From left: Forest City Ratner’s 1 Pierrepont Plaza, 2 Metro Tech and 6 Metro Tech

From the April issue: The Manhattan office leasing market is thriving compared to most major cities in the country, but just a short subway ride away in Brooklyn, the market conditions are vastly different. The office market in Downtown Brooklyn was once going strong with a full slate of long-term leases, and a roster of financial firms like Bear Stearns & Company, which were locating back offices there to flee expensive Manhattan rents. [more]

From left: Avalon Fort Greene, Brooklyner, DKLB BKLN and the Oro

The Department of City Planning is about to park some good news upon Downtown Brooklyn developers.

The Brooklyn Paper reported that a new City Planning proposal would reduce the number of parking spaces required in residential developments in Downtown Brooklyn and completely eliminate the mandate from below-market-rate buildings. The proposal will be presented within a few months. [more]

333 Schermerhorn rendering

Within two square miles in Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene, 7,362 new residential units are slated for construction, a columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle said, meaning the neighborhood may be set for an invasion of between 15,000 and 20,000 new residents.

New developments include the Hub, a 52-story residential rental tower to be built at 333 Schermerhorn Street by the Steiner Brothers. The developer plans to break ground on the project early next year. [more]

From left: 16 Court Street, 75 Livingston Street and 191 Joralemon Street

Despite strong Real Estate Board of New York opposition, the City Council’s Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting and Maritimes Uses voted today to uphold the Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District proposed for Brooklyn, the New York Times reported.

The designation had been the source of controversy for more than a year, and especially after the Landmarks Preservation Commission first moved to protect the five-block, 21-building area along Court Street last September. [more]

The City Council will hold a hearing on the proposal to institute a new landmark district for Downtown Brooklyn tomorrow and could vote to modify or disapprove the designation, the Wall Street Journal reported. The upcoming hearing has prompted New York City’s real-estate industry to intensify its efforts to stop the landmark designation, which, it claims, will result in nearly $5 million in additional costs for property owners over the next few years.

As The Real Deal previously reported, the creation of the district would mean a spate of newly-landmarked buildings, including the Franklin Building at 186 Remsen Street, which was completed in 1887, the 13-story Temple Bar Building at 44 Court Street and a 22-story limestone, granite and brick Colonial Revival style building at 32 Court Street. [more]

The yet-to-be-completed, 19-story, 128-guestroom hotel at 231 Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn was introduced as Hotel 718 today and is set to open in November, Brownstoner reported. The building was constructed by V3 Hotels, which has had a hand in construction at three other hotels along Duffield Street, including the Aloft Brooklyn, which is just across the street at 228 Duffield and is scheduled to open this month. “As Brooklyn continues to become a major travel destination, we have to provide urban adventurers with an opportunity to stay at hotels that fit their lifestyles and desires,” Daniel Reznik, operations director for V3 Hotels said in a statement.

The $25 milllion Hotel 718, designed by Thomas O’Hara and managed by Benchmark Hospitality International, will feature rooms hooked up with the latest technology, spa service, fitness center and 75-seat restaurant and bar. [Brownstoner]
[more]

City Point rendering and Aaron Malinsky

Less than two weeks after being fired from the Brooklyn Navy Yard project, Aaron Malinsky was removed from the City Point project in Downtown Brooklyn that was to include the construction of the tallest building in Brooklyn, according to the New York Post.

Malinsky allegedly directed nearly $500,000 in bribes to Brooklyn State Senator Carl Kruger in exchange for his official help with real estate ventures throughout the borough. Yesterday, The Real Deal reported that Malinsky would “vigorously contest” the allegations. [more]

From left: a map of the NYU proposal, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and NYU President John Sexton (click image for larger version of the map)

After last night’s open house unveiling of New York University’s 2031 expansion plan, critics are still reeling.
The school’s latest plans, which include building two so-called “superblocks” in the Washington Square Park neighborhood and possibly establishing a remote academic center on Governors Island, drew a glut of opposition from groups including the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the East Village Community Coalition and the Washington Square Village Tenants Association, which all attended the open house.
Prior to the event yesterday, the sixth of its kind that the school has hosted, Andrew Berman, executive director for the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, held a press conference to speak out against NYU’s plans.
But he’s not stopping there. [more]

After taking cover at One Hanson Place this winter, the Brooklyn Flea will stay in the Downtown Brooklyn location on Sundays starting in April, according to the New York Times. With the news comes word that several eateries, including dumpling shop the Good Fork, pork sandwich maker Porchetta and Brooklyn Soda Works, will be joining the cast of characters. The flea will still operate its Fort Greene location on Saturdays.

From left: the weighted average asking rent and vacancy for office space in Downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City. Click charts for larger version. (source: Newmark Knight Frank)

While commercial real estate struggles to stay afloat in Manhattan and across the country, two of New York City’s up-and-coming neighborhoods saw their office markets improve in the fourth quarter of 2009. In both Long Island City and Downtown Brooklyn, declining vacancy rates and positive net absorption at the end of last year were bright spots for office building owners, according to office market reports from Newmark Knight Frank. Long Island City saw 15,550 square feet of office space removed from the market during the fourth quarter, bringing the total absorbed space during the year to 124,928 square feet. Meanwhile, in Downtown Brooklyn, net absorption for the year was negative with 33,523 square feet coming back on the market, but the fourth quarter saw 165,848 square feet absorbed, indicating a bounce-back. TRD [more]