Will Brooklyn Be the Next SoHo?
In a continuing trend, more artists’ studios gravitate to Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
NEW YORK CITY—Is Brooklyn on its way to becoming the next SoHo/? Remember Martin Scorsese’s movie After Hours? The dark, screwball comedy reflects how in the 1980s, SoHo was considered low rent, edgy and even a little scary. At one point, the Lower Manhattan neighborhood was known for commercial lofts with manufacturing spaces. Those became artists’ lofts and galleries. Eventually it developed into the high-end, luxury, designer, chain store district that it is today.
Richfield Properties, which owns the 42,000 square-foot, Greenpoint, Brooklyn warehouse at 100 Sutton St. is leasing 15,000 square feet, the entire second floor to SH-Sutton Street. The tenant builds and rents out artist studios and offices. The asking rent was $28.50 per square foot, and the lease has a 15-year term.
The two-story structure, built in 1931, is a total of 30,000 square feet. In 2016, design and construction firm Ready Set signed a 10-year lease for the entire first floor at $25 per square foot. That company’s clients include Dolce & Gabbana, Vogue, CapitalOne, Google, Vanity Fair, Hennessy, Lanvin and Target.
Located between Norman and Nassau avenues, 100 Sutton has drive-in doors, gas blowers, high ceilings, windows for natural light and a private elevator. It even comes with a Brooklyn water tower looming nearby. With several bus and subway options, and proximity to the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and Williamsburg Bridge, Manhattan is easily accessible. (It doesn’t seem nearly as daunting as Griffin Dunne’s $20 cab ride separating SoHo from Uptown in 1985.)
Brokers Neil, Grant and Josh Dolgin of Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates handled the leasing agreement representing both SH-Sutton Street and Richfield Properties.
Last month, in a similar deal for artists’ space, Kalmon Dolgin represented both tenant and landlord. Dock Studios, another provider of artist workspace, leased 18,000 square feet of a former fur manufacturing space in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, from Meisel-Peskin at $25 per square foot. Dock Studios leases space for artists at three Brooklyn locations.