The Real Deal shares the information that the Helen Keller Services for the Blind, the American organization which helps blind, visually impaired and deaf-blind people to live, work and thrive independently, plans to sell a 96,000-square-foot office building in Downtown Brooklyn. This office building offers 200,000 square feet of space. While there is no asking price specified, there are words going around that it is offered for the price of $80 million, a sweeping $400 per buildable square foot.
The property is a six- storey building located at 57-63 Willoughby Street and is currently almost fully occupied. Spanning two floors and measuring 20,900 square feet, this organization occupies 20, 900 square feet of its total space. Once sold, the Helen Keller Services will be relocating in a still undisclosed location, but still within Brooklyn.
Property records show that the maximum available square footage of the building is 198,300 square feet. The building is being offered in the market by Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan of CBRE Real Estate.
The marketing strategy for the sale of the building is actually still unclear, but Tim King of CBRE Real Estate claimed there are three possible development options- a hotel conversion, a residential conversion or a mixed- use redevelopment with retail expanded to the second floor. King has been able to give this idea as he is familiar with the building.
The Housing Works, a non-profit organization which helps people fight AIDS and homelessness is the flagship office tenant.
At present, a retail component, which measures 9,450-square-feet, occupies the entire first floor. People who are knowledgeable of the plan said the retail releases are slated to expire in the next three to five years.
The Helen Keller Services for the Blind was founded in 1893 with the primary aim of helping the blind and those visually impaired gain independence. The Helen Keller Services also maintains a huge Long Island campus.
Thomas Edwards, Chief Executive Officer of the Helen Keller Services, could not be reached yet for comments.
The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership report from August shows that Downtown Brooklyn remains to have the lowest office vacancy rate in this part of New York City, with 3.4 percent. The place has a total of 17 million square- feet of occupied office space.
