Unobstructed views of Manhattan and the East River are expected to attract renters to Brooklyn as the first high-rise apartment building on the Williamsburg waterfront heads toward lease-up.
The building, 1 North 4th Place, is part of a greater plan to bring thousands of units of housing to the Brooklyn area. Douglaston, N.Y.-based Clinton Management will be running the 509-unit community, which is expected to start leasing in January 2015.
Irving Spodek, COO of the management company, says Brooklyn is a great place for housing because expenses are cheaper than other boroughs, like Manhattan, but also has a lot of new things happening to shape the community.
“You have everything that Manhattan has to offer but it’s more like a big family; it’s a neighborhood,” he says.“You can get on the train four blocks away and take it one stop and then you’re in Manhattan."
A water taxi stop is also accessible from the area and takes passengers down the East River.
As rents continue to rise in New York, finding somewhere more affordable is key to building a strong community. Average asking rent was up 1.5 percent in the second quarter at $4,274 per month in June in New York City, according to a report from Hendricks-Berkadia, a Phoenix-based advisory firm.
The unit mix of 154 studios, 196 one -bedrooms, 146 two-bedrooms and 13 three-bedroom units was originally expected to attract mostly single-professionals or roommate situations, but Spodek says a lot of interest is also coming from families.
“I thought it would be great for successful young people—some of them who have their own businesses ... or lawyers and doctors getting away from Manhattan or just starting out [in their careers],” he says. “But you know Williamsburg is very hot. So we’re seeing families now with children. It started out as a singles situation but now we need day-cares and schools. It has really grown.”
Restaurants, accessible groceries and shopping have also added to the vibrant community being built in the Brooklyn neighborhood. Spodek says 1 North 4th Place is the sister project of The Edge, a condo project that opened in 2010 and is less than two blocks away. The Edge includes 565 occupied condos.
A third project is also slated to break ground before the end of this year and will bring an additional 500 market-rate apartment units to the area upon completion.
Lindsay Machak is an Associate Editor for Multifamily Executive. Connect with her on Twitter @LMachak.
