Dive Brief:
- Developers of the $410 million Dock 72 project, which broke ground at the Brooklyn Navy Yard last May, have secured a $250 million loan for construction to continue, according to The Wall Street Journal.
- J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., M&T Bank Corp. and U.S. Bank provided the construction loan for Dock 72, a project that developers — the joint venture of Boston Properties and Rudin Development — said is the first new Brooklyn ground-up office building in years.
- The 16-story, 675,000-square-foot building is designed to facilitate collaboration and will feature 60,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities such as top-floor conference facilities and a health and wellness center, according to Commercial Property Executive.
Dive Insight:
Developers said the co-working office space brand WeWork Cos. will occupy 220,000 square feet of space, citing the importance of the shared workspace concept and its role in New York's "new economy." The building is slated for an early 2018 completion.
Anchor tenant WeWork has another space on Manhattan's Wall Street that features a residential component called WeLive, which offers dormitory-style apartments built around amenities like a movie theater and yoga studio. Last month, WeLive rents were poised to skyrocket, with the price of a studio rising to $3,050 from $2,000 and four-bedroom units increasing to $8,000 from $6,000.
Developers of both commercial and residential projects in New York City are turning to Brooklyn as an alternative to crowded Manhattan. In November, the 461 Dean project opened, billing itself as the tallest modular building in the world. The 32-story, 363-unit apartment high-rise was prefabricated offsite and offers 50% of its rentals at market rate, with the other half targeting moderate- and low-income tenants. Upscale rental projects in Brooklyn are also coming online in order to meet the demands of renters who are increasingly looking for an alternative to skyrocketing Manhattan rents.
In September of last year, AECOM proposed a massive development for Brooklyn, a 246-acre waterside project double the size of Battery Park City and nine times the size of Hudson Yards. The most comprehensive plan would see a total of 45,000 new residential units — including 11,250 affordable — 100 acres of parks and three new subway stops. AECOM estimated that a project of that size would generate $130 million in new taxes for New York City.