This week's guest: Tim King Managing Partner SVN CPEX Real Estate

0:00 Speaker 1 Hello, this is Michael Stola for the Solo Real Estate Report on the Cat’s Roundtable today. I have somebody who is a Brooklyn born individual who operates in Brooklyn and is at one time I used to call him the King of Montegue Story, but is anywhere in Brooklyn everybody knows the managing partner and founder of SVNCPEX real Estate.

0:20 My friend Tim King, thanks for being here.

0:23 Speaker 2 Thank you for having Michael. Good to see you.

0:25 Speaker 1 So you were born in bay Ridge, Brooklyn, correct at bay Ridge Hospital. Where was bay Ridge Hospital?

0:30 Speaker 2 I didn’t even know about that.

0:31 Speaker 3 It’s currently a nursing home on Ovington Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Avenues.

0:36 Speaker 1 So you know, one of the things that you’ve done over your long career is that you were an innovator by bringing a Manhattan firm to Brooklyn. Let’s talk about that.

0:49 Speaker 3 Well. I can’t take credit for that. That’s Bob Knackle and Paul Masthew, but they were kind enough to ask me to open up their Brooklyn office in two thousand and two, and I like to think that those are some of the best years of my life.

1:00 Speaker 2 We had a great time.

1:02 Speaker 1 Now, as we were saying on the phone the other day, real estate is local. Downtown in bay Ridge is least what’s going on today in different sections of Brooklyn Because people know about downtown, everybody knows about Dumbo, everybody knows about Green Point Williamsburg. But what’s really happening downtown and all over Brooklyn?

1:22 Speaker 3 So all over Brooklyn’s a pretty general question. And I like to think that Brooklyn, or is I like to call it, King’s County, is for the most part, flourishing in every area. And you make a good point. I think some of the pockets that people don’t think of outside of the trophy names are in many ways flying

1:42 under the radar, but flourishing in.

1:44 Speaker 2 Their own right.

1:45 Speaker 1 Now, with regard to that, you were, as I said, you were in downtown Brooklyn. Now you’re in bay Ridge. I mean you’re headquarters, but it doesn’t mean that’s where you’re doing business. You’re doing business all through the city.

1:58 So what’s really happened in the Bay Ridge area? Okay, a number of years ago, when we were young, you didn’t have urgent care centers, you didn’t have ambulatory care centers. What’s happening with the healthcare market in Brooklyn?

2:11 Speaker 3 So the healthcare market is kind of the flavor of the day. They’re almost like the cell phone stores, the video stores, or the banks of yester years. Healthcare is a pretty booming industry, and I think that you’re seeing proliferation that’s already happened of urgent care. And I think you’ve seen a lot of the major hospitals expanding into

2:33 smaller facilities outside of Manhattan to better serve their patient.

2:37 Speaker 1 Base, right especially you know NYU lang Owne, New York Presbyterian. You know, all of these hospitals and the north Well system are growing by leaps and bounds. You’ve recently got involved in the least space to n YU langone. Let’s talk about that for a second.

2:53 Speaker 2 Thank you. That is correct.

2:55 Speaker 3 It’s an interesting property on eighty eighth Street in Bay Ridge where one of the more enlightened builders that have ever met created a very very unique property for any place outside of what you may think of as Manhattan or downtown. It’s probably the nicest space in South Brooklyn.

3:13 It’s not probably it is the nicest. He did some very innovative work in the building with terraces, landscape proof, intelligent elevators in a lobby that probably should be on the cover of architectural digest and before completion, and he worked through COVID to finish the building. We at least about forty percent of the building or twenty thousand square

3:32 feet to NYU ling On now.

3:34 Speaker 1 A couple of years ago, I think you were involved with the near the Bush terminal area with regard to a bed bath and beyond, let’s talk about that was an interesting project than where it is today.

3:46 Speaker 3 Well, sadly they’re no longer there today, but that was a great project. That was. Marvin Shine and his partner sal who had taken over a property that had been vacant for quite some times. Back when I first visited, there were pigeons flying into the building and I was able to help them by bringing bed better beyond and sacks or fifth to the building,

4:08 which together was almost about one hundred fifty thousand square feet of retail space and was a real shot in the arm for that part of Brooklyn, which in Sunset Park is is still one of those kind of under the radar but very very strong, both on the resident retail side.

4:23 Speaker 1 Now, who’s the retail in the space now.

4:25 Speaker 3 It’s being marketed, it’s currently vacant.

4:28 Speaker 1 Okay, with regard to other space, you know, people talk about different sections of Brooklyn and some of them are really not in the press a lot, like Coney Island. What’s your thoughts about Coney Island.

4:40 Speaker 3 So, Coney Island is again one of those areas where there’s been tremendous residential development over the last decade or so. The city spent the gazillion dollars renovating the subway station. It has in credits the Lantic Ocean one of the most beautiful beaches in board walks in the world. So for someone who is looking for an opportunity that maybe

5:00 doesn’t have a trophy name attached to it, Coney Allen is one of the places where we go and kick the tires. Okay.

