Real Estate Marketplace

"Because it makes tremendous sense in the current marketplace," explained Joshua L. Muss, president of Muss Development Co., which is building Renaissance Plaza, The $230 million mixed use office/hotel complex in downtown Brooklyn. "At a time when demand for first rate new York City hotel rooms is at an all time high, as is corporate demand for high-tech conference/meeting facilities, the office/hotel mixed-use concept is a win-win situation."

This convincing message has not escaped the development community. While many developers are scrambling to either convert portions of class-B office buildings into hotels, or retro-fit residential properties, Brooklyn's Renaissance Plaza, which will be ready for occupancy by next spring, will be one of the few purpose built office/hotel complexes in the region.

Currently under construction on a 127,600 square foot site between Adams and jay Streets, renaissance Plaza has been designed to symbiotically benefit both its office tenants and its hotel operator, Marriot, in addition to Broklyn residents and visitors to the borough.

The 384 room New York Marriott Brooklyn, the first hotel to be built in Brooklyn in 50 years, will ocupy the lower seven floors of Renaissance PLaza, offering more than 30,000 square feet of convention and meeting space. Equipped with an 18,000 square foot ballroom, which will seat 2,000, the hotel's banquet-conference center will feature more than 20 high-tech board and meeing rooms and private dining facilities for both small and large groups.

"Having a full service world class hotel literally only an elevator ride away will obviously prove a huge advantage to office tenants at Renaissance Plaza," said Phillip Wolf, project manager from Muss Development:

"Tenants will be able to cater meals prepared by the hotel in their own boardrooms, entertain clients in the Marriots various restaurants and bars, and receive priority treatment in securing conference/meeting facilities for corporate events," he said. "The hotel will offer a large state-of-the-art health and fitness center with a full lap pool, underground parking for 1,100 cars, a variety of retail shops, and a children's daycare center."

Conversely the marriot stands to benefit from Renaissance Plaza's tenants, who will undoubtedly utilize the hotel's on-site amenities...

The majority of Renaissance Plaza's 800,000 square feet of office space will be occupied by the Empire insurance Group which is taking nine floors, and by the executive offices of the Kings County District Attorney, which will lease 14 floors. Cushman & Wakefield, as exclusive leasing agents for the property, is actively marketing the remaining 275,000 square feet of office space to a wide diversity of corporate users.

Renaissance Plaza is being built at a time when many of New York's owners and developers are considering invigorating their properties with hospitality amenities.