As more and more manufacturing leaves Bushwick and East Williamsburg to relocate their operations overseas where labor costs just a fraction of what it costs in the United States, empty building are giving ideas to real estate development firms. In the past year several formerly industrial buildings have been sold for tens of millions of dollars to be converted into what real estate people like to call “creative offices.” We assume the term means “not your typical corporate America office,” and they plan to cater to an emerging startup scene of Bushwick.
A prominent tech startup, Livestream, has moved to the former 3rd Ward building at 195 Morgan Ave in May 2014, and is credited with starting the movement. Nowadays, a number of smaller startup companies can be found working at Brooklyn Desks or The Common co-working and office spaces. But whether Bushwick will become the East Coast answer to Silicon Valley is unclear at this point.
In January, a duo of developers purchased a warehouse building located at 95 Evergreen Ave in Bushwick. Developers Hornig Capital Partners, Savanna and Chelsea Village Associates announced that they plan to convert the building into creative office spaces.
A couple of months later, the building dubbed 95 Evergreen, is being promoted on the internet, new promotional video has hit its website, and offices and retail spaces can be already leased through Wakefield & Cushman and Ripco.
Last month, Dallas and Boston-based development firms, purchased the building at 455 Jefferson Street near Montana’s Trail House. The Jefferson–as they call the building will serve as creative offices. The renovation of the building is planned for this fall and is anticipated to finish in July.
Similarly a building at 7 Bushwick Place is currently leased to a Korean food processing company but in a foreseeable future it will be transformed into… creative offices.
Mr. Steinwurtzel from one of the development firms that purchased 7 Bushwick Pl. told to Commercial Observer about Bushwick: “Most of the buildings that we own in Union Square [and] Hudson Square, began as manufacturing buildings. This area is undergoing the same transformation [as these neighborhoods did].”
