Chelsea Piers will open a 52,000-square-foot Brooklyn outpost

Chelsea Piers is set to make its Brooklyn debut. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the company behind the sprawling Chelsea Piers Sports & Entertainment Complex on the far west side of Manhattan has signed a lease for 52,000 square feet at the base of swanky new rental 33 Bond Street.

According to the WSJ, the site’s developer, TF Cornerstone, had been hunting for the just the right gym-type tenant for the building, since “tenants today expect more than the typical, run-of-the-mill building gym.”

The Manhattan location, which spans a startling 28 acres, boasts a golf club, ice rink, a fitness club, and bowling lanes; a newer Connecticut location has no golf club, but does offer a dedicated “Splash Zone.” It’s not yet clear exactly what the definitely-not-typical Downtown Brooklyn outpost will offer, but Chelsea Piers described the new facilities as a “world class fitness club.” When complete, 33 Bond residents will “enjoy direct access from the residential lobby and discounted memberships,” per TFC’s release.

It’s just one more sign the area is booming, says Jake Elghanayan, senior vice president of TFC. “Downtown Brooklyn has transformed into a multi-faceted, diverse marketplace,” he said in the release, citing the recent arrival of other “top retailers” like Apple and Whole Foods (both of which will be at the base of Two Trees’s rental tower at 300 Ashland).

While the fitness center is confirmed, it’s not clear yet what else will be going into the remaining 8,745 square feet of retail space at the base of 33 Bond. Right now, realtors on the project are “actively speaking with a variety of similarly upmarket retailers—including artisanal food services, pantry operations, home goods and high-quality restaurants.”

• Chelsea Piers is Coming to Brooklyn [Wall Street Journal]