The Real Deal covers Brooklyn’s top 10 retail leases of 2023, ranked by square footage. All data is through November. Here are the largest leases for the neighborhoods we cover:
1. Life Time | Prospect Heights | 36,470 square feet
The fitness center agreed early this year to lease the first three floors of the 51-story Brooklyn Crossing tower at Pacific Park. This will be their 3rd location in Brooklyn, scheduled to open in 2024. Pacific Park will also be home to two public schools as of September ’24.
2. Community High School | Downtown Brooklyn | 35,000 square feet
Community High School charted a new path for 250 Jay Street by leasing 35,000 square feet where the City University of New York once occupied all five stories.
3. Daily Deals Bins | Downtown Brooklyn | 29,318 square feet
Daily Deals Bins signed a deal of its own at 485 Fulton Street, agreeing to take more than 29,000 square feet for the discount retailer’s first store in New York City which recently opened.
4. Ember Charter Schools | Vinegar Hill | 25,000 square feet
A second charter school expanded in Brooklyn. Ember Charter Schools took 25,000 square feet for two floors at 295 Front Street in Vinegar Hill and is operating their high school at this location as of school year 23/24.
5. The Fresh Grocer | Downtown Brooklyn | 21,000 square feet
The Fresh Grocer along the Fulton Street Mall at 523 Fulton Street has leased a 21,000 square feet space.
6. Golfzon Social | Downtown Brooklyn | 18,000 square feet
Driving ranges aren’t common in Downtown Brooklyn, but Golfzon Social pledged to change that with a 10-year, 18,000-square-foot lease at Tishman Speyer’s 11 Hoyt Street. It is an indoor golf center and driving range, also offering food and drinks, birthday parties, events, arcade games, camps and lessons. They plan to open the in 2024.
7. Salons by JC | Downtown Brooklyn | 13,316 square feet
Avery Hall Investments signed Salons by JC to the tenant’s first Brooklyn lease, a 20-year deal for more than 13,000 square feet at One Boerum Place. Salons by JC rents out salon suites to a broad array of beauty service providers including barbers, massage therapists, hair dressers and other services.
9. Marlow Events | Vinegar Hill | 12,500 square feet
FM Capital’s 295 Front Street landed a tenant for a top-floor event space, according to the Commercial Observer. Restaurateur Andrew Tarlow signed a 15-year lease in the building, which includes a 7,000-square-foot hall on the seventh floor, a 3,000-square-foot wraparound deck and a 2,500-square-foot commercial kitchen in the basement.
