UPDATED: Nov. 11, 9:46 p.m.: With growing sales in South Brooklyn, Douglas Elliman is tripling its space in Park Slope.
The city’s largest residential brokerage signed a lease for 2,000 square feet at 187 Seventh Avenue, a corner retail spot across from P.S. 321. The office will replace the firm’s former digs at 154 Seventh Avenue, which measure roughly 700 square feet.
With buyers pushing further south into Brooklyn, Elliman said the new office would help meet clients’ demands. Last year, the Park Slope office handled 266 transactions amounting to $190 million in sales, said Sarah Burke, Elliman’s senior regional executive manager of sales for Brooklyn.
“You can imagine what we think the potential [will be] if we have more agents,” Burke said.
Overall, Brooklyn sale prices reached record-breaking highs during the third quarter, with the median price rising 15.1 percent to $676,250, according to real estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel. Residential brokerages are bullish on the borough — evidenced last month by Citi Habitats’ acquisition of Brooklyn-based Aptsandlofts.com, which was founded by Dave Maundrell.
Burke said Elliman’s Park Slope office is outpacing the general market as buyers increasingly purchase homes in South Slope, Prospect Lefferts Garden, Prospect Heights and Sunset Park. “The neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods have so much growth potential in the marketplace,” she said.
187 Seventh Ave. is Elliman’s “gateway” office to those neighborhoods; located in the heart of Park Slope, it sits across from the recently-shuttered Brooklyn Flea. The building itself sat vacant and graffiti-covered for years until Sugar Hill Capital Partners bought the property for $4.2 million.
Sugar Hill subsequently developed four condos at the site, which is also known as 505 Second Avenue. The retail space was asking $200 per square foot, according to Joshua Gettler of New Street Realty Advisors who was marketing the property with Matthew Gorman.
Starting in January, Elliman will market the three remaining condo units, which span more than 2,000 square feet each and are priced between $3 million and $3.5 million.
Correction: The Brooklyn Flea shut down its market in front of P.S. 321 last month.