Eyes on the Prize: The Hub to Rise in Downtown Brooklyn

The Steiner family is moving from movie studios at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to an apartment high rise on a low-rent stretch of Flatbush Avenue, just blocks from the Brooklyn Academy of Music at 333 Schermherhorn Street. Steiner Development expects to break ground this year on a new $350 million, 52-story tower called The Hub, at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Schermherhorn. With rents across Brooklyn soaring, the 740 planned apartments are expected to rent at market rates

It's a sure bet that there is enough demand for residential development in Brooklyn that people will begin to move beyond more traditional neighborhoods like Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, and Fort Greene. 

The Steiners' development company purchased the lot at Flatbush and Schermherhorn Avenues for $30 million and razed all the the existing buildings. They expect to be ready to break ground on the new project later this year.

The tower will cost between $325 and $350 million, with the 740 units planned to rent at market rates. Plans to build the Hub as a rental property come at a time when rents in New York, and Brooklyn in particular, are soaring. Rents across Brooklyn hit an 11-year high in 2013, and are expected to continue to grow. 

Even construction of new housing inventory like the Hub should not relieve upward pressure on rents, as new development will just lure more residents to Brooklyn from higher-priced Manhattan. 

"We called it The Hub because there are so many great neighborhoods radiating out from our site, it's got great transportation, it's got great shopping and restaurants, and now it's going to have the best-in-class buildings," Mr. Steiner said. "Downtown Brooklyn really is becoming the heart of the Brooklyn everybody's talking about."

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