Rendering of the Pioneer Building and its roof deck (Quinlan Development Group and Building and Land Technology)
The Pioneer Building at 41 Flatbush Avenue is the first major test of the chronically-tight Downtown Brooklyn office market. The 257,000-square foot commercial offering is finishing up a top-to-bottom overhaul that brings first-class office space and retail to the burgeoning central business district. The seventh floor is already leased to Gimlet Media who will move to the location from Gowanus later this year.
The project’s developers, Building and Land Technology and Quinlan Development Group, say The Pioneer Building is the first new office building in Downtown Brooklyn since 2002 and it is one of the largest to come online outside of Manhattan in decades. The developers purchased the 10-story, former self-storage buildings for $89.4 million in 2015, according to The Real Deal. The choice to do office was spurred by an increase in demand which resulted in office vacancy rates of 3.4% according to a 2014 report by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.
Rendering of the Pioneer Building (Quinlan Development Group and Building and Land Technology)
The Pioneer Building in 2014 prior to the repositioning (Google)
Renovated facade and new windows uncovered in fall 2017 (Google)
The Pioneer is located within the Brooklyn Cultural District, near City Point, Atlantic Terminal, Barclays Center and the new Apple and Whole Foods stores —not to mention 15 subway lines and LIRR. The project marries three turn-of-the-century storage buildings and introduces state-of-the-art building systems, new windows, tenant-controlled HVAC, industrial-sized elevators, a renovated lobby, and a landscaped roof terrace. Floor plates average 27,000 square feet in size and Cushman & Wakefield is leading leasing efforts.
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Beyer Blinder Belle were the architects behind the reinvention. Historic elements such as the barrel-vaulted terracotta ceilings, exposed brick walls, and its ornate limestone façade were preserved and restored. The building’s website allows users to take virtual and video tours of a typical floor plan, a potential penthouse floor build-out, and an enormous landscaped roof terrace with views over Brooklyn and the New York Harbor.
In June 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that Gimlet Media Inc. was the first tenant to sign into the building, taking 27,000 SF on the seventh floor. As for the 21,000-SF of retail, Real Estate Weekly reported in October that Blick Art Material, Smoothie King, and United Parcel Service (UPS) are opening up show within the building. CPEX is exclusively marketing the retail space.
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