Big-name tenants still not won over by BK

Roughly 7M sf of new office space is planned

Brooklyn Bridge and Downtown Brooklyn
Brooklyn Bridge and Downtown Brooklyn

Despite an influx of new office space, Brooklyn hasn’t yet attracted big-name Manhattan companies.

Roughly 7 million square feet of new office space is planned for the borough, but Brooklyn hasn’t yet generated the kind of interest needed to meet future supply, Bloomberg reported. Not a single non-government employer has inked a lease for more than 100,000 square feet since mid-2015. The last major deal was WeWork’s agreement to take 222,000 square feet at Dock72.

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“The tenant pool is not that deep. It’s not there yet,” Zev Holzman, a senior managing director at Savills Studley told Bloomberg.

At the moment, companies don’t necessarily have a big incentive to relocate to Brooklyn. Manhattan’s market is softening, and employees from northern Manhattan and New Jersey aren’t necessarily keen on a longer commute.

Large tech companies like Google, Spotify and Facebook have largely stuck to Manhattan. The city has taken some steps to lure companies to Brooklyn. A proposed zoning change aims to encourage garment manufacturers to move to Sunset Park. [Bloomberg] — Kathryn Brenzel