According to the Real Deal, the 10 priciest condominium projects in the outer boroughs last year were all in Brooklyn and Queens. Their total sellout target of $1.1 billion was on par with top-10 tallies from 2022 and 2021, and well shy of the $2 billion mark of pre-pandemic 2019. Brooklyn and Queens, with more land and lower costs, can likely expect robust condo development in the years ahead as a tax break for rentals has expired. Projects in the outer boroughs provide an entry point to homeownership in the city, although that isn’t keeping developers from pushing up the quality and price of for-purchase apartments beyond Manhattan.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn is no longer the cool office market it once was. Instead of attracting startups like Vice or WeWork, the borough is inking leases with far less glitzy government agencies such as New York City’s Human Resources Administration. City agencies are likely attracted to the cheaper rents offered in the outer boroughs. Brooklyn’s office buildings constructed post-2000 average a price per square foot of $64.76, according to Colliers. That’s a nearly 16 percent discount compared to Lower Manhattan property, a nearly 25 percent discount to Midtown, and a nearly 52 percent discount to Midtown South.
Jed Walentas. Photo courtesy of the Walentas Family Foundation
Around Kings County
Jed Walentas on Taking Over for Douglas Durst as REBNY Chair
Two Trees’ Jed Walentas brings what he calls ‘relentless incrementalism’ to the REBNY chairmanship at an auspicious time for the group and its industry. Sure, there won’t be a pandemic on his watch (hopefully) and the commercial real estate market appears to be stabilizing. In fact, the entire national economy seems to be on a durable mend. But Jed Walentas still takes over REBNY’s chairmanship from Douglas Durst at an auspicious time. There’s that aforementioned economic recovery — still a bit tenuous and largely dependent on the actions of the Federal Reserve Board. There’s also a historic immigration crisis in New York City. And myriad issues confronting the industry such as a lack of a 421a-like development incentive for apartments.
Superstructure Rising At 71 Prince Street In Downtown Brooklyn
YIMBY spotted construction at 71 Prince Street, a 31-story residential complex in Downtown Brooklyn. Designed by Aufgang Architects and developed by Maddd Equities, the project is expected to yield 436,600 square feet with 465 rental units, 4,000 square feet of retail space, and 40 to 50 enclosed parking spots. Brooklyn Red Sauce LLC is listed as the owner and Joy Construction Corp. is the general contractor for the property. Construction is expected to cost $132 million.
FedEx Makes Huge Industrial Real Estate Purchase in Sunset Park
FedEx has purchased a massive distribution center in Sunset Park for almost $250 million, property records show. The international shipping giant is the new owner of an 18-acre property at the mouth of the Gowanus Canal, addressed at 75 20th St. It spent $248 million to buy the site from Bridge Industrial, an industrial real estate firm with offices across the country and in London that bought the Sunset Park property in early 2019 for about $214 million in partnership with developer Dov Hertz.
Newlab CEO Cameron Lawrence On What’s New at the Tech Accelerator
The Brooklyn Navy Yard incubator is also a growing investor in proptech and other technologies. If an incubator, accelerator and investment platform boasting more than 200 tech startups can be said to operate under the radar, the Brooklyn Navy Yard-based Newlab might fit the description.
In August 2023, Cameron “Cam” Lawrence was brought on to be the COO of Newlab. However, his extensive entrepreneurial experience and stated desire to combat global warming through technological development quickly advanced him to the organization’s CEO role.
Brooklyn Funeral Home seeks Reincarnation as Housing
Longtime owner needs city’s permission to build 200K sf in Bensonhurst. The longtime owner of a Bensonhurst funeral home hopes to breathe new life into his property by constructing a 200,000-square-foot apartment building. Edward Sparacio, president of the Dahill Funeral Home, is seeking city approval for a 13-story multifamily project that would yield 155 new apartments, as well as 23,000 square feet of commercial space and a 36,000-square-foot medical office at 2525 65th Street. The city would need to rezone the property, a triangular lot where 65th Street comes to a point with Avenue P and McDonald Avenue, from manufacturing to residential.
Demolition Underway For Brooklyn Clean Energy Hub In Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn
Demolition is underway on the Hudson Avenue Generating Station, the site of Con Edison’s Brooklyn Clean Energy Hub in Vinegar Hill. Dubbed “The Hub,” the transmission substation will be capable of powering around 750,000 homes with up to 1,500 megawatts of electricity from offshore wind power. ConEdison designed the new structure to allow for future expandability, with a maximum processing capacity of 6,000 megawatts.
Meyer Chetrit seeks Arrest Warrant for Yoel Goldman
Chetrit alleges Goldman has failed to hand over any documents in lawsuit. Meyer Chetrit’s battle against former Brooklyn mega landlord Yoel Goldman has been turned up a notch. Chetrit is calling on a New York county sheriff to find and arrest Goldman for failing to comply with a subpoena. Chetrit claims Goldman has tried to delay his efforts to collect on judgment for years. The dispute dates back to 2019. Goldman signed a confession of judgment in which he admitted to owing Chetrit close to $20 million.
Construction Progresses On 51 Ash Street In Greenpoint
Construction is progressing on 51 Ash Street, a five-story mixed-use hotel in Greenpoint. Designed by Jeffrey Kamen Architect and developed by a non-profit organization formerly known as the North Brooklyn Boat Club, the 60-foot-tall structure will span 18,106 square feet and yield 11 hotel rooms spread across 9,856 square feet, as well as an 8,250-square-foot community facility for the North Brooklyn Community Boathouse (NBCB), a non-profit volunteer-run organization providing boating access to NYC waterways.. Brooklyn Construction Group is the general contractor for the project, which is located on a narrow strip of land along Ash Street between Newtown Creek and the Pulaski Bridge.
