Rent Freeze and Fulton Street Development Dominate Brooklyn Panel Discussions

Brooklyn was the only topic at a Thursday event that investment sales brokerage TerraCRG sponsored, with Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s rent freeze and a retail revival on Fulton Street the topics of the day.

The Only Brooklyn Real Estate Conference at BRIC (formerly known as Brooklyn Information & Culture), at 647 Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn, started off with words from Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg.

In a keynote address, Bozorg spoke about how the city is entering a new era of housing development as the expedited land use review procedure (ELURP) takes hold in 12 City Council districts.

“Over half of the city’s renters are rent-burdened, meaning they pay more than 30 percent of their income towards rent, and a large share are paying 50 percent of their income towards rent,” Bozorg said. “The impacts of this crisis are pretty heartbreaking: people deferring dreams, deferring family formation, increasing homelessness, families accepting overcrowded or unsafe conditions.”

The Mamdani administration is addressing the problem through programs like “Block-by-Block: The Housing Plan for New Era,” a $5.6 billion plan to create 200,000 new affordable homes and preserve another 200,000.

The first of two panels, the “Future of Brooklyn Multifamily,” was moderated by Commercial Observer Editor-in-Chief Max Gross, with speakers including Z+G Property Group’s Jay Greenberg, Camber Property Group’s Rick Gropper, TerraCRG’s Matthew Cosentino and PH Realty Capital’s Peter Hungerford.

Mamdani’s rent freeze, which went into effect  Oct. 1, was a big topic with panelists, who doubted the legality of the decision by the Rent Guidelines Board as it faces a lawsuit and anticipated major downsides for the affordable housing market.

“If I was the mayor and I wanted to push that, I would have manipulated it and made it a half a point increase or 1-and-a-half point increase,” Cosentino said. “I think it’s gonna be found unlawful, but I don’t think it’s gonna make a big difference. If it’s a 1 percent increase and you own thousands of units, I think maybe it helps, but I think even if it’s found unlawful, it’s not going to be a substantial enough increase to make a big difference.”

The second panel, the “Downtown Brooklyn Market Boom,” was moderated by MNS Real Estate’s Andrew Barrocas. Speakers included Lonicera Partners’ Jamie Anthony, Alloy’s Jared Della Valle, United American Land’s Albert Laboz and TerraCRG’s Dan Marks.

Laboz spoke extensively about his 40-year career in Downtown Brooklyn, which is experiencing a retail revival with a former Macy’s building at 422 Fulton Street becoming a four-story retail atrium. The 440,000-square-foot entertainment complex will be known as BKX.

“I think once this is developed, it’s really going to be a catalyst for change on Fulton Street,” Laboz said. “I could get T.J. Maxx or Ross Dress for Less to lease space tomorrow, there’s nothing wrong with those tenants, I’ll [lease space to] them anywhere else except in this particular location.”

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.