Tishman Unveils 620 KSF Creative Office Campus

By Keith Loria

Tishman Speyer and the HNA Group is developing The Wheeler, a 10-story creative office hub that will rise above Macy’s historic department store in the heart of downtown Brooklyn.

The Wheeler in Brooklyn, NYC

“The Wheeler will combine the best of vintage real estate and contemporary design, giving tenants the feeling of an open warehouse space with massive floorplates but without sacrificing all of the technological advances and amenities associated with brand new construction,” Rob Speyer, Tishman Speyer’s CEO, told Commercial Property Executive.

The name of the development is inspired by the visionary 19th century Brooklyn developer Andrew Wheeler, and was made possible by an innovative redevelopment partnership between Macy’s and Tishman Speyer. Macy’s will continue to own and operate the first four shopping floors and lower level of two interconnected buildings—a nine-story art deco building built in 1930 and an adjacent four-story, cast-iron structure that was built by Wheeler in the 1870s.

Tishman Speyer is constructing 10 brand-new office floors on top of the 1870s Wheeler building and will integrate that new construction into the upper floors of the 1930 art deco building that Macy’s is vacating. The lower four office floors will encompass 90,000 square feet of rentable space per floor, while the upper six office floors will range in size from 30,000 to 64,000 square feet.

The 620,000 square-foot vertical office campus will be spread across 10 expansive floors and will feature Brooklyn’s largest floorplate, 16-foot ceilings on each floor, an acre of outdoor space across a series of gardened terraces and roof decks and a dedicated amenity floor.

It will also offer sweeping views of Lower Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty and New York harbor.

The project is located in the heart of Brooklyn’s world-renowned cultural, residential and retail scene. The Wheeler will also benefit from its close proximity to some of the borough’s best cultural and public open space infrastructure, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Tech Triangle.

“For Tishman Speyer’s first-ever project in Brooklyn, we are creating an environment that is every bit as innovative, energetic and dynamic as the borough itself,” Speyer said in a prepared release. “The Wheeler will celebrate its special location at the epicenter of Brooklyn and feed off the vitality of the iconic brownstone neighborhoods, open spaces, cultural venues and creative communities that surround it on all sides.”

Renowned architect Joey Shimoda, founder of the Shimoda Design Group, and the architectural firm Perkins Eastman are working on the project.

The Wheeler is scheduled to be ready for occupancy in mid-2019.

HNA is also an investment partner with Tishman Speyer on the firm’s two planned Hudson Yards development projects.