NY.

Update: This story has been updated to clarify that Evan Hoffman, owner of Brooklyn Spice, signed a lease for the warehouse.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.