265 Malcolm X Blvd. — Renovated Corner Building With Apartments, Store
A corner building at Malcolm X Boulevard and Macon Street that sat vacant for years has been transformed into seven apartments and commercial space, with a children’s store now open inside the renovated 19th-century structure. The property at 265 Malcolm X Boulevard underwent a major gut renovation before returning to residential and commercial use, capping a saga that included deed-fraud allegations, a church sale, and a court fight over who actually had the right to sell the land.
As reported by Brooklyn Paper, the building was originally known as 265 Reid Avenue and was part of a row of four mixed-use buildings constructed in 1893 by William Bowers, which together included 27 homes and seven commercial spaces. Macon Pharmacy occupied the corner spot from at least 1900, and in the early 20th century the pharmacy also offered photo developing services, according to the outlet’s reporting.
A Church, a Vacant Lot, and Decades of Ownership
By the late 1970s the city had come to control 265 Malcolm X Boulevard, and a church purchased the building at auction in 1978 for $4,200, per the same account. Two years later, that church sold the building to Mission Field Holiness Church for $4,200 in 1980. Next door, 267 Malcolm X Boulevard was then a four-story mixed-use building. Colin Linton purchased it from the city for $2,500 in 1977, then transferred it to Mission Field Church for $1,750 in 1979. Mission Field Church went on to own the building at 265 Malcolm X Boulevard from 1980 and acquired the property at 267 in 1979; the city demolished the structure at 267 in 2003, leaving the lot empty, according to Brooklyn Paper’s reporting…