Real Estate

Could the Sale of This Mammoth Commercial Building Transform Wallabout?

Manhattan-based private real estate firm Westbrook Partners has signed a contract to buy an enormous commercial property south of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Wallabout, in Brooklyn’s Tech Triangle. Westbrook will pay between $160,000,000 and $170,000,000 for the 550,000-square-foot commercial space at 47 Hall Street, according to The Real Deal. An international investment group, Westbrook has bought in Brooklyn before,…

by Hannah Frishberg

11/12/2015 3 minute 0

Manhattan-based private real estate firm Westbrook Partners has signed a contract to buy an enormous commercial property south of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Wallabout, in Brooklyn’s Tech Triangle.

Westbrook will pay between $160,000,000 and $170,000,000 for the 550,000-square-foot commercial space at 47 Hall Street, according to The Real Deal. An international investment group, Westbrook has bought in Brooklyn before, having purchased Brooklyn Heights residential rental and former Jehovah’s Witness property The Standish in 2014.

Map by Reonomy

Previously marketed as a creative space for artists, current tenants pay as low as $6 to $8 a foot, but the sellers have not been renewing leases, as we wrote in September. Buyer Westbrook has been mum on plans, but if it undertakes a renovation, an increase in rents seems likely.

A lack of amenities or public transit in the area may keep rents prices somewhat checked, however. In nearby Dumbo, where amenities and subway service are better, average rents cost roughly $45 per square foot, according to commercial broker Chris Havens of Aptsandlofts.com, which was recently acquired by Citi Habitats.

Office space in Clinton Hill has held out against the surge, with spaces still available for $6 a foot, but in the face of dwindling supply and growing demand for office space it’s unclear how much longer such prices will exist.

Tenant demographics could also change following any revamping of the building. “The building currently houses a smorgasbord of painters, sculptors, photographers, horticulturists, artists craftspeople, small business and established companies,” the property’s website reads.

Members of Brooklyn expanding tech and maker scene may be more realistic tenants if rents increase.