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Alloy Development has delayed plans to build office space in Boerum Hill, opting to develop more housing instead.
The company is starting to build a 44-story tower at 80 Flatbush Ave., Bklyner reports, but has deviated from its original plan. Alloy told the city council in 2018 that the project would be a mixed-use development created in two separate phases. However, the timeline fell behind, and while construction on the first part is now set to start, the makeup of the asset will be different. However, a representative said the makeup of the entire block will remain the same as proposed, and the office space would be in the second phase of the development.
Instead of 100K SF of office space in the first phase, Alloy has increased the number of units it plans to develop, and will now build 441 units instead of 257, per the publication.
A total of 10% of the housing in the first phase will be affordable, and the first phase will be complete by the first half of 2024. There is a requirement that 20% of the block-wide residential square footage be affordable, per a representative.
It is not yet clear when the second phase — set to home most of the affordable housing — will start. The first phase is due to include two schools.
“The financing market for speculative commercial office space has been very challenging,” Alloy spokesman James Yolles said. “Given this context, we decided to rebalance the program between the phases.”
A cloud of uncertainty hangs over office space in New York City, as companies continue to delay their return to their desks and companies weigh how they will use offices in the future. In Manhattan, last year was the worst leasing year in decades, and major companies have been looking to dump space on the subleasing market.
The office market in Brooklyn, which has seen an enormous jump in supply in the last few years, is also slow. Office leasing was 43% below the five-year average, per CBRE, in the first quarter.
The development at 80 Flatbush is not the first Brooklyn project to pivot in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. At One Boerum Place, which was initially conceived as a luxury condominium building, the property’s owner, Avery Hall Investments, has decided it will put the 138 units on the market as luxury rentals instead of condos.
CORRECTION, MAY 21, 4:30 P.M. ET: This story has been updated to reflect the developer still plans to build office space in the second phase of the development, and that there are affordable housing requirements on the entire project.
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