NEW YORK CITY—The New York City Economic Development Corp., as part Mayor Bill de Blasio's “New York Works” plan, has released a request for proposals for new commercial space that would be anchored by the city's Human Resources Authority.
The RFP seeks proposals for HRA to anchor one or multiple new developments, involving the city agency occupying up to 300,000 square feet of office space, in the East New York section of Brooklyn. NYCEDC states that it will prioritize proposals where at least 50% of the new development will be used by local businesses looking to grow and create jobs in East New York.
Earlier this month, NYCEDC President and CEO James Patchett gave a preview of Mayor de Blasio's “10,000 jobs plan” that he said would involve the HRA taking up to 250,000 square feet of space in East Brooklyn. The RFP has the agency taking up to 300,000 square feet of space in one or multiple developments. Mayor de Blasio released his New York Works plan on June 15th that focuses on making investments in growing sectors in the city as well as sparking development in targeted areas of the city through its “Office Anchor” initiative that has city agencies serve as anchors for new commercial developments.
The office anchor strategy is also intended to help the city plan for future space and tenanting needs in a cost-effective manner and will focus on places such as Downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City where commercial growth has been priced out by residential development, city officials say. It will also support promising commercial hubs, such as Harlem, Flushing, and Jamaica, Queens as well as neighborhoods with untapped commercial potential, including East New York.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams has been a champion of spurring commercial development in and around Broadway Junction as part of his goal of revitalizing East New York. “This RFP represents a golden opportunity for us to revitalize Broadway Junction and spur complementary, community-driven job growth in East New York. I am pleased to see EDC President Patchett and the de Blasio Administration advance this smart urban planning strategy that will help seed economic opportunities across our borough,” Adams said.
“Bringing modern office space to East New York will help drive its continued growth as a job hub and bring hundreds of new private sector jobs to the neighborhood,” adds NYCDEC's Patchett.
The East New York RFP specifically is seeking offers that would feature a long-term lease or condominium interest of up to 300,000 square feet for the HRA. The submission deadline is Aug. 18 at 4 p.m.
The NYCEDC states that demand for office space in the city is projected to grow by more than 60 million square feet in the next 10 years and by 30 million square feet outside of the Manhattan core. “However, new office development has generally lagged outside of existing, centralized office markets due to a variety of impediments. A key issue hampering new development remains the lack of large, credit tenants needed to secure financing for new construction and/or substantial rehabilitation,” the NYCEDC notes. The office anchor policy seeks to spur development and financing for new development ventures by having a city agency serve as an anchor tenant.
Some of the factors that will go into the selection of the winning proposer include “the quality of the proposal, experience of key staff identified in the proposal, experience and quality of any subcontractors proposed and demonstrated successful experience in performing services similar to those encompassed in the RFP,” the NYCEDC states.
An optional informational session on the RFP is scheduled for July 12 at 3 p.m. at the NYCEDC offices at 110 William St., (sixth floor).
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John Jordan
John Jordan is a veteran journalist with 36 years of print and digital media experience.
