Q&A
Viability of commercial office space in the post-pandemic market
0:52:54
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178 sec
Council Member Lincoln Restler inquires about the confidence in activating the commercial office space and ensuring financial viability, given the challenges in the post-pandemic marketplace. Raymond Levin provides a comprehensive response outlining the reasons for their confidence in the project's success.
- The office market along the East River from Domino to Dumbo has been strong and resilient
- Several new office buildings in the area demonstrate confidence in the market
- Proximity to the Navy Yard, lower rents than Manhattan, and a creative atmosphere are seen as advantages
- The waterfront location, bike path access, and surrounding residential community are considered positive factors
- The development team believes the office market will recover by the time the building is completed
Lincoln Restler
0:52:54
And can you just we've had challenges 25 can, even at domino, at the refinery, in the Navy Yard, infilling commercial office space in this area.
0:53:08
Can you speak to your confidence interval for how you'll be able to kind of effectively activate this space and ensure that kind of this is a financially viable proposal recognizing the kind of post pandemic marketplace?
Raymond Levin
0:53:22
Sure.
0:53:24
The project was started before the pandemic.
0:53:27
When the commercial office market was a little different than it is today.
0:53:31
Yeah.
0:53:32
The applicants are still confident in their ability to succeed with an office building in South Williamsburg.
0:53:40
The office market in the along the East River from Domino down to Dumbo.
0:53:46
It has been strong.
0:53:47
It has been more resilient than Manhattan and other locations in the city.
0:53:53
There are a number of new office buildings that notwithstanding concerns about the market.
0:54:01
Have been have been built or are being built.
0:54:03
The refinery, $10 Street in Domino, 29 J Street in Dumbo, 1831 Spencer Street and 347 Flushing are all office buildings and show a confidence in this part of the city, which may not be seen elsewhere.
0:54:25
The other thing that that gives us confidence is the location next to the Navy Yard.
0:54:30
There are a lot of growing businesses in the Navy Yard that are going to be looking to expand and and in surrounding neighborhood.
0:54:37
This area has a a a strong local workforce in Williamsburg and Greenpoint.
0:54:43
It has the lower rents than in parts of Manhattan.
0:54:47
And there's a creative atmosphere along the Brooklyn Waterfront that attracts creative businesses.
0:54:55
So those things we think are important, and also locational advantages of this particular kilocyte.
0:55:01
We're on we're on the waterfront, which is a positive thing.
0:55:04
We're on a bike path, which is one of the heaviest used in the city, and and therefore the employees can come by bike rather than having to go otherwise.
0:55:12
It has open space for the employees in the neighborhood people.
0:55:19
There's gonna be some retail, and and the new residential community that's being built surrounding them provides workforce that may come to these office spaces.
0:55:31
So for all of those reasons, our client for whatever the the general notion is about office space are confident that this will make sense.
0:55:43
Plus, I think if you talk to people this building's not gonna be built for a few years, and a lot of people believe that the office market's gonna come back anyway.
Lincoln Restler
0:55:51
I certainly hope so.
0:55:52
I hope it's a great success.
0:55:53
My final question is How do you plan on recruiting building service workers and ensuring they receive adequate compensation?