US News

B’KLYN IS MAKING CHAIN-GE

Flapjacks are selling like, well, hotcakes in Brooklyn.

An International House of Pancakes that opened in Downtown Brooklyn in December is already ranked top in sales among the breakfast-focused chain’s 1,300 stores, the company says.

And the Livingston Street location’s success has spearheaded plans to bring three more IHOPs to Brooklyn.

But its not just the shortcake pancakes or “Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity” breakfast that has Brooklyn hopping – the borough is fast becoming a haven for big national retailers.

Nearby in Albee Square, Target is planning to open a new store, just blocks away from its massive Atlantic Terminal Mall outpost. The existing Fort Greene store is perennially among Target’s top five most profitable in the 1,500-store chain, officials say.

After years of Brooklyn being snubbed, national names like Apple, JC Penney and Nordstrom are now taking notice, sources say.

“It seems like there’s no recession in Brooklyn,” said Dave Cox, owner of the new IHOP, who plans to open in Bed-Stuy, East New York and Williamsburg.

Borough President Marty Markowitz welcomes the new restaurants but is red-faced over Brooklyn – with all its tech-savvy dwellers – not already having an Apple store.

He said he’s negotiating with the computer chain for potential locations in the planned City Point building at Albee Square, the old Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower in Fort Greene, and the lower level of the Municipal Building on Joralemon Street.

With project plans to build more than 14,000 new residential units in the downtown area by 2012, Chan said more home-furnishing and clothing chains are targeting the area.

Not to mention Red Hook, where Ikea is expected this summer to open its largest store – a 360,000-square-foot waterfront space that company analysts predict will be the chain’s most successful in the United States. The store would be located just blocks away from a successful Fairway supermarket, which opened last year.

But not everyone is enamored with the new face of Downtown Brooklyn.

Randy Leigh, a board member for Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, said more than 100 small businesses – particularly ones catering to minorities – have been pushed out in the past year so that developers can become richer.

“You can go anywhere to shop at a big chain store – people come to Downtown Brooklyn for Downtown Brooklyn and its uniqueness,” he said.

rich.calder@nypost.com