Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Smith Street Sees Retail Rents Jump But Court Street Drops, Report Finds

By Nikhita Venugopal | September 23, 2016 3:55pm | Updated on September 26, 2016 8:30am
 Businesses along Smith Street in Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens.
Businesses along Smith Street in Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Nikhita Venugopal

COBBLE HILL — Retail rents on Cobble Hill's neighboring commercial streets are moving closer together — as Smith Street moved higher and Court Street dropped in the past year, according to a new report from the Real Estate Board of New York.

REBNY's Brooklyn summer retail report examines several hot retail corridors in the borough, including the most expensive ones on Williamsburg's Bedford Avenue and North 6th Street.

Smith Street, spanning Atlantic Avenue to Carroll Street, saw its average ground floor asking rent increase by 10 percent to $134 per square feet this summer as compared to $121 a year ago, the report found.

A block away along the same stretch, Court Street's average asking retail rents dipped 10 percent to $145 per square foot from last year's high price of $162 per square foot.

During 2015 and early 2016, more than a dozen businesses along Smith Street shuttered — including The Grocery, Char No. 4, By Brooklyn and Dassara Ramen — in part, due to rent hikes as well as a decline in foot traffic and the arrival of chain stores. On Friday, The JakeWalk said it would close its doors in October.

Despite the drop, Court Street's average prices still exceed Smith Street. Not far away, Brooklyn Heights's Montague Street increased by 27 percent to $190 per square foot this summer, according to the report. And Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn remains one of the most expensive corridors in the borough at $277 per square foot. 

Nearby in Park Slope, the neighborhood's major retail corridors saw similar movements to Smith and Court streets.

Between Union Street and Ninth Street, Seventh Avenue's average asking rent for ground floor retail rose six percent to $92 per square foot, whereas as Fifth Avenue fell two percent to $79 per square foot.

Williamsburg is still home to Brooklyn's most expensive average ground-floor retail rents, with stretches of Bedford Avenue and North 6th Street at $373 per square foot and $259 per square foot respectively.