The city’s Human Resources Administration is in talks to lease roughly 160,000 square feet of office and retail space at the former Schlitz Brewery bottling factory in Bushwick.
The agency is negotiating to lease the entirety of 95 Evergreen Avenue, the former plant that Savanna [TRDataCustom] and Hornig Capital Partners recently converted into office space, Crain’s reported.
But it may not be the deal the partners were after. The two firms had originally planned a $30 million conversion to attract creative and tech tenants that included decorating the building’s lobby with 15,000 Schlitz beer bottles and transforming the penthouse into an upscale space with 30-foot ceilings and a large bank of skylights.
Investors have been pouring dollars into Bushwick office properties as of late banking on the growing demand for cool office space. But with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority planning to shut down the L Train for a period of 18 months beginning in 2019, many feel the certain segments of the real estate market along the subway’s route will feel the pinch.
“Any office space depending on the L train has definitely taken a backseat now for tenants,” TerraCRG’s Peter Schubert said.
A representative for the city did not respond to a request for comment, and a Savanna spokesperson said the company is in negotiations with several tenants.
“We continue to talk to several groups about space at 95 Evergreen, and while there are no fully signed term sheets in place, we are very encouraged by the market’s interest in the property to date,” the company wrote in a statement. [Crain’s] – Rich Bockmann