NEW YORK CITY— “People now just don't think of Manhattan as a place to work,” said Regina Myer, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, as she moderated a New York Building Congress panel addressing investment and growth across New York's five boroughs. “People want to work closer to their homes and people who own businesses want to invest in the boroughs.”

Mixed-used rezoning, combining light industrial, commercial and residential properties to encourage greater density around public transportation were also the unifying chords struck by Myer and the three panelists at the Building Congress's Friday morning breakfast.

It was not just the explosion of neighborhoods like Greenpoint and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, according to Myer. But with the growing appeal of the Metrotech Center, Flatbush Avenue emerged as a center of downtown Brooklyn, enlivening the desire for mixed-use neighborhoods.