WALK IN THE PARK
Brooklyn Bridge Park lures residents and sparks improvements to area nabes
DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights, two of New York’s most desirable — and expensive — neighborhoods, probably didn’t need a shot in the arm. But Brooklyn Bridge Park gave them one anyway.
First opened in 2010 and slated for completion in 2018, the 85-acre green space along the East River is the maraschino cherry to prime Brooklyn’s hot fudge sundae. It’s the Hermès tie to its Brioni suit, the Kevin Durant to its Golden State Warriors — at least in real estate circles.
Seven years later, developments in and around the park — which stretches 1.3 miles from the Manhattan Bridge to Atlantic Avenue — keep cropping up. This month sees the debut of 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, a 194-room stay featuring perks like a rooftop bar and a star-chef restaurant that is attached to Toll Brothers’ Pierhouse condo development. Also on deck are additions to the park’s Pier 5 section set to roll out this year, including a grassy lawn and new waterfront seating.
The park was a key selling point for Jason Wachob, founder of Dumbo-based media company MindBodyGreen, who moved to the neighborhood with his wife and co-founder Colleen, 37, in 2009. The outdoors sold her, a southern California native, on the area.
“Having the water, and the park coming, definitely played a role,” says Wachob, 42. “Granted, the East River isn’t the Pacific Ocean, but there’s something to be said for having a little nature nearby.”
Renters since they arrived in the neighborhood, the couple recently decided to plant firmer roots, buying a unit at Slate Property Group and Adam America Real Estate’s 74-unit warehouse-to-condo conversion project 51 Jay St. (prices from $2 million to $6 million).
“Part of our sales pitch is definitely talking about the park,” says Halstead’s Deborah Brener Zolan. “It’s basically like your backyard playground.”
In hindsight, the biggest beneficiaries of the park’s arrival have been the developers of ground-up residential buildings that, like 51 Jay, went to market after the
completion of its northernmost sections, says Zach Ehrlich, CEO of real estate firm Mdrn. Residential. Among those boons is One John Street, Alloy Development’s 42-unit condo building that just finished construction and is home to the most expensive condo sale ever recorded in Brooklyn ($8.89 million). Another is Kirkman Lofts, a soap manufacturing industrial space turned 45 loft-like condos at 37 Bridge St. that hit the market in 2011.
To wit: the only available listing at Kirkman Lofts is a three-bedroom asking $4.49 million. It sold for $3.5 million in 2014.
Sure, Dumbo’s real estate prices were already hot. But it can be argued that new sizzle is due to proximity to the beloved green space. In 2016, according to listings site CityRealty.com, condos within two blocks of Brooklyn Bridge Park went for an average of $2.8 million, versus $1.5 million for apartments outside this radius but still in park-adjacent neighborhoods. (By way of comparison, the equivalent figures for Prospect Park are $1.1 million versus $1 million, and $3.9 million versus $1.6 million for Central Park.)
In Brooklyn Heights, apartments at the aforementioned 108-unit Pierhouse are selling in the $2,000-per-squarefoot range, which, Ehrlich notes, “for Brooklyn is pretty unprecedented.”
Both One John (one unit there, a penthouse, is still available for $7.1 million) and Pierhouse ($3.4 million to $10.5 million) are located in Brooklyn Bridge Park proper, with residents mak- ing payments that fund park maintenance instead of conventional property taxes.
The financially self-sufficient park generates revenue through five development sites, which, in addition to One John and Pierhouse, include RAL Development’s 435-unit condo One Brooklyn Bridge Park (units from $895,000 to $23.9 million), which launched sales in 2008, Midtown Equities’ mixed-use retail and office development Empire Stores, and a site on Pier 6 to be developed by RAL and Oliver’s Realty Group. Plans call for a pair of residential buildings slated to house 266 total apartments, including 100 affordable units.
These in-park developments have proved controversial with residents. Community groups sued unsuccessfully to stop the Pierhouse development and are engaged in legal challeng- es to the RAL-Oliver project as well. Opponents are concerned the developments could block neighborhood views and take up parkland. Some suggest that the park currently generates enough funds to support itself even without the planned Pier 6 buildings, though park officials dispute this.
Not every unit is flying off the shelves. A six-bedroom trophy penthouse at One Brooklyn Bridge Park, on the market from 2014 to 2016 and last priced at $32 million, is currently off the market.
More moderately priced units, though, go quickly. They even lure die-hard Manhattanites. Bond broker Paul Emanuel moved to Pierhouse several months ago trying the Meatpacking District and Tribeca. Married with three children, he did not want to move to the suburbs but sought more space and a family-oriented atmosphere.
“I was looking at new buildings in Tribeca, and they’re like $3,000 a square foot,” Emanuel says.
Though he and his wife were reluctant to cross the river, Brooklyn Bridge Park seemed like an acceptable compromise. “[You have] the green grass and the park, you’re right by the water and very close to Manhattan with nice views,” he says. “It’s just a good combination.”
The park’s influence is trickling southward to the Columbia Street Waterfront District as well. Though not directly on the park, this formerly industrial neighborhood sandwiched between Cobble Hill and the East River has benefited from it being a 15-minute walk away.
'“Having the park nearby cements that this is a residential neighborhood now,” says says Doug Perlson, head of real estate firm RealDirect.
Among other reasons, “The park is having a big impact on bringing people to the Columbia waterfront,” says Zev Sohne, a partner at Sohne Brothers Real Estate Development. His firm has developed several condo buildings in the area, including 60 Tiffany Place and 138 Sackett St., in addition to rental 213 Columbia St. In the last decade, Sohne says he has seen prices for new construction there rise from around $600 per square foot to the $1,200 range.
Around the northernmost part of Brooklyn Bridge Park, the retail and dining scene has flourished with additions like West Elm, coffee shop Bluestone Lane and Mexican eatery Gran Eléctrica.
That’s all despite the park being far from the subway (though there are ferries to Manhattan and Queens).
Becoming a destination can be a mixed bag. “The pro is there are lots of tourists. Tourists spend money, and that’s good for the neighborhood and local businesses,” Wachob says. “The con is . . . there are lots of tourists.”