NEW YORK CITY-As part of a city initiative to utilize space it owns more efficiently, United American Land has been selected as the developer for 210 Joralemon St., the Brooklyn Municipal Building in Downtown Brooklyn. UAL, which is currently planning a 594,000 square foot development at 505 Fulton St., will develop 49,000 square feet of retail space at the Brooklyn Municipal Building. Construction is expected to begin in 2012.
Joe Chan, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, tells GlobeSt.com that the building is uniquely situated as a retail destination.
“I think 210 Joralemon is one of the premiere retail sites in all of Brooklyn,” Chan says. “There’s as much pedestrian traffic at the corner of Joralemon and Court mid-day as there is on 23rd and Sixth Avenue, so we think that it’s just a natural retail location.”
Chan couldn’t speak to the decision making process that led to UAL’s selection--several of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership’s board members submitted RFPs, so he wasn’t involved. However, he’s familiar with the company’s work on the Fulton Mall.
“They are building essentially an extension for a new H&M that’s en route, but they’re also repositioning 505 Fulton--which is a beautiful, historic land marked building--for occupancy by a major retailer or possibly a few major retailers,” he says. “They have a great track record and they have a proven ability to get complex projects done.”
The space at 210 Joralemon St. is currently occupied by the city’s Department of Finance, which will both move to other city-owned space and consolidate within the building.
“Downtown Brooklyn’s resurgence is just one of New York City’s success stories,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a prepared statement about UAL's selection. “New York City has lost fewer jobs and is bouncing back from the downturn faster than the rest of the country, and that is no accident--it is because of our commitment to investing in neighborhoods and helping entrepreneurs create jobs across all five boroughs.”
Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz didn’t return a call from GlobeSt.com seeking comment in time for publication, but he praised the development at the site, which is across the street from his offices at 209 Joralemon St., in a statement his office provided. “As borough president, I like to think of all of Brooklyn as my own backyard, but it’s not often that I can actually look out of my office window and see a future economic powerhouse right across the street,” he said. “Let this be a message to all developers and businesses that there are underutilized City-owned buildings that would be perfect sites for economic development.”
In addition to retail and other jobs created through the project, construction is expected to create 64 full-time construction jobs, during a time at which unemployment in the industry remains at a record high.
Tenants have not been selected, though the site will include a full-service restaurant.
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