H1 2025 Brooklyn Retail Report: Limited Availability Spurs Investment Sales and Leasing Activity Beyond Prime Corridors

Borough’s retail sector strength follows major rezoning and development initiatives

NEW YORK, NY –The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) today released its H1 2025 Brooklyn Retail Report, which examines activity along major retail corridors in the borough from January to August 2025. The latest biannual study notes resiliency in the Brooklyn retail market, as limited availability along prime corridors has pushed tenants to widen their search area. Investors have noticed the market’s strong fundamentals, underscored by sustained acquisition activity.

Following trends seen in the last two years, new retail continues to follow the path of major rezonings and construction activity. In addition to Downtown Brooklyn, the rezoning of Gowanus in 2021 has set the stage for 8,500 planned units and some much-needed larger retail spaces. The recent approval of the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan promises to have a similar effect through parts of Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Retail property sales totaled more than $200 million in the first half of 2025. Williamsburg attracted the most interest but there were also notable retail property and development site sales in Bay Ridge, Downtown Brooklyn, Dumbo and Greenpoint. Most of the buyers, including Acadia Realty Trust, Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) and UAL, already have extensive retail holdings either in Manhattan or Brooklyn.

Rents remain below peak in nearly all submarkets and retailers still face many challenges in relation to operational costs and regulations, nevertheless average asking rents are on the rise and concessions are dwindling in many corridors. The average asking rent rose or was unchanged in 10 out of 16 corridors surveyed in this report compared to H2 2024. Corridors with the highest jumps in rent were Washington Street in Dumbo, Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn and North 6th Street in Williamsburg, which reached a new peak average asking rent.

North 6th Street continues to attract top international and domestic fashion and accessories brands, many eager to test their newest lines or brands on Williamsburg’s discerning shoppers. Unlike many corridors, most of the available storefronts on North 6th Street are newly redeveloped, with many expecting the neighborhood’s attraction as a premier retail destination will only grow. Court Street in Downtown Brooklyn saw the largest decline in asking rent since the last report, but long-standing scaffolding obscuring many storefronts has come down in recent months, spurring optimism that leasing will pick up moving forward.

“A widening geographic footprint of notable transactions and surging investment activity underscore confidence in Brooklyn’s retail market,” said Keith DeCoster, Vice President of Research at REBNY. “While 2025 has brought some volatility in the broader U.S. economy, Brooklyn’s top retail corridors have held up well. With new mixed-use developments coming to market and continued enthusiasm for residential development in the borough, many brokers and landlord representatives are bullish on continued performance and maturity in the market.”
The full report and analysis, along with other studies on the New York City real estate market and industry by REBNY, can be found here.

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