Hollywood’s $500 million bet on Brooklyn could send Bushwick and Red Hook home prices soaring
Two Brooklyn neighborhoods are poised to see tremendous growth as Hollywood moves in.
Bushwick and Red Hook will each be the site of a film studio, collectively valued at $500 million, from Los Angeles. Echelon Studios.
While you’d be hard-pressed to find a neighborhood in Brooklyn that hasn’t undergone a staggering transformation in recent decades, these two neighborhoods aren’t at the forefront of gentrified trendiness the way Williamsburg, Park Slope, and Fort Greene are.
Real estate experts welcome the projects.
“The arrival of two major studio projects in Red Hook and Bushwick is a transformative victory for both neighborhoods,” says Jenny Lenzdirector of Dolly Lenz real estate.
“It brings the kind of jobs, investment and global attention that reliably increases home valuations, while also confirming what many New Yorkers have known for years: Bushwick and Red Hook embody authentic New York.”
“These communities already resonate with the creative community, and the addition of world-class studios will only enhance their cultural cachet and introduce them to buyers around the world who may have never discovered these remarkable parts of Brooklyn.”
Lights, camera… Brooklyn
Echelon Studios has more than 15,000 independent entertainment titles, including the comedy “Nobody Knows Anything” with Ben Stiller And Mike Myers; documentaries; Bollywood musicals; Asian martial arts films; faith-based films; and small horror films with titles like “Crawling Hand” and “My Mom’s a Werewolf.”
Realtor.com® contacted Echelon for comment.
Hollywood is increasingly looking beyond La La Land: A $1 billion Netflix film campus is being built in Monmouth County, NJ. And rural Bastrop, Texas, was chosen for the new Texas Line 204 film studio, located near the new Elon Musk technical hub.
Rode Hoek and Bushwick
Although Brooklyn is no stranger to Hollywood – the Brooklyn Navy Yard is already the location of a huge studio where films like ‘Joker’ and ‘John Wick’ and streaming series like ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ were filmed – these studios bring the tinsel to two different neighborhoods.
Remote Red Hook is best known as the location of IKEA, albeit fast gentrifying Bushwick is still not considered a high-income neighborhood.
The Red Hook studio will be at 176 Dikeman St. and the Bushwick studio at 242 Seigel St. They will create an estimated 2,400 jobs, according to estimates. Patch.
The buildings were designed by Cookfox and will be a model of sustainability, partly because they are 100% electric, with solar panels on the roof, green roofs and rainwater collection systems. YIMBY from New York.
What local officers say
Brooklyn cop Abby Palanca with Serhant’s Abby Palanca team believes the film studios can only bring good things to both neighborhoods.
Palanca, who represents a 126-year-old, $4 million multifamily home at 91 Dikeman Street in Red Hook, a five-minute walk from the new studio, says, “I think it will put the neighborhood on the radar.”
Red Hook’s lack of a subway stop and location on the western edge of the neighborhood, accessible mainly by ferry, means it has remained fairly isolated.
“The problem will continue to be transportation,” Palanca tells Realtor.com. “Unless you work or drive there, it probably still wouldn’t be a contender for you. But the studio will get a lot more people talking about it.”
That removal has also led to a lack of retail sales, which has kept the average homebuyer at bay.
“I had one client, she loved the property, but her concern was, ‘Where do I get my hair done? Where do I get my nails done?'”
Palanca thinks a six-story, 22,000-square-foot studio with four stages can do more to attract retail to the area, and more homebuyers will follow.
Still, without easier public transportation, the neighborhood will remain relatively closed off, although she predicts more apartments will be built to house studio staff.
“I think this could mean developers see more potential in Bushwick. Right now, people tend to go there for a deal.”
Brooklyn cop Reilly Burleigh-ANpulls van Serhant believes that a film studio fits perfectly with the atmosphere of Bushwick.
“Bushwick is known as a center of creativity and the arts, and this film studio will blend seamlessly with that energy,” she tells Realtor.com. “The industry will flourish in the area that is already full of artists and creatives.”
Local agent William Yau from Coldwell Bankier Warburg believes that the studios will create more brand awareness in the neighborhoods.
“With movies being shot in the area, out-of-state consumers moving to New York will find that their favorite movie or show was shot there,” he tells Realtor.com.
It may not be long before tourists rush to these out-of-the-way Brooklyn neighborhoods to take selfies, just as they already do at the West Village Brownstone, which became a “global tourist destination” for avid followers of HBO’s Sex and the City because it served as Carrie Bradshaw’s residence.
Richard Dun of Reliance Realty Onewho represents Bushwick’s listings, thinks a movie studio will be good for property values but bad for affordability.
“The area will benefit from an increase in local employment and demand for local businesses, especially restaurants, while the lack of rental inventory could increase rents in surrounding areas,” he tells Realtor.com. “I would consider this an overall positive for the community.”
And John Walkupco-founder of a real estate data analytics company Urban Gravessays the studios will add fuel to the fire of rising prices in Brooklyn — welcome news for homeowners, not so welcome for first-time buyers hoping to snag their slice of paradise in Brooklyn.
“The arrival of a major new studio will deliver jobs, infrastructure investment and, most importantly, the buzz that fuels continued value appreciation,” he says.
