Brooklyn continues to be a store magnet as retailers recognize the area’s wealthy population is underserved. The residents of the numerous new towers, especially in downtown Brooklyn, are also clamoring for food and fun.
“There are several thousand new apartments,” said Jason Muss, a principal of Muss Development. Muss developed the Renaissance Plaza project where the Marriott recently completed an expansion.
“Our hotel, the Brooklyn Marriott, has almost 700 rooms and every night those are turning over and helping the retail landscape,” Muss said. “We also have the fourth largest ballroom in New York City, which holds 2,000 people.”
Muss has also bought the retail condominium interest south of the hotel at 345 Adams St., a former courthouse on the northeast corner of Willoughby Street and is actively leasing it to retailers.
“We’ve begun demolition and construction of the façade at 345 and [the installation] for the area’s first Panera Bread store, which will go into 4,500 square-feet in the middle of the space,” Muss said. “On the corner we have two floors that have grand ceiling space with archways and are restoring the former judges’ chambers that were there.”
John Clifford, prospect engineer of the architecture and planning firm GreenbergFarrow, said the Fulton Street area has the “highest sales and highest rents” but is not capturing people from all of Brooklyn because of the lack of retailers. That is all about to change.
GreenbergFarrow designed the new H&M store, which is now under construction for United American Land. Other recent area leasing commitments were made by Shake Shack, Filene’s Basement/SYMS, and Planet Fitness. Brokers say leases are being finalized for clothing stores, restaurants and other retailers.
The City is also close to announcing the developer for the first two floors of the Brooklyn Municipal Building for retail use.
Macy’s is holding a ribbon cutting next month to mark the completion of its work on a new facade, including renovated store windows and enhanced marquee signs. It also is finishing new pedestrian walkways.
Also next month, the Fulton Mall streetscape project and the Albee Square open space projects are to be completed. Construction on the new Willoughby Plaza, which will create open space at Willoughby and Adams streets, will begin this summer.
Developers Acadia Realty Trust also plan to finally start construction on the 50,000 square feet of retail space at City Point, which will be the first new retail space to be built on the Fulton Street Mall in over two decades.
Tenants that had strong interest in City Point took a step back after the market crashed in 2007.
“Now there is a lot of interest in downtown Brooklyn,” said Clifford of GreenbergFarrow, who is working on City Point. “It’s such an anomaly and a city unto itself, but a lot of people have to go to Manhattan to shop [because there aren’t enough stores in Brooklyn].”
To add to the mix, New York University is expanding its Greenwich Village campus, and seeking to open a branch in downtown Brooklyn, drawing even more young people into the streets and shops.