The large, low-rise brick warehouse on Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg that houses both the Brooklyn Brewery and Brooklyn Bowl is currently for sale, and it's expected to attract bids of $50 million. In 2011, the building changed hands for $16.4 million, so that's a sizable markup due to one thing: ever more gentrification. The most profitable thing, of course, would be to turn the sprawling site, which takes up most of the block between North 11th, North 12th, and Berry Streets, into hotels, offices, or retail space. Zoning laws are tricky, but future developers might even be able to build bigger than the 70,000 square feet currently allowed. But don't freak out yetBrooklyn Bowl has its lease until 2021, and Brooklyn Brewery, till 2025, so demolition can't get underway just yet. Unless you fancy a decade-long mourning period, it's probably best to earmark this site as a goner and file it away under "Gentrification of the Future."
Crain's does mention, though, that a buyer could pay off the brewery and the bowling alley in order to start work on any new development sooner. The brewery wants to expand to Staten Island, anyway, but it might have to consider a name change.
· Have $50M? Buy the warehouse occupied by Brooklyn Brewery and Brooklyn Bowl [Crain's]
· All Brooklyn Brewery coverage [Curbed]
· All Williamsburg coverage [Curbed]