[NYguy]

https://thebridgebk.com/champion-dow...-all-together/

Downtown Brooklyn’s Champion Aims to Take It Up a Notch
How Regina Myer, president of the neighborhood's business partnership, plans to keep its remarkable growth on track



Regina Myer, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, photographed on the roof of The Gotham, on Ashland Place


By THE EDITORS
August 31, 2017

3. What’s your position on big projects like 80 Flatbush Ave.?

I think the brilliance of that proposal is that the Alloy team realized the potential of that site. It’s a large site and it already has a school on the site, a 19th century school building, which is so charming. Alloy put together a proposal that really builds on those strengths, adding space for a second school, and respecting the historic nature the beautiful building on the corner. They also had the foresight to integrate Class A office space into the project, which, in addition to the other infrastructure the project will provide, will really meet a critical need downtown.

What I’d like to promote is that all these large sites should be developed to their potential in terms of mixed use. City Point leads in that way. The development team there also had a large site, a failing mall site. They understood the shopping potential, given its prominent location, but added residential and a modicum of office to that because they understood that this format makes sense.

4. Work has started on Brooklyn’s first supertall. What’s your take?

Well, for one, it’s a tremendously handsome building as designed right now. It’s wonderful to see that caliber of architecture, and to envisage it on Flatbush Avenue, obviously so careful in respecting the exterior and interior landmark of the Dime Savings Bank, the bedrock of Fulton Street. I think that the magic of that tower, though, is that it will be Brooklyn’s tallest. It really could be this phenomenal beacon on Flatbush Avenue. I’m a huge supporter of that project. I think we all feel that it will bring a lot of energy.

5. How hot is the business rivalry of Brooklyn vs. Manhattan?

I’ve lived in Brooklyn since 1991, so I personally think Brooklyn is a better place. [Laughs] But I don’t see this as a rivalry. I think the incredible strength of New York City is that we have great places and we have a lot of them, right? Even 20 years ago, we didn’t have Downtown Brooklyn the way we have it, but also we didn’t have a Flatiron District that was so active.

That’s the magic of New York City: this incredible evolution. But I do think Brooklyn is leading the nation in this idea of rebirth and this idea that coming back to the city can be an incredible, exciting thing to do. To continue to propel that is something that motivates all of us here at the partnership.

6. Not many big Manhattan firms have arrived here yet. Why not?

How could they move here if we don’t have the Class A space available for them? For a few years now we’ve been at a record low commercial-vacancy rate for the area. Right now we’re at around 3%. A main reason for that is the area is really lacking in Class A space. So we’re thrilled to see investment in projects like what Tishman Speyer is doing with the Macy’s space, and the ground-up office projects by the Rabsky Group and JEMB Realty. But even with that lack of space currently online, we’ve had some incredible talent coming to Brooklyn. West Elm, Etsy, Huge, now Gimlet Media, have all made Brooklyn home. I think that’s a pretty impressive roster. And when United Technologies feels the need to be near them, that’s interesting.

Obviously there’s a multitude of tenants who are relocating in Manhattan and we can’t compete for them all, but what we have that’s distinctly different is this subset of companies that really appreciate being in Dumbo and other parts of the Tech Triangle. And they are coming here because they love the culture of Brooklyn. They want to be near their employees or they want their employees to work close to home, or they want to make a statement that they are distinctly different. And that’s the magic to me of West Elm, that they have embodied this idea of Brooklyn in their national branding identity.