Brookfield puts MetroTech assets on the market

Brookfield looks to sell Downtown Brooklyn office leaseholds for $300M

Bruce Flatt of Brookfield Asset Management & 9 MetroTech Center (brookfield.com)
Bruce Flatt of Brookfield Asset Management & 9 MetroTech Center (brookfield.com)

Brookfield Asset Management is looking to cash in some chips at two office buildings in Downtown Brooklyn’s MetroTech complex.

The investment giant aims to get up to $300 million for its leasehold interest at 9 and 11 MetroTech Center, according to Green Street’s Real Estate Alert.

The leasehold is the right to own the building. New York City owns the land underneath the buildings and is also a tenant in them.

Brookfield’s lease has over 75 years remaining, according to Real Estate Alert. The publication said Newmark is spearheading the marketing for Brookfield. Both buildings are leased to New York City for the Fire Department and Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

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The seven-story, 317,000-square-foot 9 MetroTech Center and the six-story, 216,000-square-foot 11 MetroTech Center are part of the sprawling multi-building MetroTech complex. Brookfield acquired the MetroTech site in 2018 through its $6.8 billion purchase of Forest City Realty Trust.

MetroTech was developed in the 1980s at a time when city officials feared losing corporate tenants to the suburbs and Brooklyn had little Class A office space. The city was so gripped by crime at the time that the complex was designed somewhat like a fortress — inward-facing rather than integrated with the street grid.

Some came to regret that decision when crime stunningly declined over the next 30 years and Brooklyn became a hip destination rather than just a low-cost alternative to Manhattan and suburban office campuses fell out of favor.

In August, a Brookfield subsidiary sold off an 186,000-square-foot office condo building at 12 MetroTech Center for $128 million to a joint venture between 60 Guilders and the hedge fund Davidson Kempner.

A Brookfield spokesperson declined to comment on the leasehold being marketed. Newmark did not return a request to comment.