From left at the Brooklyn Real Estate Summit: Tim King of CPEX, Joe Chan of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Michael Phillips of Jamestown; Michael Zazza of the Zazza Development Group and Susan Pollock of CPC Resources

Though the price disparity in their residential markets may be narrowing,
Brooklyn still lags far behind Manhattan in the number of big national
retailers. That was a major discussion point at the 2011 Brooklyn Real
Estate Summit held yesterday at St. Francis College in Downtown
Brooklyn. Not coincidentally, commercial real estate veterans pointed
to the very neighborhood where the conference took place, Downtown
Brooklyn, as crucial to landing those retailers.

“Brooklyn is too spread out to achieve national retailers in every business
district in the borough,” said Michael Phillips, managing director at
real estate investor Jamestown, which has stakes in Be@Schermerhorn in Downtown Brooklyn and four Manhattan buildings. But, by trumpeting Downtown Brooklyn, where retail traffic is already evident, Brooklyn
can lure the big-box national retailer willing to be a pioneer. [more]

Jamestown Properties presented its plan to add 300,000 square feet on top of the Chelsea Market at a community board meting last night, according to Curbed. The scheme includes a nearly 250,000-square-foot office space addition on 10th Avenue side above the High Line and a 90,000-square-foot hotel on the Ninth Avenue side. As part of the deal, Jamestown will have to contribute more than $16 million into the High Line Improvement fund and would build public restrooms and an event space for the popular attraction. [more]

Jamestown Properties is buying out its partners in the Chelsea Market for more than $225 million and planning to add a 300,000-square-foot tower atop the retail and office hotspot, which takes up the block between 10th and 11th avenues and 15th and 16th streets. According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal, with Angelo, Gordon & Co., Belvedere Capital and original Chelsea Market developer Irwin Cohen, values the property at around $800 million. Cohen paid less than $10 million for the former run-down industrial building in the early 1990s. [more]

Google has closed on 111 Eighth Avenue, according to sellers Taconic Investment Partners and Jamestown Properties. Although the sellers declined to comment on the closing price, a source with knowledge of the deal told The Real Deal that the previously reported figure of $1.77 billion was accurate. Google paid all-cash for the 2.9 million-square-foot Chelsea building, located between 15th and 16th streets, where it will occupy about 550,000 square feet. TRD

The Downtown Brooklyn condo slashes prices in wake of mortgage buy-out

A model unit at be@schermerhorn

A year-and-a-half behind schedule, Downtown Brooklyn’s long-awaited be@schermerhorn condominium is launching its third attempt at selling out the building, armed with slashed pri [more]

The Dillon, SDS Procida Development Group’s 83-unit condo at 425 West 53rd Street, between Ninth and 10th avenues, officially opens for sales this week, with occupancy slated for next month. Meanwhile, the city celebrated hitting the 100,000 milestone for affordable housing units created or preserved since 2003, and Meltzer/Mandl was tapped to design Westrock Development’s planned affordable housing rental development at 920 Westchester Avenue in the Bronx’s Hunts Point neighborhood. SDS Procida Development Group has also sold out and closed all apartments in its be@william condominium at 90 William Street in the Financial District. Click here for more. TRD [more]

Fred Harris, vice president at AvalonBay Communities, which is constructing its first Brooklyn project, a 631-unit tower on Gold Street in Fort Greene.

From the March issue: A handful of major real estate management and development firms that have long avoided Brooklyn — even as housing prices in the borough shot up and brokerages rushed in — are finally venturing across the river.

The reasons are twofold. First, new high-rise, high-end construction in Brooklyn fits their business model. And second, values of these new Brooklyn buildings appear to have tumbled further and faster than their Manhattan counterparts, according to brokers and developers. “Developers are looking for opportunities, 100 percent,” said David Maundrell, a Dumbo resident and the president of aptsandlofts.com, a brokerage with a Brooklyn focus. “But they are willing to do that because there is a viable market here. It’s become a destination as opposed to an afterthought for Manhattanites who want a cheaper place.”

Jamestown Properties is one of the developers that recently upped its bet on the borough. In early 2007, the firm had a 60 percent equity stake in be@Schermerhorn, a troubled condo in Downtown Brooklyn, which was developed by SDS Procida and saw construction and sales suspended last year. But in December, Jamestown bought the balance of the mortgage from a consortium of banks. The consortium had originally lent $100 million to SDS Procida.

Matt Bronfman, COO of Jamestown Properties and be@Schermerhorn

Jamestown Properties has purchased the mortgage for be@Schermerhorn at 189 Schermerhorn Street in Downtown Brooklyn. The asset management company, which has headquarters in Atlanta, Ga. and Germany, said that it was in a unique position to invest in the 246-unit condominium, developed by SDS Procida and scheduled to be completed early next year. The building, which is between Smith and Hoyt streets, will definitely be going condo, not rental, according to the spokesperson, despite speculation otherwise. The Real Deal reported in its November issue that the condo’s sales figures were lagging, while other media outlets reported this month that the development was 90 percent vacant. “We are committed to the Brooklyn market,” Matt Bronfman, COO of Jamestown Properties, said in a statement released today. “We believe our ability as a highly liquid investment company, coupled with the seasoned market knowledge of SDS Procida, will deliver a successful project.” [more]