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Brooklyn Broadside: Will Jehovah's Witnesses Abandon Brooklyn Heights?

By Dennis Holt

Thursday’s New York Times produced sharp contrasts that had nothing to do with healthcare reform, at least for subscribers.

Inside the plastic bag was a hefty 144-page full-color bro-chure by Halstead Property promoting residential opportunities. Back when there was a crazy housing boom, these sales products were quite common, and everybody tried to outdo the other realty firms.

But this was the first one I’ve seen in at least a year, and I don’t think it is a harbinger of things to come, at least not yet.

If only because of a news report inside the paper. I will quote the opening paragraph: “After five consecutive years in which residential construction in New York exceeded 30,000 apartments and houses annually, fewer than 6,300 units will be built this year, according to the latest report from the New York Building Congress ...”

According to the story, more than 460 residential projects have been delayed, about a third of them in Brooklyn.

Adding to the contrasts of dynamics, Eagle Real Estate Editor Linda Collins contributed yet another contrast in Thursday’s paper by noting that a Greenpoint developer, Tree Top Development, is holding an auction, a Brooklyn first for 16 brand-new luxury condos on Nov. 11. Could this be the wave of the future?

And then there is Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, more popularly known at the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are the largest single property owner in the Heights, own a huge chunk of DUMBO, own the old Bossert Hotel on Montague Street, and have waterfront property facing Pier 1 below the Heights. They also own buildings at Bridge Plaza.

(We haven’t made the effort to find out, but the Witnesses could be the largest single landowner in Brooklyn except for government.)

But as Collins and others have reported, the Witnesses seem to be in the process of abandoning ship in Brooklyn, if not in total.

They already own 248 acres in Ramapo, and Collins reports that they are in the process of buying 253 acres near their Wallkill printing plant. They have not bought all this property to watch the grass grow. To show a comparison to what they have here to what they are going to get, note this:

The two headquarters buildings in the North Heights consist of more than 706,000 square feet, a sizeable holding. If you convert that space into acres, it comes to a sparse 16.2 acres. Does anything come to mind?

They own eight other buildings in the Heights that are on the market, in addition to the Bossert. That old hotel was almost sold by Robert Levine, who owns 360 Furman St., but then the crash came.

The crash is holding a lot of things up. Surely, when the market improves, the Witnesses will sell their DUMBO locations and probably their buildings on Sands Street.

Their waterfront building near Old Fulton also has to coveted by residential developers. Brooklyn Bridge Park people also look at it as a source of operating revenue in future years, maybe even as a hotel and conference center.

So, stay tuned for a grand au revoir. 

Post Date: 10/23/2009

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