Downtown Brooklyn is undergoing an incredible renaissance featuring a surge of new development activity. With more than $9 billion in private investment over the past 10 years, the neighborhood has emerged as one of New York City’s most rapidly developing residential and commercial areas. Presently, there are more than 7,300 residential units in Downtown Brooklyn with over 7,800 units currently in the development pipeline. According to the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the office market has now grown to over 17 million square feet, making it New York City’s third largest business district after Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan.
With Downtown Brooklyn now a major business and cultural destination, visitors and residents are flocking to the area in droves. Since the opening of the Barclay’s Center in 2012, it has emerged as the number one concert venue in the U.S. in terms of ticket sales, and is home to two professional sports franchises, the Nets and the Islanders. When current hotel projects in the pipeline are completed, the neighborhood will also feature 2,000 rooms.
There are several new developments currently underway in Downtown Brooklyn, which will continue to transform the area, including City Point and Pacific Park. City Point is the largest mixed-use development in Downtown Brooklyn and will total approximately 1.8 million square feet; including retail, residential and office components. Pacific Park is a newly developed Brooklyn neighborhood designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, featuring a public school, office space, retail, restaurants and even an 8-acre central park spanning two city blocks.
Another area undergoing a major revitalization is Fort Greene’s Brooklyn Cultural District. Located in the heart of Brooklyn’s thriving artistic community, the Brooklyn Cultural District is a groundbreaking development plan that will provide the Fort Greene area with the space to thrive as a cultural hub for years to come. Anchored by the world-famous Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), plans include new performance and rehearsal spaces, office space for a diverse group of local arts organizations, a public plaza for the community, a library, a cinema and much-needed affordable housing.
The latest affordable housing opportunity in the BAM Cultural District can be found at 250 Ashland Place – a full-service luxury rental tower. Developed by Gotham Organization, 250 Ashland Place offers 282 units of affordable housing via a New York City Housing Development lottery (www.AshlandLottery.com), which ends April 11th.
With all of this activity underway, Downtown Brooklyn has emerged as one of the hottest new neighborhoods in New York, with no signs of development subsiding in the near future.