skyscrapers-downtown-fort-greene-102714

As anyone strolling the streets of Brooklyn might guess from the frenzied pace of building in the borough, commercial real estate in Brooklyn has reached new heights. Institutional investors, big players previously interested only in Manhattan, are now buying and selling in the borough, and the dollar volume of commercial sales in the first six months of this year is nearing the numbers for the entire year of 2013, according to a story in The Real Deal. It’s the “Manhattanization of the investment sales market,” according to a Massey Knakal executive quoted by the paper.

The number of deals increased dramatically in the first six months, with the dollar volume of deals completed equal to $3,400,000,000 — vs. $3,800,000,000 for all of 2013, according to numbers from Massey Knakal quoted in the story. There were 1,086 commercial sales in Brooklyn in the first six months of this year, an increase of 14 percent over the same period in 2013.

Not surprisingly, most of the activity was in Williamsburg, where 31 development sites traded hands in the first six months. But, surprisingly, Bed Stuy was hot on its heels, with 27 sites changing hands. Greenpoint hit third place, and Crown Heights was fourth, with 18 deals.

The average price of a deal was $3,000,000, according to TerraCRG. But there were some big sales above $30,000,000 — TerraCRG estimates 25 or 30 such deals will have closed during the first six months of the year. (In 2011, there were only three deals above $30,000,000.)

The sale of a stake in Atlantic Yards to Greenland and Fort Greene’s 470 Vanderbilt topped the list of the borough’s biggest deals — click through to the story to see the 10 biggest. Sales are still booming, according to sources, but running out of property or new restrictions concerning tax abatements or inclusionary housing could put a damper on the market, said The Real Deal.

One thing developers are not worried about is rising interest rates. “There is still so much money out there. The market will continue. I don’t think there are any clouds on the horizon,” investor Stephen Steiner of Stratus Capital Advisors told the paper.

Commercial Sales Catch the Brooklyn Fever [TRD]


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. My apologies ENY. I just feel that I have been unfairly mis-interpreted by multiple commenters that know each other well. But if a new reader were to re-read the comments, they would have a better, unbiased opinion.

1 2 3 16