Brooklyn is facing a severe shortage of commercial space, forcing corporate giants and hip startups alike – think Chase, Verizon and MakerBot — to look elsewhere.
“We’re in a crisis mode,” said Christopher Havens, a commercial real estate broker with AptsandLofts.com. “Everything’s in shortage, from townhouses on down.”
Brooklyn’s office market is the tightest its been since World War II, with more than 100 tenants in the market in Dumbo, which is already packed with 500-plus tech companies, and Downtown Brooklyn out of space, according to Havens.
The home to Brooklyn’s first Whole Foods, Gowanus is also full, and there are only two vacancies at Atlantic Center, and a mere three at MetroTech, according to Crain’s.
And that means government officials and developers are beginning to turn toward Brooklyn’s more far-flung neighborhoods.
“The greatest economic development challenge for the de Blasio administration, and the most critical, is to look to the east—namely places like East New York, Brownsville—just miles from the booming waterfront, Barclays and the airports, and a place where strong job and workforce development funding and training can put thousands of people to work in their communities,” Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President Carlo Scissura, said. [Crain’s] –Christopher Cameron