Both owners live in the neighborhood, as does Laurent Brunacci, the owner and chef of Pit Stop, who lives with his wife and two children around the corner on Tiffany Place. His French bistro at 127 Columbia has an active petanque court in back along with outdoor seating. "It's like a little village here," said the French-born Mr. Brunacci. "Lots of artists and Europeans; on Sundays it's like a big family picnic."  It's a long way from the Columbia Street of even 10 years ago, when an intrepid shopper might have made an occasional trek to the street for a chicken or duck at one of the live poultry markets.  "Every morning, one of my men had to sweep up the garbage and needles in front of the building," said Ben Van Meerendonk, who has lived in and owned buildings in the neighborhood since 1982.  Mr. Van Meerendonk, who recently retired from his job in Dutch television, was once a record importer and bought a Columbia Street warehouse for storage. "The buildings were just shells and they were so cheap then even I could buy them for all cash," he said. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Columbia Street was a thriving harbor, and even as late as the early 1950's, it was commercially active, with fruit and vegetable pushcart vendors lining Union and Columbia Streets. But after World War II, jobs were lost and residents started to move away, and by the 1950's, the shipping industry moved almost entirely to New Jersey. A planned container port in Red Hook (which eventually did not materialize) caused another exodus, and in 1957, the newly built Brooklyn-Queens Expressway effectively cut of Columbia Street from Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill, its two adjacent neighborhoods.  The neighborhood suffered more retail and residential loss, and during the 1970's Columbia Street almost disappeared completely. The street was torn up for a year for new sewer lines, making it inaccessible to car and foot traffic and causing several buildings to collapse. In the early 1980's, the city declared the area a renewal district, tore down decaying buildings and mandated that new buildings in the neighborhood not exceed three stories.  To the casual visitor today, Columbia Street's beleaguered past would seem almost unbelievable. Three city-owned corner lots are now community gardens, filled with fruit trees, flowers and benches.  Restaurants, starting with Freebird and Pit Stop, are plentiful. Alma, a popular double-decker corner restaurant at 187 Columbia, has a Mexican menu, great drinks, a bar downstairs and on the roof, and an enclosed dining room with a harbor view. Jake's Bar B Que Restaurant, at 189 Columbia, is the source for pulled pork, ribs, brisket and everything that goes with them. Kotobuki, at 192 Columbia, a large, softly lighted room, is the place to go for Japanese food. And Margaret Palca Bakes, at 191 Columbia, was a neighborhood pioneer, a wholesale rugelach baker with a sandwich and soup cafe out front.  Just off Columbia at 122 Union Street, the hip Schnack has one-bite hamburgers and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Two doors away, Bouillabaisse, a transplant from Atlantic Avenue, opened early this spring as a spiffier, larger restaurant serving the same namesake dish. And on the same block, tiny Ferdinando's Focacceria, at 151 Union, is serving Sicilian rice balls, panelli and spleen sandwiches, and has been in business for almost a century.  The restaurant surge will in all likelihood continue. "We'd be delighted to have a restaurant for a tenant," said Beth Kendel, a Corcoran broker and neighborhood resident who, with a partner from her home state of Nebraska, bought a building at 145 Columbia Street for $999,000 a year ago that needs a gut renovation.  "It was a multiple-bid situation," she said. "Apparently there are many people who have as much confidence in Columbia Street as I do."  The 900-square-foot, ground-floor commercial space, which includes a negotiable backyard and basement, is being marketed for $2,500 a month.  The future is likely to bring much more traffic, both from vehicles and people, as Fairway and Ikea open in Red Hook, and the cruise ships unload their passengers, probably beginning next year.  "The neighborhood is concerned about the environmental impact, but on the whole, I think it's a good thing," Mr. Manzione said. "You have to remember, Columbia Street was once the commercial hub for all of South Brooklyn. There's no reason it can't be again."  SQUARE FEET Correction: May 29, 2005, Sunday Because of an editing error, the Square Feet column on May 15, about Columbia Street in Brooklyn, misspelled the name of a neighborhood resident and broker who has bought a building there. She is Beth Kenkel, not Kendel.
Profile of Columbia Street neighborhood on Brooklyn waterfront, which is expected to benefit as cruise lines take over piers; photos (M)