How Do Typical Brooklyn Tenants Choose Their Locations

A recent client, a successful ‘special effects’ tenant working in the real time broadcast television field, told me he had to make a choice between  our building,  1000 Dean Street in Crown Heights, near his home or another building near his daughter’s new elementary school in Park Slope. Since his wife goes to work earlier, the tenant-slash-dad is the parent who takes his child to school, and this factor led him to choose the space closer to the school, rather than our building.

Generally, the Brooklyn creative tenant has growing children. Women make up half or more of the non-tech creative industry ownership and work force (while tech still very male dominated) and the modern dads often have a near equal role in child rearing. Therefore, these tenants seek good space as close to their families as possible. As a result, I’m seeing active leasing in Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Crown Heights, Sunset Park and Dumbo, and increased interest in Downtown Brooklyn.

Given the super tight market in Dumbo and steady absorption of all space in and near Downtown Brooklyn, even larger tenants are looking, or will have to look, further afield, due to the lack of product and the home location of their key employees in Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights, Kensington, Sunset and Bay Ridge. For example, most large DUMBO tenants’ staff live in these areas, or up north in Williamsburg , Greenpoint and Bushwick.

I have a theory that 9/11 caused most working professionals to want to work closer to home. Combined with the demographics noted above, every neighborhood needs office space and some are getting it, spreading the modern work force around our borough, to the advantage of those ‘hoods and their families living in them.