NEW YORK CITY-Rental season is continuing to ramp up across the East River, sources tell GlobeSt.com. A former 1920s-era Brooklyn warehouse will now be home to a 42-unit loft apartment at 44 Berry St. in Williamsburg, while aptsandlofts.com will begin leasing a 17-story glass luxury rental tower at 163 Washington Ave. in Clinton Hill.
ING Clarion Partners acquired the 54,000-square foot Berry Street building for $27 million, the company confirms in a statement. The site, located next to McCarren Park, includes six retail businesses on the ground floor and is fully leased.
Edward Rotter, managing director at ING Clarion, tells GlobeSt.com that the location and market here is “highly desirable” right now. “One of the reasons that we were attracted to the market in New York City is because the rental market is becoming much tighter,” Rotter says. “We are starting to see significant effective rent growth, primarily because there is not much new construction,” he says, noting that space is “rapidly being taken or absorbed” in Brooklyn.
Located 30 minutes from Midtown, the building is near the Bedford Avenue L subway stop, the East River waterfront and several shops, art galleries and boutiques. Rotter describes Williamsburg as one of the “more favored residential neighborhoods for New York’s creative class,” which has contributed to low vacancy rates in the area, averaging at 2.7%, and average annual effective rent growth of 4.7%. “Over the last 10 years, Brooklyn itself has evolved and Williamsburg is an epicenter for younger and more active residents, basically because it has been a better value,” he says.
And just south of Williamsburg, monthly rents at 163 Washington in Clinton Hill begin at $1,850 for studios, $2,500 for one-bedroom, $3,300 for two-bedroom and $4,800 for penthouse homes. With quick access to Fort Greene Park, Pratt Institute and several major subway lines, David Maundrell, founder and president of aptsandlofts.com, tells GlobeSt.com that Clinton Hill is on the rise. “It’s a neighborhood that’s on the brink of exploding in the sense where it has a great vibe, a great community feel to it and it’s typically less expensive than, say, Downtown Brooklyn or Flatbush Avenue,” Maundrell says. “The phone has been ringing off the hook and we are very excited to open.”
The site features amenities such as a fitness center, 5,000-square foot great lawn off the second floor and balconies in most units. And with the building’s core demographic at 27 to 35 year-olds, many find it as an attractive option. “Brooklyn is an alternative to Manhattan not only in terms of price--and this neighborhood is between Fort Greene, Willamsburg, Downtown Brooklyn and DUMBO,” Maundrell says. “It’s the entire package.”
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