Commercial Real Estate: South Brooklyn–Ripe with potential by Michael Weiser

Michael Weiser, GFI Realty Services, Inc.

As has been well documented, Brooklyn is in the midst of an unprecedented resurgence. After seeing its population decline in the latter half of the 20^th Century, Brooklyn has regained its prominence in recent years, as residents and businesses alike flock to the city’s most populous borough.

There is a perception that this revitalization is limited to Brooklyn’s northern areas. And while the borough’s strength is most apparent in neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Dumbo, one would be remiss to overlook the burgeoning areas south of Atlantic Ave.

As other Brooklyn neighborhoods have seen vacancy rates dip due to the borough’s allure to technology and creative companies, investors have begun turning to Gowanus and Red Hook, eager to convert industrial properties into new office and residential developments.

In neighboring Sunset Park, the theme is even more pronounced. Industry City, which consists of more than 6 million s/f of industrial space, is currently being re-envisioned as a megaproject that includes light manufacturing, retail and office space.

A major part of Brooklyn’s potential is its abundance of warehouses and industrial plants–properties that are ripe for conversion to co-working style offices that are in great demand among creative firms. With the borough’s growing housing stock and significant development pipeline, Brooklyn offers something Manhattan cannot: offices that foster collaboration in areas where people want to live. And while Bushwick and Williamsburg are getting most of the press, many areas in South Brooklyn provide identical benefits.

Please read more about the current Brooklyn marketplace in GFI’s Q1 2016 Research Report  on our website, www.gficap.com.

Michael Weiser is the president of GFI Realty Services, LLC, New York, N.Y.