City eyes Downtown Brooklyn as site for new office space.

During the late 90's -- in the midst of the country's economic boom -- New York City watched helplessly as companies seeking lower-priced office space fled to the New Jersery waterfront, taking thousands of jobs with them.

With a vow to end the exodus, city officials announced a plan to develop Downtown Brooklyn. The plan calls for building as much as 5.4 million SF of new office space that presumably would rent for less than $40 a SF and compete with office space in places like Jersey City which many firms considered an attractive place to locate back office and other operation.

The city expects to spend about $100 million over a 7- to 10-year period to execute the plan. That figure does not include the cost of transportation improvements, officials said.

"During the last boom, this city did not have space for companies that wanted to come here," said Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding Daniel Doctoroff. "We are still paying the price for that."

In the 1990's, New Jersey created over 12 million SF of space, enough for 50,000 workers. The opportunity cost to the city of 50,000 jobs is equivalent to $150 million in 2003 dollars. In 2000, 32 New York City companies relocated to New Jersey, resulting in the loss of 9,000 jobs, according to statistics compiled by the city from the U.S. Department of Labor, Cushman & Wakefield, and the NJ Department of Economic Development.

Doctoroff announced the Bloomberg administration's Plan for Downtown Brooklyn at a press conference last week at the Metro Tech Center in Downtown Brooklyn. He was joined by Amanda Burden, director of City Planning, Joshua Sirefman, chief operating officer of the city's Economic Development Corporation, and a host of Brooklyn officials including Borough President Marty Markowitz.

Under the plan, four sites near the Metro Tech Center have been identified as potential locations for new office development. Three new office towers -- with as much as 3 million SF of space -- could be built abutting a newly created 1.5-acre park on Willoughby Street just west of Flatbush Avenue Extension. Another office development anchoring the west end of downtown at Boerum Place was identified with a total development potential of nearly 850,000 SF.

The sites are owned by several different entities and some assemblage of sites would be required before highrise office towers could be built, officials said.

"The city sees Downtown Brooklyn as a key to its economic development," Burden said. "Though the expansion of commercial and residential opportunities as well as significant investment in public open space and streetscape improvements, we hope to transform Downtown Brooklyn into one of the greatest office districts in the city."

The city views Downtown Brooklyn -- which currently has a Class A office space vacancy rate of .2% as a place where companies may locate back office operations or shift some of its workers under plans to disperse operations. Doctoff said the city has not had discussions with potential tenants or discussed public incentives that may be necessary to bring new office development to life. But the city must take proactive steps to ensure that the tools are in place so that development can move forward when economic conditions are right.

"No one can predict when the market will turn around but it is vitally important that, as the city's economy recovers, we are prepared to offer companies viable and affordable locations to meet their expansion needs," Doctoroff said.

One obstacle to new development in Downtown Brooklyn is that the area is "underzoned." Officials plan to issue a draft scope for the Environmental Impact Statement this month and hold the first public meeting on the proposed zoning changes in May. The project is expected to be certified into the Uniform Land Use Review Process this fall and will take seven months to complete. Public meetings will be held throughout the process and progress reports will be given, officials said.

Specific zone changes were not discussed, but officials said the height of new buildings may not adhere to the unofficial ceiling of 34 stories and 512 feet -- long the norm in the neighborhood -- set by the Willamsburgh Savings Bank building at the edge of Fort Greene.

The plan also calls for creating 1,000 new residential units on the eastern side of Flatbush Avenue Extension, from Tillary to Willoughby Streets, and along the south side of Myrtle Avenue, east of Flatbush Avenue Extension. Other development sites have been identified along Livingston Street between Smith Street and Flatbush Avenue. The city is hoping the new residential development will help connect the downtown area with existing residential areas in Fort Greene and Boerum Hill.

"We want to knit the communities with one another," Burden said.

The plan also calls for drawing upon and expanding the neighborhood's rich cultural and intellectual resources, such as those found at Polytechnic University, Brooklyn Law School and St. Joseph's College. Planned parking facilities could bring an additional 2,000 parking spots, city officials said.

"In the 1980's Brooklyn Union Gas, now KeySpan, was a pioneer, deciding to build a world headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn before being here was in vogue," said Robert Catell, chairman and chief executive officer of KeySpan Corporation and chairman of the Downtown Brooklyn Council. "Simply stated, Downtown Brooklyn is a great place to do business. The Bloomberg administration's vision for Downtown Brooklyn builds upon that fact and presents a very exiting plan for creating a truly outstanding downtown."