The owners of the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory in Brooklyn Bridge Park must close their store inside the historic fireboat station at Fulton Ferry Landing by the end of the year, after green-space stewards handed the keys to the property to the folks behind another borough scoop shop, Ample Hills Creamery.
The long-time ice-cream vendor’s exit will make way for the arrival of a larger Brooklyn Bridge Park outpost of the ever-expanding, borough-based Ample Hills, which will ditch the tiny concession stand it currently operates at the other end of the meadow on Pier 5 and set up shop inside the fireboat station.
Green-space leaders chose Ample Hills — which is also in the process of opening a Park Slope outpost, and a massive ice-cream factory in Red Hook — after this summer issuing a request for proposals from vendors interested in moving into the station, according to park bigwig David Lowin. That request came months after city officials handed control of the public space over to meadow keepers last year.
Thompson submitted a proposal to keep his shop operating in the space, but said he was told to make a better offer than what he initially proposed, before ultimately getting the boot.
Ample Hills and the restaurateurs Alex and Miles Pincus, each received 10-year leases with three-year renewal options for their new spaces, according to park reps, who said both operations are set to open by summer 2019.