Peter Schubert knows what kind of retail Brooklynites (and trendy landlords) want.
“Cool has become tangible now,” said Mr. Schubert, a partner at TerraCRG and its director of leasing, who has managed to link some extremely hip tenants to Brooklyn’s up-and-coming neighborhoods. “You are either cool or you are not. And if you are not cool, people will say you are not cool.”
In fact, cool surpasses practical. While 20 years ago “Putting a Starbucks or a Dunkin’ Donuts in most of these [Brooklyn] neighborhoods, you’d be thrilled. That is not what makes you money [today].”
Putting his finger on a cool tenant—one that appeals to the artisanal, esprit de hipster of Brooklyn—is the reason that RAL Companies, the developer of the 438-unit residential condominium One Brooklyn Bridge Park, hired Mr. Schubert to lease the 65,000 square feet of retail and office space at the building about a month ago.
“We interviewed quite a few folks,” Stuart Taft, a managing director at RAL, told Commercial Observer. “He understood the assignment without having to be told that we needed to develop more of a sense of community and create retail that make it a unique and interesting place to visit but also provide services better than telling you here is a major national player and I can bring them to the table.”
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