NEW YORK CITY—In a move that will further the transformation of Industry City, in Brooklyn's Sunset Park area, into a hub of innovation-era manufacturing, real estate veteran Kathe Chase, development expert Scott Milsom and real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield have been added to the property's leasing and development team.
Kathe Chase, who has three decades of New York City-centric real estate experience, will lead Industry City's internal leasing team as director of leasing. Scott Milsom, who has over 20 years of New York experience in development and project management, will serve as director of development. Cushman & Wakefield will supplement ongoing leasing activity at the property.
“Both Kathe and Cushman & Wakefield have proven track records of securing the kind of high-employment, innovation economy companies that we want to populate the more than 1.8 million square feet of available space here at Industry City,” says Andrew Kimball, CEO of Industry City. “Scott, with his extensive background managing a wide range of development projects, will augment the work of our leasing team and help reposition Industry City as a job-generating center of innovation.”
Kathe Chase has a long career in leasing industrial and creative spaces and has played major roles in transforming outdated, industrial facilities into innovation-era centers of making, including the Historic Falchi Building in Long Island City. She has held roles at Yale and Robbins and later Time Equities. Kathe teamed up with developer Irwin Cohen after leaving Time Equities to assist Irwin in the purchase of the then Nabisco Factory, which is now Chelsea Market. Over the course of her career, Kathe has leased millions of square feet of space in New York City, valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Prior to Industry City, Scott Milsom served as VP of development for Vornado Realty Trust for seven years, where he managed a wide range of projects, including the renovation of 330 Madison Ave., the repositioning and disposition of the Shops at Georgetown Park and, most recently, the planning for 220 Central Park South.
Prior to his time at Vornado, Milsom worked as senior project manager for several developers and for Shen Milsom and Wilke, an engineering firm in New York City.
Cushman & Wakefield has already played an instrumental role in securing a number of high-profile leases at Industry City, including the complex's single-largest manufacturer, MakerBot, which moved its entire operation to the property earlier this year.
The firm also helped bring in BaubleBar—which is slated to move into its new space in the first part of 2015—and the Brooklyn Nets, which will bring its training center to the complex later on in 2015. Cushman & Wakefield's efforts will concentrate on larger blocks of space within certain elements of the property.
The 16-building, six-million square foot complex is currently 70% occupied by over 400 companies that employ some 3,600 people, up by more than 1,200 jobs since the property was recapitalized by a partnership consisting of Belvedere Capital, Jamestown and Angelo Gordon in August 2013.
Despite this progress, 1.8 million square feet remain vacant and an additional 40% is underutilized.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
