INTERNATIONAL DAY
Brooklyn’s Next Frontiers
The Newest Startup Spots in NYC’s Most Innovative Borough
B
eing on the cutting-edge has its
benefits, especially in real estate.
Finding your way to an up-and-coming business hub can mean significant cost
savings in office space, bolster your company’s brand, and may provide a competitive
hiring advantage if you locate in close proximity to your potential workforce.
Brooklyn has become a well-established
hub for the innovation economy for many
of these reasons. While iconic companies
such as Etsy and Huge have doubled down
on their respective investments in the borough’s Tech Triangle—the clear epicenter
of Brooklyn’s innovation economy—more
and more startups moving to the borough
are choosing to do so beyond the triangle’s
general footprint. Brooklyn’s brand has
long relied on its pioneering persona, but
in a borough that’s already arrived, where is
the next frontier for Brooklyn’s innovation
economy?
Here are a few neighborhoods being
talked about: Williamsburg, Greenpoint,
Bushwick, Sunset Park, and East New York.
NORTH BROOKLYN
Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick
offer robust cultural amenities and rents
significantly cheaper than Manhattan’s
Flatiron District. Due to their burgeoning
nightlife scenes and creative culture, these
North Brooklyn neighborhoods are also
home to much of the tech and creative
talent—coders, designers, and business
development staff—that powers not just
Brooklyn’s startups, but New York City’s.
This is just one of the reasons that established companies and startups in
the digital space have decided to locate
in North Brooklyn; VICE, Kickstarter,
Amazon, and Livestream are some of the
most notable.
However, for companies looking to
find a new home in one of these North
Brooklyn hotspots, the search for space
isn’t quite plug-and-play. “There aren’t
many spaces that are ready to rock,” said
Leah Archibald, executive director of
Evergreen, a business services non-profit
in the area.
For now, entrepreneurs wanting to locate in North Brooklyn may have to invest sweat equity into transforming their
ideal location into their perfect home. As
Chris Havens, a commercial real estate
broker and expert, put it, “You can go into
Manhattan and find an amazing space; in
Brooklyn, you have to create it.”
The good news: more space is coming. Two Trees, the development firm
largely credited with DUMBO’s growth
as a tech hub, is slated to build nearly 500,000 square feet of office space in
Williamsburg. Development plans by
Heritage Equity Partners may also result
in additional office space, and several other commercial developments are planned.
SUNSET PARK
While North Brooklyn offers trendy
nightlife but limited real estate availabil-
BY KAI FEDER
ity, Sunset Park offers an abundance of
attractive, available, and affordable real
estate options for innovation economy
companies.
“Sunset Park is desirable because of
the high rate of underutilized space,”
said David Meade, executive director
of the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial
Development Corporation. “The nei ghborhood offers larger, more flexible spaces, where manufacturing, production,
design, and office can all be integrated
easily into a consolidated footprint for a
single user.”
Indeed, significant investment in
Industry City has created a noteworthy
buzz, and Liberty View Industrial Plaza
will soon be home to a 160,000 square foot
fashion incubator run by Manufacture
New York. Additionally, last summer,
the City of New York announced a 100
million dollar investment to revitalize the
publicly owned Brooklyn Army Terminal.
As New York City’s innovation economy continues to grow, so will demand for
commercial space. Sunset Park is well positioned to continue to attract companies
that lack the capital to purchase or invest
in significant build-out, but desire open
floor plans that can accommodate both
creative and industrial uses. This is one of
the reasons MakerBot decided to locate
55,000 square feet of production space
at Industry City in 2013. These trends
have also been witnessed in the fields of
biotechnology, food manufacturing, and
fashion, among others.
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EAST NEW YORK
For companies that need expansive footprints for industrial uses, East New York
is worth exploring. The neighborhood is
truly a new frontier for Brooklyn’s innovation economy; little, if any, digital activity exists in the neighborhood. East New
York’s competitive advantage manifests
in the neighborhood’s real estate potential, offering some of the cheapest leasing rates in the city. The neighborhood
is home to the 44 square block East New
York Industrial Park, which hosts some
of New York City’s last remaining heavy
industrial manufacturers.
While the innovation economy has yet
to penetrate the neighborhood in a meaningful way, East New York offers significant promise. The City of New York has
targeted it for significant investment, and
private sector dollars have begun to follow. Growth-stage companies in the maker space with large-scale space demands
are likely to locate here in the coming
years, especially those adverse to locating
operations in New Jersey.
PARTING TIP - LOVE THY
NEIGHBOR
In New York City, anything new is likely
supplanting something existing; Brooklyn
is no different. This dynamic can lead to
tension in communities. Newcomers to
any neighborhood should be aware and
thoughtful of the existing environment.
Positively engaging the surrounding
business and residential communities—
through local hiring and local procurement, for example—is a surefire way to
start building positive relationships. Local
trade organizations may also be worth the
minimal investment of an annual membership fee, as they often offer valuable
assistance on matters such as hiring and
access to incentives. They are also wholly
integrated in their local communities, and
can help you connect and collaborate with
your new neighbors. Indeed, sometimes
disruption is better suited to business
plans.
Kai D. Feder is public affairs consultant with Yoswein New York.
@KaiDFeder
Keep Calm and Tech On:
Intro to Business in London
and the Greater UK
9/17 @ 11:40 am
Brooklyn Borough Hall
I-7