Prudential JV Performs One of Largest Single-Asset Sales in Brooklyn History

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Andrew Sasson, Eastern Consolidated 

A 10-story, 257,000-square-foot self-storage facility in downtown Brooklyn has fetched a price of $90 million, paid by New York’s Quinlan Development Group L.L.C. and Building & Land Technology, of Stamford, Conn., which plan to convert the property into mostly Class A creative office space, along with retail. The buyers were represented by Eastern Consolidated, and the seller was a partnership between Prudential Real Estate Investors and Extra Space Storage.

The sale of 37-53 Flatbush Ave., also known as 41 Flatbush Ave. and as 76-92 Rockwell Place, was one of the largest single-asset sales ever in downtown Brooklyn, according to Eastern Consolidated director Andrew Sasson.

The conversion will start immediately, and “the goal is to be ready for tenants by year end,” Timothy Quinlan, principal of Quinlan Development, told Commercial Property Executive.  (The leases on the facility’s 355 storage units run for six-month terms at most, noted Eastern Consolidated, which gives the buyers the flexibility to vacate the building relatively quickly.)

“The building itself has beautiful decorative elements, along with high ceilings and large open floor plates,” added Quinlan. “As new construction cannot capture the same level of character, our goal is to preserve and highlight those architectural elements.”

The half-acre site is between Lafayette Avenue and Fulton Street and is close to both the Long Island Rail Road’s Atlantic Terminal and the Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center subway station, which provides access to nine subway lines (2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, N, Q and R).

Manhattan is only seven minutes away by train, noted Tyler Wilkins, partner at Quinlan Development.

Likely users of the building’s new office space, according to Timothy Quinlan, will be TAMI (technology, advertising, media and information) tenants “either originating from Brooklyn, but having outgrown their current space, or relocations from Manhattan, where rents have sky-rocketed and the available product type is less interesting. Many of the young professionals who typically work in these industries already live in Brooklyn, and more are on the way with all the new development that is going on.”

Downtown Brooklyn, he said, “is experiencing a large residential and retail boom, but there is a huge demand for office that is just not being met.”