Empire State Realty Trust pays $195M for Williamsburg retail

REIT expands footprint with two portfolios on North 6th Street

Empire State Realty Trust is set to expand its retail presence in Brooklyn.

The real estate investment trust which owns the Empire State Building is set to spend $195 million on two deals to buy retail locations in Williamsburg, according to a statement first reported by Bloomberg.

The company said these will be all-cash deals, one for $103 million and the other for $92 million. They have not closed yet.

The new portfolios, the costlier of which is five storefronts totaling 40,000 square feet, are in addition to the company’s other retail locations in Williamsburg’s prime shopping corridor on North Sixth Street. The company already owns 77 North Sixth Street and 157-159 Wythe Avenue. Anchor tenants at the properties include Glossier, Glowbar and Sugarfish.

The company said in a statement the purchases “are consistent with our strategy to recycle capital and balance sheet capacity from non-core suburban assets into strong NYC assets,” according to Bloomberg.

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Williamsburg has been a growing hotspot for retail development in recent years. Two Trees’ redeveloped Refinery at Domino includes 460,000 square feet of office space. The landlord in October signed Equinox for a 42,000-square-foot gym and health club and earlier this month.inked a 10-year lease with cannabis dispensary Gotham for 4,000 square feet of the ground floor at 300 Kent Avenue.

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TMPL gym owner Patrick Walsh has also expanded the company’s footprint to Williamsburg  with a 20-year lease for 17,700 square feet of the ground floor and lower level of Hotel Indigo at 500 Metropolitan Avenue.

New high-end development is also on its way to the neighborhood. Naftali Group chief executive Miki Naftali has plans for a sprawling development in Williamsburg including a five-tower, 1 million-square-foot project on the Brooklyn waterfront, dubbed Williamsburg Wharf.

 — Christina Previte

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