NEW YORK | 590 Atlantic Avenue | 700+ FT | FLOORS (1.5 mil sq-ft)

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Forest City in “very early” talks over Downtown BK site that could bring massive office tower

Forest City Realty Trust acknowledged Wednesday that it’s in talks over a development rights transfer at its Pacific Park megadevelopment in Downtown Brooklyn that could potentially give rise to the largest office building in the borough.

Speaking on the company’s year-end earnings call, Forest City president and CEO David LaRue said the company is “really very early in the discussion” about development possibilities at 590 Atlantic Avenue, also known as Pacific Park’s Site 5.

But LaRue acknowledged that Forest City, through the Greenland Forest City joint venture partnership that is developing Pacific Park, has up to 650,000 square feet of development rights at a nearby plaza adjacent to the Barclays Center that could be transferred to Site 5.

“It’s really very early in the discussion about building [on the site], but it’s an opportunity to evaluate the right placement of that office square footage,” LaRue said.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Greenland Forest City was exploring the possibility of securing state approval for such a development rights transfer that would enable construction of a massive, 1.5 million-square-foot office tower at 590 Atlantic Avenue.

Forest City — which converted into a real estate investment trust at the start of this year — also discussed its outlook on the Brooklyn office and residential markets, in which it remains a sizable player.

On the residential side, the company said that despite “lots of supply” coming online in Brooklyn, it has seen “strength in demand” that has helped absorb new units. Executives pointed to strong leasing at Forest City’s 80 DeKalb Avenue residential tower in Downtown Brooklyn as an example, but also noted that, “at some point, supply may slow down rent growth.”

A strong Brooklyn residential market has also driven more attention than ever toward the Brooklyn office market, which has become an increasingly attractive proposition for developers as more of the borough’s populace has looked to work “closer to where they live.”

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http://therealdeal.com/2016/02/24/fo...-office-tower/