Ample Hills Among Slew of Tenants Taking Space at Brooklyn’s Whale Building
By Isabelle Durso September 24, 2024 3:14 pm
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The Whale Building in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, is about to get a little sweeter.
Popular Brooklyn-based ice cream shop Ample Hills Creamery will take 5,492 square feet of office space at Capstone Equities’ 500,000-square-foot industrial building at 14 53rd Street, Commercial Observer has learned.
The asking rent was $28 per square foot, according to a spokesperson for landlord broker Newmark (NMRK). The spokesperson declined to provide the length of the lease, but Ample Hills is expected to move into the building in November.
The ice cream company was part of a slew of nine deals totaling nearly 20,000 square feet signed in the building over the last month, the spokesperson said.
“The leasing momentum at The Whale reaffirms the strength of [our] strategic approach to property revitalization and tenant engagement since we initiated our plan earlier this year,” Newmark’s Jordan Gosin, who brokered the deals on behalf of Capstone along with Bernard Weitzman, Ryan Gessin, Christopher Ventura and Rohan Kapoor, said in a statement.
“This success highlights the growing need for tenants that require flexible and adaptable workspaces to meet their evolving needs,” Gosin added.
Ample Hills currently has five retail locations in New York City, after opening shops across Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. The office at The Whale is a relocation for the ice cream purveyors.
The deal comes after the ice cream chain was forced to file for bankruptcy in March 2020 after reporting liabilities between $10 million and $50 million, as CO previously reported.
The bankruptcy was likely due to Ample Hills’ ambitious 2018 opening of a 15,000-square-foot factory and museum at 421 Van Brunt Street in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, which ultimately led to the company laying off 101 of its employees in New York City.
Ample Hills was subsequently sold to manufacturing company Schmitt Industries for $1 million in June 2020, Eater New York reported. But in March 2021, Jackie Cuscuna and Brian Smith, co-founders of Ample Hills, started anew when they opened a new ice cream shop, The Social at 816 Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights.
A spokesperson for Capstone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The other new leases — which range from 818 square feet to 3,180 square feet — at The Whale include tile retailer Bravo Stone and Tile, electrical manufacturer Master Acos, yoga studio A Safe Space, production company Gotham West Studios, boutique NY Is My Happy Place, skin care company Soapwalla, soccer club Brooklyn City F.C., and cafe City League Coffee Cafe Space and Roasting.
All of the tenants will be taking space at The Whale, which Capstone acquired from Nightingale Properties for roughly $70 million in May 2023, as CO previously reported. The former Whale Oil Company headquarters building was purchased by Nightingale in 2020 for $84 million.
Ever since Capstone acquired the property, leasing has been going swimmingly. In addition to the nine new leases, photography studio Whale Square Productions and financial planner Express Capital Financing signed two separate deals at the waterfront building in March, CO reported.
Capstone is also planning on expanding the amenities offered at The Whale, including introducing pickleball courts on the third floor in collaboration with Socceroof, Newmark said.
Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.
