Is Bushwick poised for a retail transformation?

Bushwick’s reign as a hot residential neighborhood among the beard and Ray-Bans submarket continues to hold strong, but an influx of higher-income residents flooding in could force a major change on the neighborhood’s retail landscape.

The entrepreneurs with art galleries, bars, boutiques and restaurants that have survived the last eight or so years on shoestring budgets and cheap leases could be at risk when their lease terms run up.

Retail rental rates have remained steady, averaging an annual $35 to $64 a square foot along sections of Wyckoff and Knickerbocker avenues, Timothy King, managing partner at CPEX Real Estate, told the Wall Street Journal. But they’re poised to rise as demographics shift, he said.

“I think you’re going to see Knickerbocker rise the soonest and fastest,” King said. “Over time you’re going to see redevelopment that more closely reflects the character of the neighborhood and serves the needs of the residents.”

That could be happening sooner than later for the industrial, art-centric, hipster neighborhood.

In 2017, Denver-based Seasoned Development will open Punch Bowl Social, a 20,000-square-foot bowling alley, bar and gastro diner at 199 Starr Street. Riverside Developers proposed a nine-story, 140-key hotel at 27 Stewart Avenue. [WSJ] — Dusica Sue Malesevic