Brooklyn's Progress
August/September 2006

BY MARIA FIORINI RAMIREZ

The prospects for the regional economy have continued to improve as jobs have grown at a steady pace and demand continues to drive building activity especially in Brooklyn.  Brooklyn has not looked this good in many decades, or ever in recent history and the investment activity from the public and private sector is going to give Brooklyn a tremendous competitive advantage for many decades ahead.  This is coming about because of many years of planning and cooperation from all sides.  Many of the challenges that communities usually encounter have been overcome by the sheer willingness of all parties to set aside differences and work toward one goal – a better community to live in, raise families, work and enjoy the environment for the long term.

Residential and Commercial Construction
So what is happening in Brooklyn?  Presently there are 21,000 new apartments currently in development.  The real estate market has hardly been affected by the slowdown that some other communities and cities around the country have been experiencing the last year.  On the commercial real estate front, the Downtown Class A office market which consists of 17 million square feet has only a 7% vacancy rate. There is $20 billion worth of private development currently going on throughout Brooklyn with 14 million square feet of new construction currently in progress.

Waterfront and Parks
There are significant other projects in the pipeline that will drive changes from the composition of Brooklyn’s economy to its skyline, waterfront and quality of life.

New parks, ports, cultural institutions and the residential construction activity are in the forefront of these changes and are helping to alter the landscape.

Some of this new landscape has already been created or is right around the corner. On the Brooklyn waterfront, a new multi-million cruise ship terminal was opened this year and makes Brooklyn the home port for some of the new generation of super-sized ocean liners, including the Queen Mary 2.
 
Further north, the Port Authority has just turned over ownership of its unused piers on the Downtown Brooklyn waterfront to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation to complete the footprint for Brooklyn Bridge Park, which will stretch along the waterfront from DUMBO and the Manhattan Bridge to Atlantic Avenue. Replacement of the piers and total completion of the park will still take years, but visitors and residents are already enjoying the northern end of the park.

Arts and Entertainment
Another project that will change the landscape in a major way is the Atlantic Yards development, which is moving through the public review process right now. In addition to an indoor sports arena for the Nets, the development will bring new life and new commercial and residential uses to replace what have largely been empty railroad yards east of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues.

Expansion at many of the borough’s cultural institutions is also adding new facilities for visitors, generating new economic activity. This includes a new auditorium and entrance plaza at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library at Grand Army Plaza, a new Visitor Center at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and a huge expansion at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum that is doubling its exhibit space. This activity comes on the heels of recent major improvements at the Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

The upgrading of the beach areas at Brighton Beach and Coney Island are already generating commercial and recreational opportunities to improve the quality of the nearby neighborhoods and add jobs. New apartment construction in Brighton Beach is continuing to fuel the revitalization of the regional shopping area on Brighton Beach Avenue. The Transit Authority’s striking new Stillwell Avenue Terminal is a modern complement to the KeySpan Park minor league baseball stadium. These two projects are sparking other improvements in the nearby commercial and amusement areas and we can look for much more positive change here over the next 24 months, encouraged by the city’s Coney Island Development Corporation.

Retail Expansion
Brooklyn is still under retailed and national chains have come to realize that Brooklyn is underserved. The new Target department store on Atlantic Avenue was an instant success the day it opened and, there will be more retail expansion over the next 18 months, such as the huge new facility Ikea will open in Red Hook. Costco says that its highest performing store in the world is the store it has in Brooklyn.  As these retailers continue to establish their presence, so will retail jobs expand and the economy as a whole.

There is still some serious work that needs to be accomplished, especially in accommodating the needs for lower income housing.  The key in accomplishing this will be continuous cooperation among all parties to make sure that along the way of improving the quality of life no one gets left behind.

Maria Fiorini Ramirez is President and CEO of Maria Fiorini Ramirez, Inc., an independent global economic and financial consulting firm that was ranked the third best forecast for economics and interest rates out of more than 50 economists all over the U.S. for the first half of 2006. Ms. Ramirez served on the Board of Directors of Independence Community Bank until it was acquired by Sovereign Bank in June 2006; she is now a member of the Board of Directors of Sovereign Bank.