Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 2011-06-21
By Linda Collins
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles on the 2011 Brooklyn Real Estate Summit’s full day of panel discussions last Thursday. Click here for a story on a retail attraction panel.
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Development never fully stopped in Brooklyn, according to Michael Falsetta, executive vice president of Miller Cicero.
“New start-ups stalled in Brooklyn, yes — permits went down in 2008 by 90 to 95 percent — but construction completions have held steady,” he said.
Falsetta was speaking as part of a panel titled “Development Reboot: Restart of Ground-up Development and Conversions in Brooklyn” at the 2011 Brooklyn Real Estate Summit at St. Francis College last Thursday.
The full-day event was attended by 329 people, according to Green Pearl Events, the event organizer. The reboot/restart panel also included David Behin, a partner of MNS (formerly The Developers Group); Tom Gilman, president of Gilman Architects; David Maundrell, president of AptsandLofts.com; and Ross Weinstein, managing partner at Exclusive Capital Consultants. Richard Lobell of Sheldon Lobel PC served as moderator.
“People are ready to buy again,” said Behin, noting that at The Edge, a 500-unit waterfront development in Williamsburg that his MNS sales team is handling, condos are selling at the rate of one per day. “It’s incredible. Brooklyn is definitely a destination now.”
Behin and Falsetta both credit the return of financing and a renewed confidence in the market on the part of both developers and buyers.
But it can also be credited to the revitalization of neighborhoods, according to Behin.
“Brooklyn is about its neighborhoods. Each has its own flavor, its own type of housing. Young people see this, identify with this and want to stay here,” he said.
It’s also a very strong rental market now, according to Maundrell. “It will probably be a record year, like 2007 figures.”
“There’s always a strong demand and a stream of people coming to Brooklyn to rent,” he added. But besides seeing the comeback of condo buyers and renters, the reboot/restart in Brooklyn involves the pickup of stalled sites.
“Williamsburg is probably the place that’s seen the most activity in the transfer and remarketing of stalled sites in the borough,” said Falsetta.
Behin added, “A lot of projects that had stalled are trading hands at an unprecedented pace now. It requires being aggressive and having confidence in the market.”
Commented Weinstein, “Because of the mortgage crisis, there is a fear of not being able to close. We create a roadmap so a purchaser can close.”
He added, “Everything in your plan will determine your financing. With the right plan, I can guarantee the financing will be there.”
Architect Gilman said taking over a stalled site can be challenging from an architectural perspective. “It’s a challenge when the footings are in place. It’s even more difficult when the superstructure is in place. You have to be creative and aggressive with the plans to make it work,” he said.
Although he’s noticed an uptick in activity at his firm in the last 12 months, he is finding resistance at the Department of Buildings.
“They are much more conservative now, mostly because of a few bad apples, and it’s a much more formal and detailed filing process,” he said.
Asked where developers can find inexpensive land, panelists Behin and Maundrell both recommended looking to public transportation.
“Follow the L train [through Williamsburg], follow the young renters. Get off the train where they do.” Bushwick, South Williamsburg, Crown Heights, south of Prospect Park. Those were all areas named where inexpensive property can still be bought, according to panelists.
Maundrell said that renters go first, retail follows, then the condos come.