Before the real estate market started to weaken back in 2008, Brooklyn Brewery had been desperately (and unsuccessfully) searching for a new place to set up shop in Brooklyn; after two decades on North 11th Street in Williamsburg, commercial rents had crept up to $30 a year, more than three times what the brewery was paying and well beyond the reach for most manufacturing businesses. Now, however, thanks to the weakening market which has reduced the competition from other uses like hotels, bowling alleys and upscale markets, and a $800,000 grant from the state, Brooklyn Brewery has managed to negotiate a new lease that will let the beer maker stay put for another five years. When the recession hit in, like, August or September last year, all of a sudden the landlords here in Williamsburg were looking much more favorably on us as a long-term tenant, Brooklyn Brewery’s founder Steve Hindy told The New York Times.
Soft Real Estate Market Is a Key Ingredient at Brooklyn Brewery [NY Times]
Photo by wallyg