Commercial Redevelopment Booming Downtown

Downtown Brooklyn is booming. That’s the message from Michael Burke, director of the Downtown Brooklyn Council, and the numbers seem to back him up. The borough’s six million square feet of Class A office space had a vacancy rate of only 6.8 percent last quarter; Fulton Mall retail space is commanding $200 a foot rents; and more and more people are choosing to live downtown as well. Spurred by the rezoning that went into effect in July 2004, development plans reflect this momentum and optimism: 2,000 new units of housing, 4.5 million square feet of office space and 900,000 square feet of retailing space are in the pipeline at various stages. The centerpiece of the redevelopment is the 60-story, 1.2-million-square-foot Thor Tower which will anchor the larger commercial core called Willoughby Square. Answering a question we raised last week about Downtown Brooklyn’s ability to attract higher-end professional tenants, Cushman & Wakefield’s Glenn Markman says, “The next wave of commercial activity is going to be a different type of tenant from the usual back office. It’s going to be publishing companies, media firms and entertainment companies that recognize that their labor pool lives in Brooklyn now.” Makes sense to us.
Towers Grow in Downtown Brooklyn [NY Times]