Commercial Klutch: July Edition

Today our anonymous embedded columnist delivers the second installment in his (or is it her?) now-monthly report on the state of commercial real estate in Brooklyn...Downtown Brooklyn & DUMBO office leasing is heading south. A veteran Downtown landlord broker privately bemoans slower business. Asking prices at 16 Court were cut 10% in April and the building made a $36 deal for a prime space. Three very good 5,000-RSF (rentable-square-foot) spaces are sitting on the market– 32 Court, 177 Livingston and 31 Washington Street. Two Trees lost a $23 deal on a primo corner space facing the Bridges at 20 Jay, # 820 (above). Morgan Stanley is putting 225,000 square feet of their space at One Pierrepont Plaza on the sublease market and everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop – Bear Stearns’ 290,000 square feet at One MetroTech. Although CUNY has a 200,000-square-foot office lease working, and another huge government tenant is also negotiating space, the market is not at all where our experts thought it would be this summer. If the worst-case scenario finance job predictions now being made come true, will there be any financial services tenants left in Downtown Brooklyn?

At least the small tenant market is still vibrant. And tiny tenants are the rage – shared office space desk rental facilities are popping up in DUMBO, Downtown Brooklyn and Gowanus. Designed funky Brooklyn style, they charge $300 to $500 for a cube or an open desk, serving the one-person company wanting out of their home offices. May these budding tenants grow to take real space soon!

Feed me – Brooklyn’s densest concentration of food is the Downtown Brooklyn area. Morton’s Steakhouse is now under construction for a fall opening. With the laid back California–paced Trader Joe’s now moving ahead well, we must ask when the heck will Amy Ruth’s fire up?

Trend to fancy fills the area’s boogie gap. Clover Club, Kai Sushi, Morton’s, Jake’s Walk, and finally a nice Chinese sit-down (Szechuan, on Smith). Why eat trout when you can have oysters and champagne.

Atlantic Avenue noise - all this talk about the new apartment building next to Trader Joe’s begs the question – which elected official said he’d support one more story on the building and then changed his mind at the last minute?
Commercial Klutch: Downtown & Dumbo Edition [Brownstoner]

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"Morgan Stanley is putting 225,000 square feet of their One Pierrepont space on the sublease market"

I'm sure this is big news at the residential building One Pierrepont.

Posted by: guest at July 8, 2008 11:47 AM

One Pierrepont Plaza is a commerical name for 135 Pierrepont Street, the large office buildng buildng in 1987 at the corner of Cadman Plaza West and Pierrepont.

Posted by: guest at July 8, 2008 11:59 AM

"One Pierrepont Plaza," not One Pierrepont Street. As they told us as children, "reading is fundamental."

Posted by: guest at July 8, 2008 12:02 PM

Hey -- where are those shared office spaces? I'd be very interested in renting a cheap office or even just a desk in DUMBO, downtown, BH, or even as far out as Park Slope. Needs: light, computer hook up, reasonably pleasant aesthetics, desk and chair.

Posted by: guest at July 8, 2008 2:15 PM

"Brooklyn’s densest concentration of food is the Downtown Brooklyn area."

Really, more so than 5th Ave?

Posted by: guest at July 8, 2008 2:18 PM

2:18 They forgot to say "bad/fast" food....

Posted by: guest at July 8, 2008 4:08 PM

2:15, Craigslist has a lot of those shared office spaces listed all the time.

Posted by: guest at July 8, 2008 5:58 PM

Bear Stearns already took down its One MetroTech sign and JPMorgan put theirs up: http://brooklynpaper.com/stories/31/26/31_26_bearish_on_metrotech.html

Posted by: guest at July 8, 2008 11:04 PM

The first two pieces in your series are very good. Keep up the good work.

As for rents in MetroTech, #5 has electric heat. JP Morgan in trying to sublease its space there, but the operating expenses are way above the norm due to the electric heat. It's sure not going to attract a green tenant.

Posted by: guest at July 9, 2008 9:41 AM

2:15 There are shared spaces at Greendesk in DUMBO, GreenSpacesNY in Downtown BK, and Kwik-desk in Gowanus.
You're exactly the kind of tenant they're looking for.

Posted by: KHuebbe at July 9, 2008 2:45 PM

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July 8, 2008

Commercial Klutch: July Edition

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