5:05 Speaker 1 With regard to downtown Brooklyn, you know, a number of years ago office buildings were built at Metro, taking other locations up. There are those buildings or others being converted to residential today.

5:17 Speaker 3 I don’t think I’ve heard of any building that has been actively converted to reside now.

5:24 Speaker 1 With regard to new office buildings, I believe in downtown Brooklyn there are a couple of new office buildings that opened over the last couple maybe the last year or so well.

5:34 Speaker 3 One that would be one will Be Square, which was a property that i’d sold to the land to JMB Realty, and they built an extraordinary property there opposite the i’lb Square mall.

5:45 Speaker 2 And I do believe that they’re having.

5:47 Speaker 3 Great success with leasing, and part of it is because again they’ve created a better mousetrap.

5:53 Speaker 1 Now with regard to that, what’s your thoughts about all of the construction on Flappish Avenue.

6:00 Speaker 3 I think over time it’ll be occupied, it’ll’ll be full, and I think people are going to be happy. You know, you mentioned Flapper Shevenue. It’s kind of interesting. Some thirty odd years ago I sold the property by Brooklyn College by the Junction neighborhood. The same family still owns the property.

6:15 Back then I rented about seven thousand square feet to Suny downstate. They’d occupied it ever since. They’re now leaving and looking to lease the space for the second time.

6:25 Speaker 1 So you know, it’s a cycle. Everything moves around over the cycle. With regard to cycles, certain places have a bad reputation. As we were saying before, one of them would be considered East New York. What do you see happening in the East New York neighborhood.

6:40 Speaker 3 Well, just like we talked about Coney Island with the big infrastructure project with the subway, East New York is seen in the same sort of circumstances where the public transit’s being significantly upgraded and the city is committed to moving some back office or office space there. And I do think in an area like that is where someone

6:57 can find a lump of coal and if they’re hard enough, they’re going to find they have a diamond.

7:02 Speaker 1 What about the green Point? Okay, it was Williamsburg and now I think Greenpoint’s hot.

7:07 Speaker 3 Williamsburg and Greenpoint have been hot for quite some time. They still are. It’s interesting how neighborhoods like that have transitioned into such a from what was once let’s call it working class neighborhood into becoming somewhat of a chic area.

7:23 Speaker 1 You know, people forget that Brooklyn has one of the largest shopping set, this King’s Plaza Mall. What’s happening there today because many of the tenants, you know, have turned over. It’s hard to believe it’s been opened over fifty years.

7:37 Speaker 3 What’s funny you say that, because when I was a kid there used to be a boatyard where the mall is today, and my dad kept his boat on the other side of mill basin And when they shut down the Mariner, we bought some stuff that was left over, basically a fire sale there. And when the mall was built,

7:53 it was a game changer for Brooklyn and it’s still one of the strongest retail properties in the Tri State area.

7:59 Speaker 1 You know, with regard to you know, it was a marina what about sheep said day and Brighton Beach today.

8:06 Speaker 3 So again, these areas that enjoy beautiful waterfront have very very strong and residential areas and the retail is some of the most significant and strongest in the area. I recently found an article I wrote back in the eighties for one of the trade papers when the London estate was sold, and I said at the time that with

8:24 the revitalization of the Loneli’s properties that there was an opportunity for she Was at Bay to become the fishermen’s Wharf of New York City.

8:31 Speaker 1 For my younger listeners, tell me what Lundy’s was. I’m aware of it, but I want to hear.

8:37 Speaker 3 Lundi’s was a seafood restaurant on the waterfront in Sheep said Bay that at one time I think there were serving one thousand dinners every two hours or whatever. It was happening.

8:48 Speaker 1 Place interesting. So what do you think it’s going to be converted to.

8:52 Speaker 3 Well, it’s currently occupied, but it recently has changed some to new management and I think you’ll see some upgrades and again an increase in the types of tenants. And I think that again ships at Bay, Brighton Beach, Coney Island, they all enjoy the same ocean front and all the benefits that come from salt there and being on the

9:12 beautiful Brooklyn waterfront.

9:14 Speaker 1 So where do you see the opportunities today for a developer in Brooklyn. I know it’s a tough question in general, but I’d like just a little thought on that.

9:26 Speaker 3 I think any place where someone can find a piece of land that they think the numbers make sense for them, you have to kind of close your eyes, sign the check and just go ahead and do it.

9:35 Speaker 1 And you also have to have the capabilities of obtaining financing.

9:40 Speaker 2 That’s all different story, no question.

9:42 Speaker 1 I’d like to thank my friend Tim King for being here and I’ll see you next week.

9:45 Speaker 2 Thank you. Michael