Asking rents for Brooklyn retail rise: report

Manhattan’s retail market may be in a funk, but things are looking better across the East River.

Asking rents rose in 10 of Brooklyn’s main shopping sectors, according to a new report by the Real Estate Board of New York. Smith Street in Cobble Hill, which is close to several residential developments, saw asking rents rise to $149 per square foot, up 12 percent from a year ago.

The borough’s Priciest Market Was Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, where asking rents range from $130 to $600 per square foot. Asking rents fell in Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights.

Asking rents ticked up 7 percent along Flatbush Avenue near the Barclays Center, now ranging from $78 to $125 per square foot. And along Park Slope’s 5th Avenue From Union Street to 9th Street, asking rents checked in at $94 a square foot, up 18 percent over summer of 2016, the REBNY report claimed.

“The resurgence is across the borough,” REBNY’s Mike Slattery told the New York Post.

In Manhattan, a recent CBRE report found that retail rents in the third quarter dropped in 12 of 15 shopping corridors.

The Real Deal recently broke down the tricks many retail landlords use to inflate face rents and make their properties look more valuable than they are.  [NYP] — Konrad Putzier