Metro

Eateries in mad dash to Barclays ’hood

MUNCH TIME: Trendy restaurants, including Shake Shack, a Texas-style barbecue joint and a gourmet mac-and-cheese eatery, are grabbing up spots around Barclays Center. (Douglas Healey)

It’s not just about Jay-Z and the Nets.

The much-hyped opening of the new Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn is opening the floodgates to a slew of new high-end eateries, sports bars, apartment towers and retail shops, brokers, developers and officials told The Post.

With rap mogul/Nets co-owner Jay-Z christening the venue with an eight-night concert run starting tonight, Danny Meyer burgers-and-fries joint Shake Shack plans to soon move into prime Flatbush Avenue real estate across the street from the 18,200-seat arena, sources said.

Landlord Michael Pintchik refused to comment on the deal but confirmed two other restaurants were coming to nearby Flatbush Avenue property he owns by Dean Street that should also have foodies salivating.

An eatery called Elbow Room that specializes in gourmet mac-and-cheese dishes is opening a block away.

Moving in next door will be a Texas-style barbecue joint “featuring a top pitmaster from Austin, Texas,” Pintchik said.

More than a dozen other new eateries are also in the works within three square blocks of the arena.

On tap is a high-end Scottish whisky bar called Duke of Montrose that is coming to Fifth Avenue and Bergen Street and will be run by the same owner of the popular Upper East Side pub Caledonia.

“Clearly, this is an incredible opportunity for local and national businesses to explode along Flatbush and Atlantic avenues,” said Carlo Scissura, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

“The area around Barclays Center can certainly grow into New York’s next exciting and innovative business community.”

Meanwhile, many chains — including TGI Friday’s, Dave & Buster’s, Starbucks and Panera Bread — have been shopping for coveted space by the arena, sources said.

Hooter’s is also among the suitors, but local landlords have so far dubbed the “breastaurant” chain a bad mix in the stroller-friendly Park Slope and Prospect Heights neighborhoods that converge at the arena.

The arena opening can’t come fast enough for property owners, who have mostly dished out year-to-year leases or sat on vacant buildings since 2006 when state officials green-lighted the arena and the rest of the planned 22-acre Atlantic Yards project.

Yearly leasing rates on commercial space near Barclays Center ran about $55 to $65 a square foot when the arena broke ground in 2010, but now runs roughly $160 to $200, local brokers and property owners said.

“Every landlord was of the firm belief that the Messiah was coming and [Barclays Center] would drive up property values,” recalled Timothy King, a managing partner at CPEX Real Estate Services.

Among the biggest benefactors is Pintchik, who owns 65 properties within blocks of the arena and runs a century-old, family hardware business on Flatbush Avenue. Pintchik said he plans within the next year to self-finance construction of two, seven-story buildings of rental apartments and ground floor retail on Flatbush Avenue land he owns.

Tracy Moore is among the new restaurateurs “hoping to score big” off the arrival of the Nets, who tip off the regular season at home against the Knicks on Nov. 1. She said she plans next month to open a seafood sports lounge on Vanderbilt Street called, “Fish Fish, Mo Fish,” that’ll “prepare fish anyway you want.”

Meanwhile, the arena is also offering its own street-level retail, and among the tenants are The Nets Shop by Adidas and Rocawear, the hip clothing line founded by Jay-Z.