The sourdough starter behind the bagels at 81 Fifth Avenue is at least 45 years old. James Caputo remembers his father using it when he was a child. Each batch now takes about two days, with an overnight cold ferment before the dough is rolled by hand, boiled and baked, according to Brooklyn Paper. Caputo Bagels opened on Monday, October 5, near Prospect Place.
Between Prospect Place and Garfield Place, and up to Grand Army Plaza, the businesses that opened in October were nearly all started by people already working on these blocks or one neighborhood over. A Carroll Gardens baker partnered with the restaurateur next door. A Fifth Avenue hospitality group added another dining room. A Cobble Hill franchise team crossed into the Slope. A 129-year-old music school opened a second campus four blocks from its first. Park Slope's north end grew this season by expanding from within.
A Carroll Gardens baker and the restaurant next door
Caputo's Bake Shop closed in Carroll Gardens this spring after 124 years, Brooklyn Paper reported on April 29. Five months later, Caputo was back baking on Fifth Avenue with Rafi Hasid, the founder of 6R Hospitality Group and owner of Miriam and 1803 NYC. Eater describes the shop as a collaboration with Hasid, whose Miriam sits next door.
The two go back more than twenty years. Brooklyn Paper traces it to Hasid's days running Hill Diner on Court Street, when he bought bread wholesale from Caputo's and gave feedback on everything from bread styles to where the sesame seeds went. Caputo told the paper the shop is not meant to recreate the family bakery: "This isn't going to be a traditional New York bagel." The menu has plain, sesame and everything bagels, cream cheeses, smoked salmon, whitefish, open-face and breakfast sandwiches, pastries and a full coffee program. Eater adds that it includes a familiar take on the bakery's famous lard bread.
Across the avenue at 86 Fifth, between Warren Street and St. Marks Place, the Georgian coffee and wine bar Lileo has been open since July 2. That puts a new bakery-café on each side of the street at the very top of Fifth.
Who is behind each new storefront
Head south and the same thing repeats. Each new address in the table has an operator or institution that was already nearby.
| Address | Opened in 2026 | What it is | Existing tie |
|---|---|---|---|
| 86 Fifth Avenue | July 2 | Lileo, Georgian coffee and wine bar | First Georgian spot on this stretch, a few blocks north of Sesilya |
| 81 Fifth Avenue | October 5 | Caputo Bagels | Caputo family bakers with Rafi Hasid of Miriam, next door |
| 147 Fifth Avenue | October 6 | Voodoo Queen, New Orleans-style restaurant | Mil Gustos Hospitality Group, behind Bogota Latin Bistro and Miti Miti |
| One Prospect Park West | October 9 | BKCM Prospect Park West | Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, four blocks from 58 Seventh Avenue |
| 254 Fifth Avenue | October 22 | Sesilya bakery | Second Georgian spot on the stretch, in the former Negril BK space |
| 148 Seventh Avenue | October 24 | 16 Handles, self-serve frozen yogurt | Run by the owners of the Cobble Hill location |
Voodoo Queen, between St. Johns Place and Lincoln Place, comes from co-owners George Constantinou and Farid Ali. Their Mil Gustos Hospitality Group also runs Bogota Latin Bistro, Miti Miti and Medusa the Greek. Park Slope Pulse introduced it as coming "from the team behind Bogota Latin Bistro," and the same issue listed both Bogota Latin Bistro and Miti Miti among the area's Hispanic-owned businesses for Hispanic Heritage Month. The menu has gumbo, fried green tomatoes, shrimp and grits and smoked ribs, along with Big Easy cocktails.
Sesilya, at Carroll Street, opened its bakery on Thursday, October 22, and a full-service restaurant will follow. Co-owner David Kitiashvili partnered with childhood friends from Tbilisi to serve family recipes, boat-shaped khachapuri and Georgian wines, in a dining room Eater describes as nude-toned and wrapped in sleek wood. With Lileo already a few blocks north, Eater wrote that this part of Fifth Avenue is "quickly becoming a top destination for Georgian cuisine."
On Seventh Avenue, 16 Handles opened at number 148 on October 24, run by the owners of the chain's Cobble Hill shop, according to Brooklyn Bridge Parents. It is a short walk from Artesana Home at 154 Seventh Avenue, on the corner of Garfield Place. Owner Roberto Lopez opened that shop in 1998 after two years selling at the Park Slope Flea Market.
The biggest addition sits four blocks from the original
The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music has run its school from 58 Seventh Avenue for 129 years. On October 9 it cut the ribbon on a second campus, BKCM Prospect Park West, at One Prospect Park West near Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn Paper reported. BKCM's own campus page puts the public entrance at 963 President Street. The Seventh Avenue building stays in use as the conservatory's historic campus.
The figures are big for a neighborhood nonprofit. The campus covers 12,500 square feet, with 13 soundproofed studios, a performance hall named for the Joel Foundation and a community space. The whole facility is ADA-accessible and sensory-friendly. The $17.8 million project was funded by the Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund, city, state and federal partners, and dozens of private donors. The building is also the official home of BKCM's Music Therapy Institute, supported by a $2 million grant from The Joel Foundation. According to Brooklyn Paper, BKCM's music therapy program is the largest in New York City, serving more than 3,000 clients at more than 50 sites across the five boroughs.
Construction took just under a year, but Executive Director Chad Cooper told Brooklyn Paper the project had been about eight years in the making. In that time, both the music therapy program and the community music school more than doubled in size. The Brooklyn Eagle credits PBDW Architects with the design. The new space doubles the conservatory's capacity, and all of that growth stays within four blocks of where it started.
The north end's calendar after the barriers came down
Park Slope Open Streets ended its 2026 season on Halloween weekend, so the cars are back on the avenue. These are the dated events on and near the new map through December:
- Every Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket runs year-round at Prospect Park West and Flatbush Avenue, across the plaza from the new conservatory entrance.
- November 12 to 22. The Old Stone House stages the new play Fourth Avenue (Brooklyn) at 8 p.m. on November 12 and 13, 7 p.m. on November 14, 19 and 20, and 2 p.m. on November 15 and 22. Tickets are $23.18.
- Friday, November 13. BKCM's Fall Jazz Jam is in the concert hall at the original 58 Seventh Avenue building.
- Wednesday, November 18, 7 to 8 p.m. Wordsprouts, the Park Slope Food Coop Reading Series, at the Old Stone House.
- Saturday, November 28, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Wreath-making workshops at the Old Stone House.
- Saturday, December 19, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. The Brooklyn Brandenburgers 2026 Family Holiday Concert at the Old Stone House.
At the Central Library on Grand Army Plaza, "Christopher Myers: Unbound" runs through January 15, 2027. Fall in this part of the neighborhood has a short walk at its center, from the Greenmarket stalls and the library steps down Fifth Avenue toward Carroll Street. Caputo Bagels, Lileo, Voodoo Queen and Sesilya's bakery case all sit along that route. For more on the summer weekends that led into this season, see our August look at Park Slope.
The Scott / Robles Team keeps track of which Park Slope storefronts, schools and institutions are expanding block by block, because those changes shape the streets around every brownstone and condo we represent. If you'd like to talk about what the new north-end openings mean for a home near Fifth Avenue or Prospect Park West, our Park Slope team is glad to walk the blocks with you. Contact Us.
