200 Livingston Procida-ing Apace
The construction crew has really been jamming over at 200 Livingston Street! When we checked in back in mid-April only the ground-floor had been framed out. The photo above shows how far they’ve come in three months. According to a Brooklyn Eagle story last week, the 25-story tower is expected to top out any day…
The construction crew has really been jamming over at 200 Livingston Street! When we checked in back in mid-April only the ground-floor had been framed out. The photo above shows how far they’ve come in three months. According to a Brooklyn Eagle story last week, the 25-story tower is expected to top out any day now. The number of units has been a bit of a moving target. First it was 214, then 280 and now the Eagle article says 246. Whatever. The point is it’s a lot of units.
Livingston/Schermerhorn Development Takes Shape [Brooklyn Eagle] GMAP
Development Watch: 189 Scherm aka 200 Livingston [Brownstoner]
a.v., so you mean Fulton will look just like most of Manhattan?
Banks suck, but I bet most of the people moving in to the (expensive) condo probably prefer Chase Banks to cellular/pawn/gold chain stores.
By this time next year, Fulton will be one long row of Chase Banks.
To July 14, 8:33am
I did not imply that i decide who’s racist and who’s not, I just find the various takes of “i’m not a racist but…” annoying. As I think you will see if you read all of my post I did not try to dwell on it but I admit I did have the urge to address it a *tiny* bit.
Anon 12:41,
It’s true that Fulton Street is thriving in it’s current incarnation, but how much longer do you think the discount stores will be around? Developers and the powers-that-be (Joe Chan and co, Laboz, Muss, etc) are doing everything they can to ensure the that current mix of retail doesn’t stick around much longer.
For example, all the businesses located in the discount mall at the western end of Fulton Mall (Albee) are getting cleared out as we speak. The mall is getting demolished and replaced by 600 pricey rentals and office space. They’re adding more retail space on the ground, but I’d expect an Urban Outfitters over a Payless Shoe Source–especially since developer is hoping to rent out the vast majority of the apartments at market rate.
United American Land is currently evicting the small businesses on Willoughby that cater to the current shoppers to build a 30 story, 600,000 sf tower of “high-end residential and retail”–the developers aren’t asking the small discount businesses back to fill the retail.
Many more are being cleared across from the Belltel lofts for a 27 story Sheraton Hotel (not to mention the city funded Willoughby Square park).
Joshua Muss is building a plaza and 50,000 square feet of retail at the eastern end of the Fulton Mall. His stated goal is to add high-end retail that will appeal to his Marriott Hotel clients (and nearby brownstone nabes). It’s probably not going to be a gold tooth cap store.
Laboz, the chairman of the Fulton Street Mall Improvement Association, has stated many times that Fulton Mall is “under-utilized” and that he’d like to see it become like 34th Street in Manhattan. I suppose many people say that, but Laboz also happens to be one of the Fulton Mall’s biggest landlords.
It’s common knowledge (and has been noted in the press) that he’s been pushing out many long time businesses–like Diamond Girl, a discount clothier–by hiking rents and not renewing leases.
It’s unlikely he’s emptying out Diamond Girl and it’s ilk to put in more discount shops.
The list goes on and on an on.
So maybe it’s not completely organic change, but the developers are, in a sense, “pulling a Walentas”. (Incidentally, Walentas is offering 10 years of free rent on a performance space at 110 Livingston to a theater/arts group.)
And it’s not like there’s a lack demand or a client base for higher end retail in the area. The average income for households that live within a 5 minute walking distance of Fulton Mall is $126,000. Within 10 minutes is $107,000.
Take into account that there are 15,000 pricey new apartments going up within walking distance to the Mall and 1200 hotel rooms–and well, you get my drift
I wouldn’t bet against the change.
There might be residential development but who is it geared to? There isnt enough affordable housing.
There might be residential development but who is it geared to? There isnt enough affordable housing.
BK123, what you’re missing is that retail in Fulton is currently thriving. It’s not like there are empty store-fronts or struggling businesses. Fulton Mall has some of the highest rents and profits in Brooklyn. It’s not like Smith Street was, and unless the developers pull a Walentas in order to bring higher-end services to the neighborhood, there’s little reason to think that the type of retail will change. Those crappy mall stores are raking it in hand-over-fist…making way more than a Jacques Torres or Peas and Pickles would in that location.
I wanted to claify:
Once there was some residential presence in DUMBO, there would’ve been little problem renting out retail fronts.
However, as noted, Walentas targeted very specific businesses to give DUMBO a high end character (whether or not he was successful is open to debate). Those are the businesses he gave discounts to.
It’s not like he discounted rents across the board because he couldn’t fill retail spaces.
I think it was the other way around, anon 10:11.
Walentas gave bargain basement rents to very specific businesses (like the chocolate shop and bakery run by the famed Jacque Torres), cultural institutions, and artists in order to give the area cachet to attract more residential buyers and charge premium prices for his lofts.
I believe he could’ve rented out his spaces many times over but has constantly maintained that he doesn’t want big retail chains like Starbucks or CVS in his buildings.
You wrote:
“There’s no reason why services or high-end businesses would necessarily move into the side streets near Fulton.”
Actually, there’s EVERY reason high-end business will move into the Fulton area. Retail follows residential–shops and services have every incentive to open up where their client base is located.
Smith Street in Boerum Hill, 5th (and 7th) Ave in Park Slope, Bedford in Williamsburg–they’ve all followed the same pattern. A new demographic arrives, retail opens up to serve the new demographic, which in turn makes the area more desirable to that demographic.
I don’t think the change is going to be swift, but the momentum is definitely there. I think anyone who’s familiar with downtown Brooklyn will agree that it’s changed more in the past year than it has in the past 20.