A massive influx of available office space is coming to Brooklyn in the next few years, but some are beginning to worry that it may struggle to attract tenants.
Seven million SF of offices are in the planning or development phase, most notably at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and a portfolio of Jehovah's Witnesses buildings purchased by Kushner Cos. last year, but no new private anchor tenants — those that would occupy over 100K SF — have come to the borough since mid-2015, Bloomberg reports. The largest lease in that time was a renewal by the New York City Fire Department.
A softening office market in Manhattan looks to be causing a ripple effect for Brooklyn, as the difference in price so far has not been enough to offset the more difficult commute for suburban workers and the distance from the city's financial hub.
Brooklyn will bank on its "cool" reputation, with projects for the creative industry like Made in NY at Bush Terminal, but the supply coming online is a huge proportion of Brooklyn's total supply. Recent moves like Est4te Four giving up on an industrial-to-office conversion could signal that developers are feeling the pressure.
Some firms, like Bjarke Ingels Group and 2U, have crossed the river for sizable expansions from small Manhattan offices over the last year, but those are hardly large enough to signal a broader market shift.
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