Bright Lights, Big Sites

New construction and great expectations are running high - driven as much by quality of life demands as by economic growth. The Big Apple is back, polished up and positively booming. Improvements are rippling through every meighborhood, borough, city and suburb.

A Trend Grows in Brooklyn

...areas of Brooklyn can boast even higher occupancy rates, having benefited from a confluence of positive business changes. "The quiet redevelopment of downtown Brooklyn is one of the great urban success stories of the past decade," notes Kenneth Adams, president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, pointing out such major developments as Forest City Ratner's MetroTech center and Muss Development's Brooklyn Renaissance Plaza.

...steel is rocketing skyward on the site of the Brooklyn Renaissance Plaza, a project of Muss Development. Expectations are rising as quickly as the impressive mass, which builds on the success created by MetroTech center. "At 800,000 square feet, this is much bigger than anything happening in all of New York City, including Manhattan," says Jerry B. Cohen, vice chairman of leasing agent Cushman and Wakefield. "It consists of the first new hotel in Brooklyn in 50 years, full convention facilities, parking, daycare facilities and leading edge office space - a total of 10 million square feet. It's astounding."

Muss Development had championed the project since 1983, but pre-renting was key to the final deal. The original lease with King's County District Attorney was for 15 floors, and Empire Insurance Co. committed to a large chunk as well. "We entered into agreements with Leucadia National (the parent company of Empire) to be part-owner of the building, and with Marriot to be the operator of the hotel," explains project executive Philip A. Wolf. "And Paine Webber did a lease securitization, and that with a mortgage on the hotel issued by Union Labor Life Insurance Co. created the fund of money."

It is also different in that it is a "headquarters" building in what has traditionally been a "back-office" town. "There's basically no first-class office space in Brooklyn...," says Wolf. "In the spring of 1998, 225,000 square feet will be available with state-of-the-art electronics, conditioning and parking for 1,100 cars...The building has a center core and all-perimeter windows, so available floors have stunning views of lower Manhattan."