A couple of articles this morning highlight the successful starts that some of the new rental buildings in Downtown Brooklyn are off to. First off, The Brooklyn Eagle reports that the Avalon Fort Greene, a 631-unit building at the corner of Flatbush and Myrtle Avenues, has rented 176 apartments since September, more than 100 of which are already occupied. Phil Wharton, VP at developer AvalonBay, sums up the rationale for the project’s location: In our minds, the transportation is excellent, the employment base is extensive, between 50,000 and 60,000, the nearby student population (and its faculty members) are significant, and there’s a connection with some great neighborhoods, like DUMBO, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene, which has a great community feel to it. A couple of blocks away at 111 Lawrence Street, 90 out of a total 491 units at The Brooklyner have been rented since marketing began at the end of last year; studios at the building, Brooklyn’s tallest, start at $1,450. The marketing agent for the 512-unit BKLYN GOLD on Gold and Tillary Streets doesn’t cough up the number of rented apartments, saying only that they’ve “had a tremendous response.” As you may recall, we guesstimated and crowd-sourced the news that 80 Dekalb is more than 25% rented. In all, according to the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, there should be 5,000 new units on line by the end of next year. There’s even some good news in the Downtown condo market: The Oro has signed 37 new contracts since slashing prices in the autumn; 145 out of 303 units are now sold or in contract.
New Buildings Coming On Strongt [NY Post]
Avalon Fort Greene Rental Apartments Take Off [Brooklyn Eagle]