In Florida, Affordable Housing Joins Luxury Complexes
Owner of Bal Harbour Shops plans about 240 workforce housing units under state’s Live Local Act. Bal Harbour Shops in Miami-Dade County, a premier luxury mall featuring swanky brands such as Chanel, Gucci and Tiffany, is getting into the affordable-housing business. Whitman Family Development, the shopping center’s owner, filed plans with the city on Tuesday to build a roughly 20-story luxury hotel and three residential towers with 600 units within the complex. One building with about 240 units will be reserved for workforce housing, as part of Florida’s new housing law known as the Live Local Act.
That legislation, which went into effect last year, is meant to motivate developers to build more affordable housing. It offers developers tax breaks and allows them to bypass certain local zoning rules if enough workforce housing is built. Middle-income renters who earn 120% of an area’s median income or less are eligible.
► 46 NYC Office Buildings Could Convert to Apartments under City’s New Plan
A program to jumpstart the conversion of old New York City office buildings into residential space is up and running, and a total of 46 buildings are enrolled in NYC’s Office Conversion Accelerator, which kicked off in August. Four have already begun the conversion process, and are expected to create more than 2,100 housing units, a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams’ administration tells Axios exclusively. Read more.
► How Tax Incentives Broke the Housing Deadlock in NYC (1960)
In the 1920s, booming immigration and lackluster construction had New York City in the throes of a dire housing shortage. The State legislature responded by launching a tax incentive for new housing. Half a decade later, after the biggest building boom in the city’s history, the shortage was gone. In the aftermath of World War I, New York City was experiencing historically rapid population growth, driven by immigration and urbanization, coupled with a lack of construction. The result was an acute shortage of housing, with unaffordable rents, overcrowding, and other ills. Today, the challenges the city faces are in many ways similar. Between 2010 and 2020, the city added more residents than in any decade since the 1920s. The supply of new housing has not kept up with increasing demand. Read more.
► Fate of Lucrative Housing Tax Break up to Empowered State Legislature
Kathy Hochul and Eric Adams support the tax break but clearing the finish line will prove a big hurdle. New York City has gone 18 months without a lucrative tax break considered essential to residential development, just as it struggles with a severe housing crunch. But one week into the state’s annual legislative session, it’s clear reviving the program remains an uphill battle. Read more.
► Opinion: Strengthen the Housing Credit to Fight New York’s Affordability Crisis
“With rents on the rise and housing in short supply, this is one of the nation’s most effective weapons in the fight against a crisis that remains stubbornly severe.” Our country is long overdue for meaningful federal action to address the affordable housing crisis, which is hitting New York hard. Though Congress can’t agree on much, our congressional leaders in New York have an opportunity to advance bipartisan legislation that would have an outsized impact for our city and state. The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2023, which currently has 200 bipartisan co-sponsors in the U.S. House and 30 in the Senate, would strengthen the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit) at a time when the need is more urgent than ever. Read more.
► ‘The Social Contract Has Been Completely Ruptured”: Ireland’s Housing Crisis
Soaring rents have left many struggling to afford homes in Dublin and have created a generational divide. Two-thirds of younger adults in the city live with their parents. Before sunrise each day, Aoife Diver, a teacher in Dublin, gets into her car and drives for up to 90 minutes from her uncle’s house to the opposite side of the Irish capital. After school, it is back in the car for the reverse commute. On a recent evening, Ms. Diver, 25, sat in stop-and-go traffic, the red of the brake lights in front glowing through the windshield, as dusk turned to darkness. It was not always like this. She used to share a house with five friends close to the school where she works in South Dublin. But when her rent and bills reached almost half of her monthly salary last year, she knew she had to move back in with family. Read more.
► To Ease Housing Crunch, Theme Parks Are Becoming Homebuilders
Orlando, Florida, is on the front line of an industry trend as major employers like Universal and Disney look to close the area’s workforce housing gap. For visitors, Universal Studios Florida offers a chance to visit a fantastical land full of wizards, Minions and various characters from NBC Universal’s many film and television properties. But for the roughly 28,000 men and women who work at the 840-acre theme park and resort complex in Orlando, the troubles of the real world — like the rising cost of housing — are not far away. Read more.
SUNSET PARK — “As a resident of Marine Park, one of the great surprises I found biking around Industry City and visiting Japan Village was to discover Bush Terminal Park. I continue to be amazed at the serene hideaways that the city offers in some of the busiest places — and, still, with an iconic view.”
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — ‘A miracle that no one was killed …’ That’s what neighbors are saying about the collapse of the Hotel St. George marquee. Shown in this photograph are workmen beginning the removal and repair of the historic, old neon sign at the corner, referencing a relic of Brooklyn Heights’ past: the St. George Hotel.
ATLANTIC AVENUE — Exhausted shopper with cluster of bags and goods from mall at Boerum Place stops to look at huge construction site across the street. “Is that REALLY going to be a jail??” Her male companion is reassuring, “Nothing like Rikers … this is 21st Century.”
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Overheard in line at one of most popular pastry outlets on Montague Street: “Hope I can get them into a camp …” A mother with two pre-schoolers in tow was showing a friend the Dodge Y flyer for Healthy Kids Day on Saturday, April 18.
