CROWN HEIGHTS — It's coming.
Brooklyn Flea founder Jonathan Butler's closely-watched 1000 Dean Street development has begun courting commercial tenants, the first of whom are slated to move in this winter, DNAinfo has learned.
"This week we have six leases out and they’re all creative tenants," said broker Christopher Havens. "We’re aiming for Dec. 1."
Office tenants are the last piece in the building's ambitious revamp, which has been a subject of neighborhood chatter since Butler and his team first applied to serve liquor at their trendy ground floor food court last fall.
That 250-seat eatery and the simultaneous opening of a massive test kitchen facility by Bushwick's 3rd Ward in the same building have stirred both anxiety and excitement from neighbors.
But the influx of hundreds of DUMBO-style office workers could have an even larger long-term impact.
"There’s very few buildings this large that have been turned into office space," Havens said of the 140,000-square-foot former Studebaker Service Station. "[At full occupancy] it's going to be about 400 to 500 people. It's going to have a big impact on the area."
For some, the impact is already apparent. Even months before it opens, 1000 Dean Street is already drawing other businesses to the previously sleepy stretch of northwestern Crown Heights.
"We think it’s going to be the next hot spot," new Classon Avenue bar owner Diana Mora told DNAinfo New York in August, when her music venue Friends and Lovers applied for a liquor license in the shadow of the massive complex. "We’ll definitely leverage the relationship."
So far, at least, the development is drawing tenants who already live in the area.
"The furthest away is Grand Army Plaza. There’s Crown Heights, Bed-Stuy, and Prospect Heights," Havens said. "DUMBO was one-third word of mouth and this is going to be all word of mouth. Most people coming in will be coming from within a mile."
