Massive Kent Avenue project lands fashion brand as first tenant

The fashion brand Kith has signed a lease for almost 58,000 square feet at 25 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg.

The project was previously pitched as a possible second headquarters for Amazon. Kith will be its first tenant, Bloomberg reported Monday. The building stands eight stories tall and is the first ground-up commercial building developed in Williamsburg in more than 40 years.

About 90 Kith employees will work in the property. The company plans to relocate its headquarters from Soho, according to Bloomberg.

Construction at 25 Kent was completed in July without any commitments from tenants. The building spans 500,000 square feet and was designed for office tenants, but has a component for light manufacturing.

The developers, Rubenstein Partners and Heritage Equity Partners, hope to fill the building by mid-2021, Rubenstein’s director of acquisitions Jeff Fronek told Bloomberg.

“Manufacturing was always viewed as a catalyst for the building,” he said. “A lot of the office users wanted to understand who the manufacturing tenants would be to make sure there was compatibility.” [Bloomberg] — Eddie Small